Written by Well, it seems like all the news lately is only talking about what the latest trade rumors. I have to say that my interest level is waining quickly. Other than the fact that I really don’t like Lilly and would hate to see his name in a trade announcement, the rest are .. meh.. most of the blogging community is throwing out a few names from the Toronto Blue Jays – pretty much all bullpen. I think all the names that have been thrown out by the major bylines would be ok with me.. but I’m tiring quickly of the whole deal and can’t wait until the trade deadline passes so we can quit agonizing over the possibilities for awhile.
As for tonight, I would really like to see Liriano go out there and continue was I can happily call a string of great starting pitching performances!
| Minnesota | @ | Kansas City |
| Repko, CF | Podsednik, DH | |
| Casilla, A, 2B | Kendall, C | |
| Mauer, C | Butler, 1B | |
| Young, D, LF | Guillen, J, RF | |
| Thome, DH | Betemit, 3B | |
| Cuddyer, 1B | Aviles, M, 2B | |
| Kubel, RF | Gordon, A, LF | |
| Valencia, 3B | Bloomquist, CF | |
| Hardy, SS | Betancourt, Y, SS | |
| Liriano, P | Greinke, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 20 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
That was certainly unexpected. I’m not going to complain, mind you! What a display and against a pitcher who usually has MUCH better stuff than he did tonight – although I will admit he seems to struggle against the Twins.
All that being said, from top to bottom, the Twins lineup went on a hitting spree that was a joy to see. And there was some fabulous defensive work too – Repko was making me all tingly! But no one seemed to be having as much fun as Joe Mauer and Danny Valencia! Both guys were a triple short of the cycle (of course, Casilla and Hardy both had triples). It was just great to see the home boy smiling again as he went 5/5 a career tie of 7 RBI and Valencia hit his first ML B homerun – as a grand slam no less!!!!! He’s the ONLY Twin to ever accomplish that feat. For that they have earned co-BOD’s. The whole rest of the team gets to go out to Sizzler and celebrate. I like happy days…
Mauer had 5 hit, 7 rbi. I guess ESPN had a blurb about him being the 3rd catcher to do that. The others
Victor Martinez July 16 2004 for the Tribe 5-5 7RBI
Walker Cooper July 6 1949 for the Cincy Red 6-7 10 RBI
And… apparently Valencia is the first Twins rookie to have 4 hits, 4 runs and 4RBI in a game. So many factoids.
Here’s my favorite factoid, from twinsbaseball.com:
“Jason Kubel continued his career-long hot streak with the bases loaded Sunday, smacking his seventh grand slam. Kubel’s percentage of home runs hit in at-bats with the bases loaded (7-for-83, 8.4 percent), is third highest among active players with at least five grand slams. Only Alexei Ramirez of the White Sox (5-for-45, 11.1 percent) and Marlon Byrd of the Cubs (6-for-70, 8.6 percent) have fared better. Furthermore, the Twins are unbeaten in the seven games in which Kubel has hit his grand slams, dating back to June 13, 2006.”