Once again, the Twins will attempt to put an end to their current losing streak this afternoon.
Just because the Twins haven’t been winning baseball games, it doesn’t mean they’ve been doing nothing at all, however. The folks in charge have been playing musical chairs with the Twins active roster and their 40-man roster, as well.
The upshot of all the changes is that the Twins have two new members of their rotation. Sam Deduno started last night’s loss and PJ Walters is on the hill against the Tigers this afternoon.
The Twins needed to clear space on their 40-man roster for Walters and the odd man out turned out to be outfielder Joe Benson. Benson was a 2nd round draft pick by the Twins in 2006. He has been struggling at the plate for the past year or more and now he will get an opportunity to start over with the Texas Rangers organization. We wish him the best of luck.
Meanwhile, in the Big Leagues, manager Ron Gardenhire has put out a particularly odd line up against the Tigers today.
| TWINS |
@ |
TIGERS |
| Carroll, 2B | Dirks, LF | |
| Mauer, C | Hunter, To, RF | |
| Willingham, LF | Cabrera, M, 3B | |
| Morneau, 1B | Fielder, 1B | |
| Colabello, DH | Martinez, V, DH | |
| Parmelee, RF | Peralta, Jh, SS | |
| Ramirez, W, CF | Pena, B, C | |
| Escobar, E, 3B | Infante, 2B | |
| Florimon, SS | Kelly, D, CF | |
| _Walters, P, P | _Fister, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| Detroit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1 |
So much for that losing streak thing!
It’s not like the Twins went out and beat the crap out of the Tigers, of course. In fact, the only inning they scored in was the first inning when Mauer, Willingham, Morneau and Parmelee did some damage in building up a quick 3-0 lead.
Typically, there’s no way a lead like that would stand up for the Twins, but PJ Walters made the most of his first appearance in the Big Leagues this season, going six strong innings and giving up just two runs. The bullpen did their jobs to nail down the Twins win.
The far-too-rare Quality Start by a member of the Twins rotation gives Walters our Boyfriend of the Day award.
