Metrodome Memories

No surprise here.  Johan Santana won his second Cy Young in the past three years and he did it in dominating fashion.  He walked away with all 28 first place votes.  Johan led the league in wins (19) and strikeouts (245).  I’m also expecting Johan to finish somewhere in the top five for the MVP.

Alright, I think I’m over the Twins getting squashed by the A’s.  Okay, I’m really not especially when the A’s got swept by the Tigers.  What a weird year.

Anyway, two Twins’ prospects are blogging about their experiences at the Arizona Fall League.  They’ve been posting a little inconsistently, but it’s always interesting seeing things through the eyes of a player.

I have a couple of projects already in place for the 2007 season that center around the historial side of the site.  I’ll be doing a 1987 Twins diary, documenting the day by day progress of the first Twin’s team to win it all.  I’ll also be working on some bios during the offseason for the 1967 American League Pennant Race project where you’ll get to see the day by day happenings of one of the greatest pennant races ever.  So stop by and hopefully we’ll learn something about the team together.

Well, this is it.  The Twins made their fourth post season appearance in the last five years and has been on par with past seasons, the Twins are done.  It’s kind of sad, but the Twins would have needed to win three straight, including two in Oakland, to pull this one out.

The Twins never had the lead.  They pulled to within two runs (4-2) in the sixth when Rondell White singled home Justin Morneau.  Unfortunately, in the bottom of the eighth the A’s touched up Reyes and Crain for four unearned runs.  Everything happened with two outs.  Frank Thomas was given an intentional pass with nobody on and then Eric Chavez drew a walk as well.  Then Morneau made a critical error that loaded the bases.  A walk and a double later and the Twins were down by six runs.

Justin Morneau hit a solo shot in the eighth but that just made it 8-3.  So the A’s move on while the Twins will once again go home.  We have a lot to be hopeful about though.  The Twins have four solid young pitchers and all of them now have major league experience (one of them is going to win his second Cy Young).

Man, this is tough.  After the last 100 regular season games, the Twins have been right there with some of the best teams in baseball.  Now, to have it end like it might in a three game sweep would be pretty disappointing.

Esteban Loaiza didn’t have pretty numbers but he was solid down the stretch (he had seven wins in his last nine decisions) and he took care of the Twins today.  The A’s got on the board first with two runs in the fifth off of Boof Bonser before Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau hit back to back solo shots to tie it up.  Unfortunately those would be the final runs of the game for the Twins.

Bonser yielded to the pen and it went downhill from there.  Three different relievers gave up a run a piece while the A’s pen shut the Twins down to one hit in the final four frames.  The Twins did put two runners on in the ninth, but it was two outs and Nick Punto couldn’t extend the rally.

Both teams get a day off and then it’ll be Brad Radke vs. Dan Haren.  This could be Radke’s last career start so I have a feeling we’ll pull this out, even if it is in enemy territory.

Man, this is a tough one.  You bank on winning the game that Johan Santana pitches so this means not only do the Twins have to take one when Johan isn’t on the mound, but they have to take two.  I like tomorrow’s match up though.  While I don’t have a ton of faith in Boof Bonser, I do think Esteban Loiaza is the worst of the four A’s starters we’ll see.

The A’s struck first in this one. In the second inning, Frank Thomas hit a solo shot and Mark Scutaro singled home Jay Payton to make it 2-0.  The Twins trimmed that lead by a run in the seventh when Rondell White hit a solo shot but Frank Thomas answered that in the ninth with his second homerun of the game.

In the ninth, Michael Cuddyer led off with a triple and while he scored on Torii Hunters ground out, it still left the Twins a run short.  Johan finished with eight strikeouts in eight inning.

These same two teams will square off at the same time tomorrow.  It’s pretty much a must win for the Twins so hopefully they can pull it out.

The Twins are now in first place in the AL Central and it’s the only time they’ve been in first place all season.  Fortunately, it’s that last day that counts so now the Twins get a reprieve from the Yankees until at least the ALCS.  Not that the Twins can look pass the A’s, but there’s something about starting your post season in Yankee Stadium that seems a bit daunting.

Things didn’t go well in this series either.  The White Sox won on both Friday and Saturday so the Twins stayed tied with the Tigers until today.  Then today, the Twins finally turned it around the Royals completed their sweep over the Tigers and just like that, the Twins were staying home instead of heading to New York.

Also good news, Joe Mauer won the batting title.  You’d think Justin Morneau would be in the top five in the MVP and Johan Santana should win his second Cy Young.  And you’ve got not one but two Twins who hit 30 homeruns this year, the first time since 1987.

The Twins not only play the first day of the playoffs, but they also play the very first game in the entire playoffs.  They’ll square off against the A’s at 1 pm on Tuesday.  Johan will be on the mound, so I like the Twins chances.

Alright, it all comes down to these final three games.  The Twins are in the playoffs, but they can avoid playing the Yankees on the road in the first round.  They probably need a sweep (along with some help) to do it, but there’s still a solid chance.

Monday was the day the Twins clinched a post season berth and they did it with a blow out win.  Justin Morneau hit a three run shot for homerun number 34 and Torii Hunter went yard with his 30th in the 8-1 blowout.  Boof Bonser threw a nice game and he gave up only one run on two hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Johan Santana picked up win number 19 in a close game on Tuesday.  He gave up two runson seven hits with five strikeouts in eight innings of work. The Royals actually took a 2-0 lead until the Twins started chipping away at it.  Luis Rodriguez got the game winning RBI when he drove home Torii Hunter with a sac. fly.

Wednesday was the lone loss and that snapped a four game winning streak.  Carlos Silva was hit hard and he gave up five runs in only four innings of work.  Michael Cuddyer hit his 23rd homerun and Rondell White drove in two runs in the 6-4 loss.

The Twins tied the Tigers yesterday with a dramatic ten inning performance.  Brad Radke made his return and threw well.  He gave up only one unearned run in five innings of work and it’ll sure be nice to have him for the post season.  Regardless, this was a close game.  The Royals were up 1-0 most of the way until Joe Mauer hit a solo homerun with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie it.  Then in the tenth, Jason Bartlett singled home Justin Morneau to win it.

The Twins now head into their final series against the White Sox tied, but they’re effectively a half game back because the Tigers have the Wild Card.  Detroit hosts the Royals, so we can’t really expect them to lose.  Maybe one at the most. 

The Twins clinched at least a Wild Card yesterday so after missing the post season last year, the Twins will get another chance to make a run at their first World Series since 2001.  Congratulations to the team and good luck in the playoffs.

The Royals couldn’t help us out so the Tigers now lead the Twins by a single game in the loss column.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is, the White Sox dropped a couple of games to the Mariners so the Twins now just need two wins to get back into the post season.  That Wild Card spot could get wrapped up as early as tomorrow.

The Orioles didn’t roll over though.  Brian Roberts was a one man wrecking crew on Friday and he pretty much singled handedly took this one for the Orioles.  Carlos Silva was bounced after 5 2/3 innings rough innings and Torii Hunter scored twice in the 7-3 loss.

The Twins got back on track yesterday.  Torii Hunter had a nice game.  He went three for five with a homerun, two RBIs and two runs.  Rondell White went four for four and Michael Cuddyer scored three times in the 8-5 win.  Scott Baker was sent packing early but the pen and the bats picked him up here. 

Today’s game was somewhat more normal.  Matt Garza threw a decent game and Joe Mauer and Phil Nevin each hit two run homeruns in the 6-3 win.  This one could have been a lot worse because the Twins stranded ten guys.

Next up is four against the Royals, who rolled over for the Tigers this weekend.  If we split the series, this weekend’s three games against the White Sox mean little except for possibly winning the division outright.

The Tigers pretty much took care of the White Sox earlier this week, so while the Twins aren’t out of the woods quite yet, they’re almost just playing to see who they play in that first round game.  They have an easy series this weekend (Orioles) so it’d be nice if we at least kept pace with the Tigers (who play the Royals) over the weekend.

Justin Morneau was five for five with an RBI and two runs in the Twins win on Tuesday.  Jason Bartlett and Torii Hunter both homered and Matt Garza threw a nice game.  He picked up his second career win in the 7-3 win.

Wednesday was an even bigger blowout.  Torii Hunter led the way with the bat and he had two hits, including a homerun, and four RBIs in the 8-2 win.  The homerun was his 28th of the season.  Boof Bonser pitched seven solid innings and he improved to 6-5 on the season. 

The Twins could have taken over in the Central but they ran into a very good Josh Beckett.  The Twins were shut out on eight hits and David Ortiz hit two homeruns.  Johan Santana took the loss in five pretty mediocre innings and the Twins lost 6-0.

Hopefully the Twins have a solid weekend.

The Tigers are losing right now and if the Orioles hold on, the Twins will be back to a one game deficit in the AL Central.  The White Sox play later today but regardless of what happens there, the Twins will have no worse then a three game lead for the Wild Card.

The bats really did the job on Thursday.  Torii Hunter and Rondel White both homered and Hunter drove in four runs in the 9-4 win.  The Twins scored in each of their final five innings and while Boof Bonser didn’t get a decision in his start, he did throw well.  Jesse Crain actually gave up the tying the run but the Twins immediately picked him up and he ended up getting the win.

Friday was the lone blemish and ironically, it was on Johan Santana’s day.  He looked pretty mortal and gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in eight innings.  The Twins actually tied it up with two runs in the ninth but Pat Neshek gave up the winning run in the bottom of the tenth.  Justin Morneau drove in two runs in the 5-4 loss.

Carlos Silva really picked things up yesterday.  He gave up only one run on five hits in seven innings of work.  Torii Hunter hit homerun number 26 and Mike Redmond had three hits and three RBIs in the 4-1 win.

The Twins wrapped up the series this afternoon with their second straight win.  Scott Baker threw a very nice game and he improved to 5-8 and Torii Hunter and Phil Nevin each drove in two runs in the 6-1 win.  Jason Tyner had three hits and the defense turned five double plays.

Next up is three games against a struggling Red Sox team.  The good news is, the Tigers and White Sox play head to head so one of them has to lose.  We’ll either be picking up ground in the division race or padding our lead for the Wild Card.

Damn, the Tigers just tied their game up 8-8.  We might be back down to a two game lead after all.

My jaw dropped when I checked the score at work today.  The A’s and Twins were scoreless through four innings but when I dropped down to where the pitchers were, it was obvious something was wrong when I saw Matt Garza was already in the game.  Francisco Liriano’s season could be done as could Brad Radke’s.  Somehow, the Twins seems to be right there in the thick of things though.

Carlos Silva threw a nice enough game on Monday.  He gave up a solo homerun to Frank Thomas in the fourth inning but that was it.  Michael Cuddyer homered and drove in four runs to lead the way on offense.  Torii Hunter, who’s quietly put together a very nice season, hit homerun number 24.  Joe Nathan got into trouble in the ninth but pitched himself out of the jam in the 9-4 win.

The Twins won again yesterday.  Justin Morneau’s two run double in the eighth inning gave the Twins the lead for good.  Justin Tyner had three hits and two RBIs in the 7-5 win.  Matt Guerrier got bounced after four innings and Dennys Reyes continues his hot pitching and he improve to 5-0.

Today’s game was pretty disappointing in a lot of different ways.  Liriano was pulled in the third and while Garza pitched a great game, the Twins didn’t score at all. 

The good news is, the Tigers lost today, so the Twins are still a game and a half back.  The White Sox won so they’re right on our trail a game and a half back of us.  Next up is four against the Indians.  After tomorrow’s game, we’ll get rid of that half game thing and we could be only one game back of Detroit because they have the day off.

Francisco Liriano was limited to 40 pitches over three innings yesterday.  His rehab start was cut short because of a rain delay, but he was very sharp in those three innings.  He walked one and struck out four without giving up a hit and it looks like Liriano could make one more rehab start before joining the Twins.  This is huge news since it will give the Twins one more great arm to rely on in the final weeks of the season.

The Twins Triple A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, moved on to play last year’s International League champs, the Toledo Mudhens, in the finals this year.  You can pretty much bank on a win if Liriano gets that final rehab start.  The series kicked off tomorrow in Rochester.

UPDATE

I misread this pretty badly.  Not only is Francisco Liriano now off the DL, but he’s throwing today.  This is huge.

This was pretty big.  A sweep would have been a big surprise so best case realistically was taking three of four, which the Twins did.  The White Sox split their series with the Indians so the Twins now lead the Sox by a game and a half and they trail the Tigers by only two games.

Things didn’t start out very well.  The Tigers bounced Scott Baker after only five innings and they racked up as many runs as they would in the next three games combined.  Not much to say on offense here.  Michael Cuddyer hit a solo homerun to bring his season total up to 21.  He also has 93 RBIs on the season.

The Twins got the bats going on Friday.  They came back from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits and ended up blowing out the Tigers 9-5.  Matt Garza was knocked around and gave up four runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings.  The bullpen really did the job though.  They gave up only a single run in 4 2/3 innings and Pat Neshek picked up the win.  Joe Mauer scored three runs and Justin Morneau had three RBIs.

Boof Bonser threw a gem yesterday and he was just a little bit better then Nate Robertson.  Bonser gave up only a single run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven innings.  Neshek threw a shutout eighth and Joe Nathan saved his 30th game with a perfect ninth.  Torii Hunter had the only RBI for the Twins and the other run scored on an error in the 2-1 win.

Johan was Johan today.  He threw 6 1/3 shutout innings and he struck out eleven.  The Tigers didn’t score a run until the ninth when it didn’t matter.  Nick Punto had a huge game.  He went four for five with a triple, three RBis and two runs.  Hunter scored three times and Mauer and Luis Castillo drove in two in the 12-1 win.

No day off this week, because the A’s roll into town.  Oakland has been one of the best teams in the second half so this series isn’t going to be easy.  The Tigers somehow have two days off this week and they play Texas next.  The White Sox play three against a hot Angels team.  Should be another interesting week.

Man, this weekend is huge.  The Twins are four games back after winning two of three against the Devil Rays.  And next up is a four game series against the Tigers. 

Boof Bonser came up huge on Monday.  He gave up one run on six hits with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.  All the Twins got were two runs, and they were both on Rondell White’s two run homerun.  With the way Bonser pitched though, that was enough.

Even better was Johan Santana on Tuesday.  He should be in line for his third straight Cy Young but he got hosed last year.  Hopefully the same thing doesn’t happen this year.  He threw eight shutout innings and he struck out 12 in a dominating outing.  Joe Mauer doubled and drove in two runs and Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau both scored twice in the 8-0 win.

It would have been nice to pull out a sweep but the Twins fell just short.  Joe Mauer and Rondell White hit solo homeruns to make it 2-0 but then Pat Nesknik gave up three runs on two homeruns in the seventh to lose it.  A great start by Carlos Silva went to waste in the 4-2 loss.

The White Sox are still nipping at the Twins heels so it’s just as important to win in order to put some distance between them for the Wild Card. Huge weekend, that’s all I have to say.

The bad news is, the Twins lost two of three to the Yankees this weekend.  The good news is, the White Sox lost two of three to the Royals so the Twins still cling to a half game deficit behind the White Sox.

Carlos Silva was knocked around on Friday.  He gave up six runs (four earned) on nine hits in only four innings of work.  Even worse, the Twins scored only one runs and it wasn’t until the ninth inning.  Justin Morneau doubled home Michael Cuddyer.

Scott Baker was only ray of hope this weekend.  He threw a phenomonal game and held the Yankees to a single run on two hits in five innings.  Even better, the offense was turned on Morneau and Torii Hunter both homered.  Morneau drove in three runs and Hunter scored twice.

Today was a carbon copy of Friday, only with the Yankees scoring more runs.  Matt Garza was bumped around and couldn’t even finish five.  Three other relievers all also gave up at least a single run.  The only run for the Twins in the 10-1 loss came on Torii Hunter’s second inning solo homerun.

Next up is three against the Devil Rays.  Man, a sweep would be nice right about now.

I hate this.  The Twins clawed their way to sit atop the Wild Card pack and then gave it up after losing two games to the worst team in baseball.

Matt Garza may have had his best start in his young career.  Unfortunately, he walked away with the loss.  He gave up two runs on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.  The Twins didn’t score a single run and they were held to five hits.  Jason Bartlett had two of those.

One bad inning cost Boof Bonser a win yesterday.  He gave up three runs in the sixth after five shutout innings in the 4-3 loss.  The Twins made things interesting with a run in the ninth but they came up short.  Michael Cuddyer homered twice and he drove in all three Twins runs.  He also had three of the Twins’ six hits in the game.

Finally the Twins picked up a win today.  Johan was Johan and he won his 16th game.  He struck out eleven in seven innings and gave up a single run on five hits.  Rondell White hit his fourth homerun and Mike Redmond had three hits and a run in the 3-1 win.

Talk about going from one extreme to another.  We go from the Royals to the Yankees.  Not good.  Hopefully we can sneak out of their with two wins.

One half of a game seperate the White Sox and Twins for the Wild Card as the two teams head into a huge three game series in Chicago.  It’s put up or shut up time.

Tuesday, it was shut up time as rookie Nick Markakis took Carlos Silva to task.  Silva gave up five homeruns in 5 1/3 innings and he took the loss.  Joe Mauer had two hits and an RBI in the 6-3 loss.

Fortunately, the Twins picked it up and rookie Matt Garza had his best major league start to date.  He gave up only one unearned run in six innings in his first major league win.  Michael Cuddyer had three hits and two RBIs and Torii Hunter hit his 18th homerun of the season in the 4-1 win.

Yesterday, the Twins just blew out the Orioles.  Joe Mauer and Cuddyer both drove in four runs and Justin Morneau and Hunter both homered in the 11-2 win.  Boof Bonser picked up the win.  He gave up two runs on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.

Now, it’s time to beat those White Sox.  It’s Brad Radke against Javier Vazquez in the opener tonight.

The Twins are back to being down by a single game in the Wild Card mix.  Everytime the Twins come close, they falter and fall back a bit.  Hopefully it won’t happen this time around.

Boof Bonser wasn’t great, but he kept the Twins in the game on Friday.  He left with the score tied 3-3 and the bullpen really picked him up.  Nick Punto had three hits and two runs while Justin Morneau singled twice and drove in two.  Hunter hit his 16th homerun in the 7-3 win.

On Saturday, the Twins couldn’t figure out Jon Garland.  Nick Punto singled home Justin Tyner in the third inning, and that was the only Twins’ run of the game.  Brad Radke was solid but he took the loss and dropped to 12-9 in the 4-1 game.

Johan Santana set the stage yesterday.  He improved to 15-5 with seven solid innings. Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer and Mike Redmond all drove in two runs while Torii Hunter hit his seventeenth homerun of the season.

Next up is three against the Orioles, so hopefully the Twins can keep things going while the Tigers and White Sox beat up on each other.

Two games are all that seperates the Twins and White Sox heading into their three game series beginning tomorrow.  The Twins picked up half a game this week by winning two of three over the still struggling Indians.

Johan Santana got the job done on Tuesday.  He pitched eight shutout innings and gave up only three hits with three strikeouts.  He needed only 99 pitches to make it through eight innings.  Michael Cuddyer had two hits, two RBIs and a run in the win.  Torii Hunter went two for four with an RBI in the 4-1 win.

Carlos Silva pitched five solid innings yesterday but he left with the game tied.  Pat Neshek ended up picking up the win and man has he been a lift out of the pen.  In 20 innings, he’s struck out 30, walked three and he’s given up only six hits.  Two of those have been solo homeruns.  His batting average against is an inhuman .092.

The score of the game was 2-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth when the Twins exploded for five runs.  The inning was capped off by a three run shot by Michael Cuddyer.  Joe Mauer singled and drove in two runs in the 7-2 win.

Matt Garza had a much better outing today then he did in his debut.  Unfortunately, the Twins didn’t give him much support.  Garza gave up three runs on five hits and two walks with five strikouts in five innings.  Justin Mourneau hit homerun number 31 and Joe Mauer singled and drove in a run in the 3-2 loss.

Huge weekend.  If we win the series, we keep up with the Sox.  If we lose two of three, we’ll be three back.  I’m hoping for a sweep and we blow right by them.

I guess the Twins couldn’t build on that series win over the Tigers.  In the first three games in the series against the Blue Jays, the Twins scored a grand total of one run. I had hoped their offensive struggles were behind them, but apparantly not.

A poor outing by Carlos Silva and only four singles by the Twins resulted in a loss on Thursday.  Silva dropped to 8-10.

Matt Garza was awful in his debut on Friday.  He gave up runs in each of his first three innings before getting pulled.  When it was all said and done, he was dinged for seven runs on eight hits in 2 2/3 innings.  A.J. Burnett held the Twins offense down but we finally scored when Jason Bartlett doubled home Luis Rodriguez in the seventh inning in the 7-1 loss.

Yesterday was the second shutout of the series.  The Twins got seven hits in this one but nobody scored.  Boof Bonser didn’t have a horrible game but he took the loss.  He gave up three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in the 4-0 loss.

Man, has Brad Radke been good the last couple of months.  He and two relievers combined for a five hit shutout and the Twins actually put some runs on the board.  Jason Tyner had three hits and two RBIs while Michael Cuddyer hit his seventeenth homerun of the season.

The good news is, the Tigers have hit the skids so we’re still on the fringe in the AL Central, eight games back.  Unfortunately, the White Sox are winning so the Twins trail them by 2 1/2 games in the Wild Card race.  Next up is three against the Indians with Johan Santana on deck.  I like our chances.

Unfortunately, the Twins aren’t quite yet in the drivers seat.  They’re a half game ahead of the White Sox, but it’s in the win column so the Sox can make that up.  Regardless, with the way this week has gone with Francisco Liriano going down for an extended period of time, I’ll take whatever good news I can get.

Monday was that beating.  Liriano left after four innings and he’s now on the disabled list.  Rookie Zach Miner held the Twins in check and most of the offense came from Joe Mauer’s two run homerun.  Final was 9-3.

Brad Radke got the Twins back on track on Tuesday.  He gave up two early runs in the second inning but then was awesome the rest of the way.  He ended up going seven innings with only the two runs coming across on nine hits.  Joe Nathan got into trouble in the ninth but he held on to pick up his 24th save of the season.  Joe Mauer led the way again.  He went three for five with two RBIs in the 4-2 win

The Twins took the rubber game behind a mortal outing as far as Johan Santana goes. He had a shutout through five innings but then gave up leads in the sixth and seventh inning respectively.  Fortunately Justin Morneau had his back and hit a two run homerun in the top of the eighth to make it 4-3.  This time Joe Nathan had no problems in the ninth and he picked up his 25th save.  Luis Castillo was four for four with a walk, and RBI and a run in the win.

The White Sox and Tigers will now duke it out this weekend.  In the meantime, the Twins square off against the Blue Jays beginning today.  The Jays have been struggling in the second half so hopefully we’ll be able to catch them while they’re down.  Matt Garza will make his major league debut on Friday.

Kevin Goldstein, who writes the fantastic column Future Shock at Baseball Prospectus, highlighted Twins prospect Matt Garza.  Garza was the Twins first round draft pick last year and it sounds like he’s going to get called up to help out this week.  Scott Baker hasn’t lived up to his billing so I can see Garza stepping in for him.

This was just what the doctor ordered.  The Twins looked like they were sliding until they made a trip to KC.  The end result was four consecutive wins and the Twins are now a half game back of the Wild Card leading White Sox.

These days, you never know what you’re going to get out of Brad Radke.  On Thursday, we got eight quality innings.  He gave up only two runs on four hits and Radke is now 10-8.  The team really hit for him too.  By the end of the third, the Twins had seven runs.  Justin Morneau led the way with three RBIs and Joe Mauer and Jose Rabe each scored two runs in the 8-2 win.

The Twins needed ten innings on Friday.  Down 5-3, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer hit back to back homeruns in the top of the ninth to tie it up.  In the tenth, Jason Bartlett scored the go ahead run on a wild pitch and then Torii Hunter drove in two insurance runs with a single.  Dennys Reyes picked up the win and Joe Nathan picked up the save.  For the second straight start, Johan Santana looked good but mortal.

Yesterday was the first of two blowouts.  Luis Castillo, Nick Punto and Morneau all drove in three runs.  Oddly, Punto drove in three without getting a single hit.  He drew a bases loaded walk for one and hit two sacrafice flies for the other two.  Carlos Silva coasted to an easy win.  He’s now 8-9 and he gave up three runs on ten hits over 6 1/3 innings in the 14-3 win.

This afternoon was another beatdown.  Jason Bartlett had a career day with five hits, two runs and two RBIs.  He’s now hitting .377.  Cuddyer scored three times six different Twins had at least three hits.  The Royals actually kept pace for a while, but one run in the seventh and five in the eighth opened the game up.  Final was 11-5 and the Twins racked up 22 hits.

Next up is a pretty big series against the Tigers.  If we can turn the tables and pull out a sweep, the division title won’t look too far out of reach.  Although with less then two months left and a nine and a half game deficit, the wild card is looking like the more realistic option.