Same old Same old

Hmm yep not a pretty game. Far from it. The Twins went down without a fight againt 19-year pitching phenom Felix Hernandez, who easily dominated the Twins with 97 mph gas and late-breaking curveballs. Eight innings of work against us with no walks and six Ks and the Twins managed only five hits. Of course, Hernandez is the most highly-touted pitching prospect since Dwight Gooden, so it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise, but as usual, when the Twins had their chances, they failed. They had an good opportunity in the third with men on first and second, but Nick Punto killed the rally with a weak ground out on the first pitch he saw. Its just the way the Twins ended the game, when Jacque Jones popped up on the first pitch he saw from Eddie Guardado. The only Twin who had an ok offensive night was Shannon Stewart, who went 2 for 4 but also managed to get caught stealing for the fourth time this year.

And of course, it naturally came on the night the Twins had an almost flawless pitching performance of their own. Kyle Lohse, who seems to be the only member of the "could-have-been-traded" crew who is performing well as of late, was as dominant as he has been all year, pitching 6 2/3 shutout innings with 7 Ks before giving up a double and triple with two outs in the seventh to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead that would stick. He even managed to strike out Ichiro twice, which is an impressive feat, but all in vain as the Minnesota offense continues to remain in the shadows. The only question is will it ever return? We can't even beat the Mariners. How can we beat the White Sox, the As, the Indians, or any of the other teams down the road? Things just aren't looking any better any sooner.