Saturday, September 09, 2006

It's been so long I almost forgot what it was called...


Oh yeah, offense. That was nice.

9 runs? Where has this offense been lately? Castillo didn't do anything at the top, but Nick Punto (welcome back!) had a couple of hits, Joe Mauer went 3/4 to increase his lead in the chase for the batting title, and Justin Morneau had a couple of big 2-out hits to get him 3 RBI, and move him into 2nd in the AL with 118 RBI on the year,

On the other side of the coin, things weren't as great as Matt Garza struggled once again. At times, he looks dominant, and shows why he was able to dominate in all levels of the Minors this year (hence, 6 strikeouts in 4.1 IP)... other times, well, it's easy to see he's a young guy. He struggled with the control - tight strike zone or otherwise - and walked 4 batters, which led to his undoing. He finished with 4 ER in the 4.1 IP.

In the pen, Pat Neshek responded nicely with 1.1 scoreless innings to get the win. Meanwhile, Jesse Crain and Juan Rincon seem to be going in the opposite directions... Crain has been excellent for a couple of months now, while Rincon has seen his ERA increase almost a run in about a month to 3.05).

With a comeback win by the Sox, the Twins are basically in the exact same position as they were when this series started a couple of days ago... 4 back of the Tigers and 1/2 game ahead of the White Sox. They need to split these final 2 games at the bare minimum, and if they can win both, well, the division race will officially become a big thing, as the Twins would be only 2 back.

But for now, the Twins just need to focus on Saturday. Boof Bonser vs. Nate Robertson. Be there or be square.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Guerrier is in the rotation for Baker. I'm sure that will be short lived but I have faith. Let's get the series win today with Johan. It would be great to be 2 down, one in the loss column.