5/20/05: Brewers/Twins

[Steak]

Let the border rivalry begin as the interleague series starts this weekend. The Twins and Brewers will go at it six times for the meaningless bragging rights of winning the border rivalry. I mention meaningless bragging rights because I hate interleague play. I wrote a thread in the main baseball board today about how interleague play lost its luster. I can't get into this border rivalry. Sure the Twins and the Brewers had a great rivalry in the late 80s, but it hasn't been the same since the Brew Crew left for the NL. This border series will never be confused with Packers/Vikings. I know Wisconsities are up for it because they don't like the fact Minnesotans invade Miller Park when the Twins go to Milwaukee so they get their satisfaction by seeing their team beat the Twins. Here's hoping that changes this year. I am hoping the Twins match the Brewers sense of urgency this year. Brewers always get up for the Twins while the Twins treat this another game.

Carlos Silva will be on the hill for the Twins tonight. He has been good overall this season.

Glover vs. Silva

[Steak]

What a performance from the Twins tonight. Their hitters hit the pinetar of the Brewers pitchers all night long and they got a sterling complete-game performance from Carlos Silva. That's third straight game that they have won and that's the third straight game that they have played very good. Now this is what I am talking about. They are winning with clutch hitting and very good pitching. Hopefully, this combination sticks.

Twins were able to hit Gary Glover very early. He did not last very long there. As soon as Cuddyer got the big RBI hit, he hit the showers. Twins hitters were able to get the bases loaded in the first inning, but Torii hit a DP to get out of it so Glover got away with it in the first inning. Unfortuantely, Glover did not get away with it in the second and Brewers manager Ned Yost saw enough in the second as Glover hit the showers. Jorge De La Rosa did not fare well either for the Brew Crew. It was a rough go for their pitchers tonight.

How about Michael Cuddyer? Another great night. He had two hits tonight. He has a nine-game hitting streak. He is just hot right now and it's good to see him play well. He is a good hitter when he is on and it's great when he is the one driving in runs.

Nick Punto played a great game. 3 hits. It's good to see him playing instead of being in the DL as he was rumored to be

Juan Castro continues to play well. He got couple of hits including his first home run of the year. It's good to see him producing out there and making the most of his playing time.

The Twins hitting though could be the footnote of this game considering Carlos put on a show tonight. He was fantastic. He pitched a complete game. The amazing stat of the night was that he threw 74 pitches in this entire game and he had like 50 pitches in the sixth inning. Carlos was just working fast and throwing strikes. It helped that the Brewers took stupid at-bats and the fact they were hitting at fielders. Still to throw 74 pitches in a major league game is pretty darn good. Carlos has had a very good year overall. To think he would be out for the year. I never thought he would come back quickly and pitch this well, but that's what he done. I am very proud of Carlos.

The webgem of the night was when Jacque made a great catch from the OF and then threw the runner at first. I tell ya what. Jacque has an very underrated arm. You can't run on him anymore. This guy has a cannon of arm and his throw is so good. I never saw that in him. He is so underrated defensively. He has to lead the team in putouts.

The only downer of this game was Torii hitting into a DP twice of this game with the bases loaded. That was frustrating and it's good thing the Twins did well offensively as Torii's DP with the bases loaded TWICE was overlooked.

Just last thing. I got to see Joe Nathan's wife Lisa and Lew Ford's wife in the booth tonight. When I saw them, I just said it's interesting how the players always get the lucky ladies.

These last three games has been awesome and fun to watch. Let's keep it going.

[Steak]

Here's Carlos line on how many pitches that he threw per inning:

6 pitches in the first inning
7 pitches in the second inning
10 pitches in the third inning
8 pitches in the fourth inning
13 pitches in the fifth inning
3 pitches in the sixth inning
7 pitches in the seventh inning
10 in the eighth inning
10 in the ninth inning

Source: Star Tribune's Lavelle E. Neal III

Like I said, that was wonderfully done last night.

Carlos was so good that Ron Gardenhire became even a bigger footnote than the Twins offense. Ron got his 300th win last night. Congraulations to him. Ron can drive me crazy with his managerial decisions, but his 300 wins and the three divisional championships speak for itself as what a good manager he is. I am really happy for Ronnie.