So, a few things to talk about before the game starts today:
1) We have a brand spanking new Twin! Randy Flores was claimed off waivers from the Colorado Rockies today. He’s basically a situational lefty and gives us another option in the pen than Glen Perkins – who isn’t so great against Lefties anyway. If you do a lot of baseball blog reading, you will find a lot of commentary on how his numbers aren’t really spectacular so it’s not really lighting anyone up. However, I’m glad they are finally dealing with the lack of lefty options in our pen – it’s been something I have been whining about for weeks. 😀 Maybe I should have whined a little louder. Ron Mahay was moved to the 60 day DL to make room for Mr. Flores. I say, “WELCOME TO THE TWINS, RANDY!”
2) We have news about an OLD Twin too. I have always had a soft spot for Al Newman and still really miss him – something all Knuckleballers are aware of. Well, the man has decided he likes Minnesota enough to live here in his post-baseball days. And now, Al has a new job! He’s now the new Head Baseball Coach at Apple Valley High School! Congratulations Al!
Ok, that news aside, tonight should be interesting. I always love it when our boys face a lefty so I think the Lefty/Lefty matchup should make for a great game! Let’s bring the offense tonight though ok? I miss that.
| Minnesota | @ | Texas |
| Span, CF | Andrus, SS | |
| Hudson, O, 2B | Young, M, 3B | |
| Mauer, C | Hamilton, LF | |
| Cuddyer, 1B | Guerrero, DH | |
| Young, D, LF | Molina, B, C | |
| Kubel, DH | Moreland, RF | |
| Valencia, 3B | Cantu, 1B | |
| Repko, RF | Blanco, A, 2B | |
| Hardy, SS | Borbon, CF | |
| Duensing, P | Wilson, C, P |
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I’m going to try to be uncharacteristically positive after this loss tonight. I’m sure there will be no shortage of further critical articles and posts to be found on other sites, anyway.
The much maligned defense actually held together pretty well tonight. The long ball did the damage tonight and there are not many ways to defend against balls that land several feet beyond the fence (and the Ballpark at Arlington is known for yielding home runs). And Brian Duensing actually pitched quite well again, despite giving up a couple of gopher balls. Lots of guys give up dingers to Vlad and Hamilton. The Twins also got two fine innings of relief pitching from Jon Rauch and Jesse Crain.
Denard Span, who’s also been getting plenty of criticism around these parts, got a couple of hits, as did Jason Kubel. Danny Valencia went them one better with three hits. Yes, of course, it would have been nice to get more than one hit with runners in scoring position. That continues to be frustrating.
At the end of the day, however, probably the most positive thing you can say about tonight is that we get to cross off one more day of the season without giving up ground to the White Sox in the standings (thank you, Baltimore Orioles). – JC