This weekend, it’s “The Return of Twitchy,” as former Twins closer Joe Nathan pays a visit along with his new team, the Texas Rangers. Joe’s already blown a save and took a loss when he came in to a tie game and gave up the game-winner, causing many in Rangerland to wonder if someone else should be closing for the Rangers.
Late game drama notwithstanding, this is still the defending AL Champions coming in to Target Field and Anthony Swarzak may find this line up to be a bit more challenging than the one he faced in Baltimore last Sunday.
Let’s hope the Twins’ hitters keep clubbing the ball. A couple of notable lineup changes: Joe Mauer is at 1B tonight, with Ryan Doumit behind the plate, and Luke Hughes gets the start at 2B.
I’m not sure how many of our Knuckleballs crew will be in the chat tonight. I know some have other plans and I, personally, plan to go see what kind of trouble combining cold medication and alcohol can cause.
Enjoy the game! – JC
| RANGERS |
@ |
TWINS |
| Kinsler, 2B | Span, CF | |
| Andrus, SS | Carroll, SS | |
| Hamilton, CF | Mauer, 1B | |
| Beltre, A, 3B | Morneau, DH | |
| Young, M, DH | Willingham, LF | |
| Cruz, N, RF | Doumit, C | |
| Murphy, Dv, LF | Valencia, 3B | |
| Napoli, C | Plouffe, RF | |
| Moreland, 1B | Hughes, L, 2B | |
| _Harrison, P | _Swarzak, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Texas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
OK I’m gonna be honest… I sorta watched the game at a bar, but I can’t say I watched it with any intensity at all. I saw Anthony Swarzak pitch pretty well. I saw Danny Valencia hit a sacrifice line drive. I didn’t see much else of any significance. I do know the Twins lost. That sucks. We’ll try again tomorrow. – JC