Back to Square

Yea it seems we are right back in the same spot. Well, I shouldn't say that. Yesterday's win was a fluke that was almost lost by another Shannon Stewart bonehead play. It was only Johan Santana's great three-hit shutout performance that gave the Twins a win. But Joe Mays was on the mound today and once again, he couldn't control his pitches well and ended up getting knocked around for four runs in 5 and 1/3 innings. So naturally, there was no significant offense produced by the Twins. In fact, it was limited to four players. Mike Redmond had three hits in a great offensive day, Jason Bartlett went 2 for 3 with a walk, Joe Mauer went 1 for 4 with a run scored on the only really offense for the day, Justin Morneau's two-run homer in the sixth. Its nice to see Morneau's swing come alive here late in the season, but it clearly is not enough. More apparent is the lack of proctection Mauer and Morneau have in the lineup. Of course, with Redmond and Bartlett's hits in the 8 and 9 spots, we should have had more runs, but Shannon Stewart and Luis Rodriguez went 0 for 9 following them and Stewart personally had a total of seven runners left on base over the game.

So, there is very little to say other then this is the same failure of execution we have seen all year round. And, of course, Oakland is in the midsts of a historic winning streak. It seems to win tommorow, Silva will have to shutout the A's the way Santana did last night. That's because Silva has been great as of late, but has not won a game in nearly two months. Good luck Carlos. Your going to need it. It seems with these kind of wins, the Twins really will be lucky for a .500 season.