Twins start 10 game road trip with a W

[henks]

It was a pitching duel really. Felix and Frankie.

E7 in the top of the 10th wins it for MN. Nathan gets the save.

[catman]

What a way to end a great game.

[catman]

Today, Blackburn and Washburn hooked up in a very good game. Neither was around at the end, but both pitched well. The Mariners won the game 2-1 on a double in the bottom of the 8th, driving in Ichiro (who started another hitting streak today?). Sean Henn took the loss and Chris Jakubauskas was the winner. David Aardsma got a save (#9).

[henks]

Sucks for Blackburn, looked like he pitched another good one.

[mntwinsfan]

Twins can't beat the M's.. What's new?

[catman]

The Twins finished their 10 games against the Mariners 5-5.
Now, they start their 10 games with Oakland. Tonight, Swarzak had some control issues and Ayala allowed a go-ahead homer to Jack Cust. Sean Henn is pitching pretty well, 2 innings, 2 k's, no baserunners. Will Gardy send him out for a 3rd inning?

[catman]

The Twins lost last night, 4-3. The bullpen did OK allowing only 1 run and 2 hits in 4.1 innings, but it was the winning run. The bats were pretty silent, only getting 5 hits the entire game. Morneau obviously had trouble seeing the ball from Outman, striking out 3 times in as many ABs. Mauer was 2/4. Gomez drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk and Tolbert followed with a 2-run single, giving Swarzak a 3-run lead in the 4th inning. Unfortunately, he came out and threw 10 consecutive balls. He gave up 2 walks and hit a batter (in the head), followed by a double to Center which Gomez mis-played a bit allowing 3 runs to score. Swarzak left the game with 2 outs in the 4th inning. Ayala came in and actually pitched OK, only making 1 mistake -- which was hit out by Jack Cust. Sean Henn pitched 2.1 innings of very good ball, allowing no baserunners. Guerrier finished the game with a fly out and ground out.

[Kingdom]

I wanted to comment on this earlier, but I found it amusing that two 'burns faced off. Sorry that Washburn took the annual Burn Bowl.

Oakland has had some fine pitching from Mazzaro and Outman lately.

[catman]

Tonight, the Twins seemed to figure out Brett Anderson pretty easily and Baker pitched very well, allowing only 3 baserunners through 8 innings. Presently, the score is 10-3, with no one out in the bottom of the 9th. The A's have scored all of their runs this inning. Alexi Casilla seems to want to do too much at times. The Twins are making another pitching change now with Mijares replacing Crain.

[henks]

Good offensive outburst, with Morneau and Kubel each hitting their first home runs of the road trip.

[catman]

Bert seemed upset with Baker last night, especially with his attitude in the 9th inning. Bert said, and I agree, that a pitcher has to want to finish off a good game like that. Baker needs to develop a "killer-instinct". He has very good stuff, but doesn't finish well, at times.
Maybe Liriano will show him how to do it tonight? Had it been Johan on the mound, the game would have been about 30 minutes shorter and the Twins would have won it 10-0.

[catman]

Liriano seems to be throwing what Redmond is calling for tonight, with very good results through 2 innings. He hit Matt Holliday in the leg for the only baserunner he has allowed. 3 K's, no walks. Nice tight slider and change up so far.
The Twins have not done a lot against Dallas Braden yet, so the score is 0-0.

[catman]

The Twins did a nice job of coming back tonight. Kubel absolutely crushed a Wuertz fastball, tying the game at 3 in the 8th, and then Crede hit another shot to center that Davis made a nice play on to keep it in the park. He didn't know that he'd not caught the ball and couldn't find it. Crede ended up with a triple. After that, the Twins played some "small-ball" and scored 3 runs in the 9th, giving Nathan quite a pad. He was not as sharp as last night, and allowed a double to Giambi (after he forgot the count and started to 1st on ball 3). Nathan settled down, striking out 2 and picking up his 13th save of the season.

[henks]

Bad day at work. Didn't watch the game but saw the boxscore...nice to see the Twins hitting with some power again.

[catman]

The A's were able to score 4 runs in the final 2 innings of today's game, winning the game 4-3. Crede hit a 3-run homer in the 4th inning for the Twins.