Twins at Cinci

The Reds have just taken the lead in the game with a two run home run.  There is no one out in the Reds half of the eighth inning.  Oh, woe for the Twins.

 

We are in the top of the ninth and the Reds closer is mowing through our batters.  The Reds closer has not given up an earned run yet this year.  I don’t think the Twins will tarnish his record.  Mauer is making him work for the second out of the inning.  Maybe Mauer will come up with a home run here.  It is possible, but not likely.  They are now at a 3 and 2 count.  Well, Mauer worked the pitcher until he hit a double.  With one out, we have a runner in scoring position.  Willingham has just hit a line drive home run to put the Twins in the lead 4 – 3.  Unbelievable.  

It’s the bottom of the ninth and the Twins have a lead with a score of 4 – 3.  We have walked the first batter – never a good sign.  So the Reds have one on and nobody out.  All they have to do is tie it up and we will go into extra inning.  They have moved the runner to second on a sacrifice bunt.  Now the tying run is on second base.  Will the Twins be able to hold the Reds and get a win this afternoon?  Going into the top of the ninth, I thought we were doomed, now at least there is hope.  We have just walked the second Red aboard.  The next batter lifted a soft fly to right that we caught for the second out of the inning.   

We just won the game with a ground ball out.  Amazing.  I did not believe that this would have been the outcome today.  We won the series with the Reds amazingly enough.  Yeah!!!

The Twins have had their run at a winning streak, now we need to get back out of a new losing streak.

The Tigers scored two runs in the top of the first off the Twins best hope for a good pitching game.  The Twins threatened but did not score in the bottom of the first.  

The Tigers have won the first two games of this series, the Twins need to turn that around today.

Defense yes

Listening tonight to radio sportscasters discuss the defensive qualifications of the latest additions to our roster, I wonder when they will talk about their offensive qualities.  I realize that there is little or nothing to talk about there.  When, oh, when, will the Twins add a player who can play the entire game - both on the field (defense) and at bat (offense).  The Twins whole approach seems to be get a good defense and the offense can just take care of itself. 

Oh, and we managed to get a hit so that Weaver is loosing out on his bid for back to back no hitters.  And what did we do with this base runner?  The next batter up hits into a double play - that is some offense we've got going on here!

Mariners vs Twins?

So today we have the Twins with their lineup of sub .250 hitters against the Mariners lineup of sub .250 hitters.  You would think that this would be a trial of no hits and no runs, but no the Twins batters continue to not produce, while the Mariners are enjoying the Twins pitching for a little batting practice.

The other question I am pondering is why, oh why, did the Twins pick up Komatsu?  He was batting .200 when we picked him up, and that number has immediately begun to plunge.  This is what the Twins needed  - another outfielder who can't hit his weight in batting average?

This is going to be one long hard season in Twinkie Town.

Twins load the bases

...but do not score.
Second verse same as the first!

Ben Revere - more speed for the basepaths?

Gardenhire is happy to welcome Ben Revere back to the line up.  He says that Ben will bring some speed to the bottom of the Twins lineup.
Revere may be adding speed, but he will have to get on base to show off that speed.  Getting on base will be problematic for Revere who is hitting just .222 at the AAA level.  Will those number improve in the majors?  Time will tell

Liriano is behaving just as predicted

This young man with such hot stuff can't hold it together for three innings. Here he is again facing the bottom of the opposing team's batting order and he fills the bases with Rays with no hits involved. The Rays have just made a sacrifice fly and scored the first run of the game and still have no hits. They have done it twice now - no hits, two runs. Arghhhhhh!

A Twins win against the Bronx bombers?!?!

Who could have foretold that the Twins would have an easy win against their arch-nemesis, the Yankees? It was sweet, very sweet. So what if it was only our third win of this young season, so what if we had just dropped three to the Rangers? This victory was against the Yankees a team that normally just breathes on the Twins and we fold.

Poke a fork in it, it's done.

It was a close game and well pitched for the most part. The Twins fall to the Ranger for the third game. And yes the Twins are leading all of baseball in one key statistic - hit into double plays!

Eighth Inning finish

Runner on first, one out and yes, you know what happened since it was the Twins at bat - a double play ball to end the inning and what could have been a scoring opportunity. At least we didn't leave any runners on base!