I have to admit that I’m really interested to see how this series goes – it could be a bell-weather of the whole season. Both teams are kind of at a cross-roads with one on the upswing (I hope) and one sagging (so it appears).
Any predictions?
Roster update: Hicks is on the DL, Fuld is back and the Twins recalled Eric Fryer.
I’m also really interested to see how this new lineup order works AND how it gets adjusted when Dozier is back swinging a bat.
| Minnesota | @ | Detroit |
| Santana, D, CF | Kinsler, 2B | |
| Suzuki, K, C | Jackson, A, CF | |
| Mauer, 1B | Cabrera, M, 1B | |
| Willingham, LF | Martinez, V, DH | |
| Morales, K, DH | Martinez, J, RF | |
| Arcia, O, RF | Kelly, D, LF | |
| Plouffe, 3B | Castellanos, N, 3B | |
| Nunez, SS | Avila, C | |
| Escobar, E, 2B | Romine, A, SS | |
| Gibson, P | Smyly, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Detroit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
wow, that was actually a fun game to watch!
Of course it doesn’t hurt that we won but there were a lot of positives tonight – not the least of which is beating a division opponent and making progress back towards that .500 mark. We didn’t have a LOT of offense but getting that home run in the third from Escobar set up the win well. Only his 2nd HR of the year because he’s not a power hitter but I’ll take it regardless. And getting a walk off Joe Nathan in the 9th inning isn’t as hard as it used to be but it’s still nothing to sneeze at, especially when that walk sent in an additional cushion run! All your RBI’s are belong to Eduardo! I hope he enjoys the All-You-Can-Eat pastry buffet on us.
It turned out to be all that was necessary because Kyle really did a fantastic job tonight. And it wasn’t one of those “no one can touch him” kind of good jobs either. It was a night where he wasn’t perfect and figured out how to get the job done anyway – in some very big situations. He made life hard for himself in both the 5th and 7th innings and Gardy left him out there to figure it out. Had it all gone sour, we’d have been screaming that he once again left him in one pitch too long but I think it does a lot for a young pitcher to make it or break it on his own and we’ll be the better for it in the long run. This was an important game for Kyle because he statistically hasn’t done well on the road and he broke that “curse” tonight. With the 7 scoreless innings tonight, that is 15 consecutive for him without giving up a run. The bullpen was SOLID against this Tigers lineup with both Casey and Glenn putting out excellent innings but tonight was really all about Kyle and for that, he’s today’s BOD!
