Twins at Yankees: On Moral Victories, Actual Victories, and Big Losses

Recap:
Monday: Twins 3 - Yankees 4
Tuesday: Twins 5 - Yankees 4
Wednesday: PPD (Make-up game in September)
Thursday: Twins 3 - Yankees 4

Record: 2-4

I'm not sure if I should actually write a recap since the series isn't technically over. In fact, the Twins will have this whole there's-one-more-game-in-Yankee-Stadium thing hanging over their heads until September. But at any rate, it is slightly comforting to know the Twins won't get swept in this series.

At least this series wasn't terribly embarrassing. Baker and Duensing pitched well, except for those homeruns they dished up. But I am encouraged that they were able to settle down, make adjustments, and figure it out.

Of course, how much fun was it to see the Twins come back from a four-run deficit on Tuesday? It was absolutely thrilling to see Joe Nathan have a clean save. Sure, he still has more work to do regarding velocity and location -- and getting that slider. But, it's been a while since he's earned a save against the Yankees; he even had trouble when he was healthy.

The Twins seem to play the Yankees hard, and they're right there in the games. But yeah, the losing is getting old. These are winnable games. At least I don't feel demoralized by these losses; they're just like any other losses. I'm just annoyed.

HIGH FIVES:

1. Delmon Young, for his bases-clearing double on Tuesday to allow the Twins to come back and tie, and then go on to win.

2. Matt Capps, for pitching two clean innining on 8 pitches each on Tuesday.

3. Joe Nathan, for a better save on Tuesday than the last one.
~~~


DL Report:

The biggest loss, of course, is the injury to Tsuyoshi Nishioka. He suffered a broken fibula on a hard take-out slide by Nick Swisher.

Let's take a look at the Injury Paper Doll. Note that, according to Joe Christensen of the StarTribune, the break was just below the knee (I already had the paper doll made before I knew that and it's really a pain in the ass to fix, so just pretend that that red starburst is up a little).

There's no specific timetable for Nishi's return yet, but I've seen a number of reports that indicate that it might be a couple of months. And the pain may linger up to a year.

I didn't see Swisher's slide, but just about everyone who did said it wasn't dirty. The Twins, in fact, said it was fair. There's a replay here. Hard slides like that happen all the time in MLB. I'm not necessarily a fan of how Swisher's leg goes up like a kick. However, usually the infielder jumps or gets out the way. That style of hard slides may not be done in Japanese ball, and Nishi may have been caught off-guard.

It's quite unfortunate. Twins fans were very excited to greet him in Minnesota. And his parents flew in from Japan to see him at his home opener. Very, very bad luck.

I was glad to read that Swisher went to apologize to Nishi. Of course, Nishi apologized right back.

The Twins recalled Luke Hughes from AAA Rochester to take the roster spot.

Also Watching:

Kevin Slowey has been shelved for a couple days due to tenderness in his bicep. Hopefully it's nothing series and it feels better after rest.

~~~

Further Updates on the Charter Issues:

I received word from Eric, one of the Umatter2Charter non-bot humans, that Charter Communications has an agreement-in-principle with Fox Sports North to air the additional 44 games.

Yay! Thanks Charter! And thanks Eric!

See the comments section in my previous post to see his entire message.