GameChat – Angels @ Twins, 7:10

Quick injury update: Yes, Nick Punto is back on the DL – my heart just kind of breaks for him. He reaggravated the hamstring that was supposedly healed.  And the team proved me wrong yet again because, no, no matter how badly I think we need it, they did not bring up a pitcher.  Tolbert is up to give us that flexibility of infielders and such.

As far as the game tonight, I’m kind of excited to see Dan Haren pitch but maybe that’s just because I like LOOKING at Dan Haren.  I’m willing to admit that is a possibility.  I would definitely like to see the offense be a little busier tonight than they were last night and I’m NOT goign to be ok with more LOB.  I hope that Duensing holds his own and goes deep into the game with a lot less struggles than Frankie and Pavano had.  Let’s go boys!

THAT went MUCH better.  How nice of the boys to give me exactly what I asked for!  And how nice of them to do such a great job while Jim Crikket was there to witness it!  The offense remembered how to hit and Duensing went out there and nailed it down, inning after inning!  More than anyone, I think the bullpen appreciated that.  But yeah, going 8 innings is something I think every coach, fielder and fan loved too. 

For any normal game,  Kubel going 2/4 with a homerun, a double and 3 RBI would probably be enough to earn him the BOD.  But not tonight.  Tonight it was great but it was only enough to get him a great big frosty adult beverage (can you tell I just left the bar?).  Heck, we’ll even throw in an adult beverage of choice to Jim Thome because, seriously, I am shocked to see just one triple from him in a season but multiples??  are you kidding me? Dude, maybe he needs a shot of 5 Hour Energy instead.

For tonight’s game though, the boxscore really says it all.  Duensing went up against a pitcher MANY Twins fans would have liked to see as a possibility in our starting rotation (including me).  He kicked Dan’s ass.  Haren just didn’t look like the hot pitcher I’ve seen in the past – maybe it was that he just doesn’t do facial hair as well?  I don’t know but Duensing came out the winner in tonight’s comparison and given how BADLY we really needed a good outting from our starter and how fun it was to see him get 6 k’s, I’m not at all surprised that the chat chose Brian Duensing for today’s BOD!  Congrats!

And sorry, Jamar, apparently our library is a bit short on the Duensing shots – of the ones we have so far, this really is the best.  I”ll make it a personal goal to be sure to get an even better one for you sometime soon!  I’m sure I could go steal a pic off some other site somewhere but we like using our own!