Offense?

Good lord. Something amazing has happened. Don't look now, but the Twins scored runs. Lots of them. And yea, against an important contending team, the Boston Red Sox. A 12-0 blowout was the result of Friday nights game and based on the resulting traffic I dealt with exiting Minneapolis at 10:30, I'd say people were excited to see them win. Brad Radke had an impressive start and despite a bad start to the first, with a Johnny Damon triple, he got out of the first without damage after he struck out Edgar Renteria, Manny Ramirez, and Jason Varitek. Seven shutout innings and a season-high eight strikeouts gave Radke a much deserved win. Radke's 3.71 ERA and his impeccable control this year should overshadow his not-so-glossy 7-10 record, thanks to the otherwise worthless Twins offense.

However, tonight was a different story. Let's run through it all:

* Lets first get by with the easy runs. The Twins put a few runs up early after a hideous throw and error by Boston's starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo.

* The 3, 4, and 5 hitters produced for once. Joe Mauer went 3 for 5 with three runs and three RBIs after having a terrible last couple games. Matthew LeCroy, who's value is questionable, was 3 for 4 with an RBI double and Jacque Jones also was 3 for 4 including a two-run homer off of Jeremy Gonzalez in the eigth. And Terry Tiffee, who pinch-hit for LeCroy in the eigth, scored a run after an two-run double. So, in total, that's a 10 for 14 night with 8 RBIs and 7 runs from the 3, 4, and 5 hitters. Impressive night for sure.

* Otherwise, Lew Ford was the other big hitter of the night, going 3 for 5 in the leadoff spot with three runs scored. It would be nice if the Lew Ford of 2004 finally appeared on the Twins strastosphere.

* Micheal Cuddyer, on another note, didn't do so well offensively, going 1 for 4, but also made his 14th error of the year. Ugh. The defense has to be the core of the team with pitching if they want to go .500. I just don't see this kind of nightly production in the future. The core has to be solid and then they really need to get hitters. It was nice to see a win, but I don't know about getting my hopes up. Johan Santana has the ball tommorow and that should prove to at least be a ball in our court.