At least this lineup is a little more familiar than yesterday’s mental stunner. Morneau is out for the second day with the flu – I bet they are passing that around the clubhouse – and it’s one of the few teams that I wish he wasn’t quite such good friends with Mauer. Speaking of whom, Joe saw the specialist in Baltimore and then immediately flew back home to MN. When questioned about whether or not there was going to be an updated diagnosis for Mauer, team officials responded that his dual diagnosis of bilateral leg weakness and viral infection would stand and weren’t going to get any amendments. Whether the two are related or not is not really a big deal.
Anyway, let’s play ball!
| Minnesota | @ | Baltimore |
| Span, CF | Roberts, B, 2B | |
| Tolbert, 2B | Markakis, RF | |
| Kubel, RF | Lee, D, 1B | |
| Thome, DH | Guerrero, DH | |
| Young, D, LF | Reynolds, M, 3B | |
| Cuddyer, 1B | Jones, A, CF | |
| Valencia, 3B | Fox, J, LF | |
| Butera, C | Wieters, C | |
| Casilla, A, SS | Andino, SS | |
| Liriano, P | Tillman, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Baltimore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
There was some good and some bad in this game but.. since it’s the first time we have been able to get a back to back win this season, I’m going to just say it was Good. Liriano wasn’t as good as I have seen him be in the past but he hung in there long enough andgot the job done – that’s going to happen to all pitchers and I hope that he’s able to do that kind of thing more often. His defense really did a great job behind him tonight for the most part – including a moment where Casilla was channeling the recently departed Nick Punto. I guarantee someone says that to Lexi in the clubhouse after the game tonight.
Secondly, this strike zone tonight was ridiculous – it was ridiculous for both teams though honestly but still it just SUCKED. The players were not appreciating that fact either which started to get pretty ugly at one point – and necessitated a little Showtime from the Manager. Gardy got ejected but following that, you got the unique visual of coaches literally trying to haul Thome off the homeplate ump – not an easy job & I can’t really remember seeing Big Jim get that mad before.
The new guy, Hoey, had a pretty solid (impressive even) outing in his Twins debut. It’s fun to see a legitimate heater thrown like that even if you do pause with each wind-up and pray that it goes where he wants it. Fun Stuff!
The BEST thing about tonight contributed highly to the Chat’s vote for BOD. Our spotlight hitter of the night was no other than … *drumroll* Sweet Drew Butera! no, really! it was! 2 hits with a double and 3 RBI actually give him a better BA than Thome (and Tolbert & Casilla). For keeping Francisco anchored for more than 5 innings, for getting the run-scoring off to a great start and for being a generally excellent backup for the ailing Mauer, Drew Butera is today’s BOD!
Butera was Redmond like behind the dish. encouraging the pitchers with gestures and patting his glove and all that stuff. Steve Holm was doing that the other day too…its something you dont see Joe Mauer do
I totally voted for Butera too. His name might just go on the back of my new jersey!