GameChat – Twins @ Indians #2, postgame

WordPress.org FINALLY let me in!  My deepest apologies for the lack of game chat – I had everything ready to go and simply was never able to get the dashboard to login so that I could put up a post until now.

If you were unable to see tonight’s game, you should really check out some pictures in the paper or on the website because both Cleveland and Minnesota were wearing throwback uniforms in honor of the Negro Leagues.  If you watched the game on TV, aren’t you glad you don’t have to play baseball in that every day?! I hope that the weather in Cleveland was cooler than it is here in Minnesota!

 And I gotta say it made Pavano look MASSIVE.  I kind of feel bad for Mauer and the pitchers with all those sleeves.  The Indians unis weren’t nearly as dramatic as the Twins. The Twins were wearing unis modeled after the 1909 St. Paul Gophers – really different than any throwback uni I have ever witnessed before.  Final note on the uniforms: I really liked the HATS!  Now there is a white hat that works!

Pavano didn’t really appear to like the uniform very much and, like several of the pitchers, appeared to have cut the sleeves off at the elbows.  It wasn’t his BEST appearance but he actually did what I like best in pitchers – he still did the job on a night when he didn’t have his best stuff.  He got through 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs despite several hits and walks.  And the defense behind him wasn’t great.  There were some really beautiful moments and some absolute head-bangers.  Kubel managed to have two incredibly bone-headed fielding efforts that earned him two errors.  But he really tried hard to make up for it at the plate with a double, a homerun and a very timely walk. I would say that, overall, the offense really was the story of this game.  Kubel wasn’t the only one with a HR either.  Trevor Plouffe hit his first MLB homerun and it was a lot of fun to see.  In addition, Mauer was 4/5, Cuddy was 3/5, and even Casilla was 2/2 – until he kind of stepped on the catcher running into home and hurt his ankle.  We’ll see how that goes but it did look like he kind of jammed himself up a bit.  Gardy said that an xray tonight showed a bone chip in the ankle but they’ll get an MRI tomorrow morning to decide if it’s a long term or short term problem – and before they decide what to do with DL for Hudson or maybe Lexi.  

All together, they actually managed to string hits together and the LOB percentage was about 50% instead of the approximately 80% it has been several times lately.  Aren’t you surprised I did the math?!?!

Anyway, we have a Twins win and no chat with which to elect a BOD.  So I believe that leaves the choice to me. Normally, I would look at the RBI totals and see that Kubel’s two are the most in the lineup BUT after the two errors I simply can’t do it.  I decided to go with Mauer due to his .800 BA for the night, two runs and an RBI besides.  It’s been a LONG time since Joe appeared in the ranks of BOD and all I can say is, “it’s about time!”