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Kent Hrbek and his statue (Photo: Minnesota Twins)
Quite the way to start the day… the unveiling of Kent Hrbek’s statue outside Gate 14 at Target Field.
But what about the ballgame?
The Twins take on new Rangers import Yu Darvish this afternoon. It looks like a return to the original A line-up backing up starter Nick Blackburn.
Let’s hope for a little better result today! – JC
| RANGERS |
@ |
TWINS |
| Kinsler, 2B | Span, CF | |
| Andrus, SS | Carroll, SS | |
| Hamilton, CF | Mauer, C | |
| Beltre, A, DH | Morneau, DH | |
| Young, M, 3B | Willingham, LF | |
| Cruz, N, RF | Doumit, RF | |
| Murphy, Dv, LF | Valencia, 3B | |
| Napoli, C | Parmelee, 1B | |
| Snyder, B, 1B | Casilla, A, 2B | |
| _Darvish, P | _Blackburn, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Texas | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 1 |
The Hrbek statue unveiling turned out to be the highlight of the day for the Twins. Nick Blackburn pitched well enough in his 5.1 innings, but left with a stiff shoulder and is “day-to-day” which, as Twins fans recall from last season, means we’re unlikely to see him in uniform for a month. The bullpen didn’t do their job today, as Brian Duensing and Glen Perkins each coughed up a couple of runs (though only one of Perkins’ was earned).
But the real story of this loss was, once again, the assbats. Specifically the assbats that were used whenever runners got on base, which was pretty much every inning. Twins hitters, collectively, stranded 15 runners and managed only 2 hits in 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position. It’s REAL tough to win games with that kind of futility in the clutch.
Let’s see if they support Liam Hendriks a bit better than that tomorrow afternoon.
By the time Hendriks takes the mound, he’ll have a new team mate. Outfielder Clete Thomas, who was Designated For Assignment by the Tigers a couple days ago, was claimed today by the Twins. Scott Baker was moved to the 60-Day DL to make room on the 40-man roster for Thomas and after the game, the Twins optioned Ben Revere to AAA Rochester, where he’ll get steady playing time instead of sitting idle on the Twins’ bench, to make room for Thomas on the active roster. – JC
