Well, It Was Split Road Trip

One of the old adages in sports states that you'll have a good season if you play well at home and close to .500 on the road.

Well, by taking the Cubs series, the Twins finally had a .500 road trip. I know that they have a lot of making up to do to actually get to .500 on the road. But hey...baby steps.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 7 - Cubs 4
Saturday: Twins 2 - Cubs 0
Sunday: Twins 2 - Cubs 3

Twins take series.

It was a busy weekend, so I missed a lot of Friday's and Saturday's games. Most of what I do know about those games, I heard about after the fact.

I did watch most of Sunday's game, but it was really weird -- in fact, it was annoying. The audio from WFTC kept cutting out, and when we could hear it, it was out of sync -- we could hear the bat hit the ball well before we could see it. The whole thing gave me a really bad feeling for the entire game.

Here are the few things I actually know about this series:

• Milton Bradley needs an abacus when he's playing out in right-field so he can count how many outs there are. He's lucky it was a harmless gaffe.
  
• Saying "Joe, no interesting" to Joe Nathan while looking at the radio isn't as effective as saying it while looking at the TV. He, indeed, made it "interesting" on Saturday while I was speaking to the radio in hubby's pickup. Fortunately, he's pretty good at his job and knows what to do.
  
• Carlos Gomez really can hit a homerun. Now that that's over with, maybe he'll relax and stop swinging for the fences every time he bats.
  
• Joe Mauer is a really good hitter. Yeah, I know I didn't really learn that during this series, but he did a nice job of reminding me.

Up next: an off day, then the Pirates at home.

Also, I'm sending all the Get Well Mo-Jo I can muster and send it to Cuddy's hand; D-Span's head; Creeedeee's back, knee, leg, shoulder, wrist, forearm, or whatever else hurts; and any sore body parts to any Twins players who need it.

Moments

*Sigh* Another split series. And that final game was a real bummer. Oh well, it's not so bad.

Recap:
Monday: Twins 3 - A's 4
Tuesday: Twins 10 - A's 5
Wednesday: Twins 6 - A's 3
Thursday: Twins 3 - A's 4

This series was odd. Every time the Twins took a lead in a game, and they had early leads in all of them, I just didn't feel comfortable (ok, I felt a little comfortable when we headed into the 9th on Tuesday leading 10-0...right up until Scotty walked that first batter).

There were fantastic moments, like Morneau's and Kubel's homers on Tuesday. There were some dreadful moments, like the 9th inning on Tuesday.

There were solid moments, like the bullpen innings on Wednesday. There were shaky moments, like Swarzak's innings on Monday.

There were gleeful moments, like Crede's homer on Thursday. There were heartbreaking moments, like the 8th and 9th innings on Thursday.

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Up next: the Cubbies! I hope the Twins have a good time there and pull out a couple wins. And pitchers hitting -- I love that.

Another Head Scratcher

Like I've mentioned before, I'm not anywhere close to thinking about considering myself an expert when it comes to managing a baseball game. I love the game; I have a basic understanding of the game; I know many rules of the game; but I am lacking in many of the nuances of the game. Much of the "strategery" that happens before each play ensues is lost on me, simply because I've never been out there.

With that being said, I am wondering why in the world Gardy would pull Crede for a pinch-runner (Casilla) after his lead-off triple (which was smokin' hot by the way) in the top of the ninth of Wednesday's game. I know that Casilla is a much faster runner than Crede, and I know we really needed the run, but there was nobody out, so a simple base-hit or a decent sac fly would've scored any runner easily (even Matthew LeCroy).

My real problem with the whole thing is: wouldn't you want your best defense on the field for the bottom of the ninth in a close game? It was a tie game right at that point, so a bottom of the ninth was guaranteed. I don't mean to be mean, but lately "best defense on the field" doesn't include Alexi Casilla. It does, however, include Joe Crede. And what if that were the only run the Twins scored? Then that double that Giambi hit would've loomed even larger.

I'm just glad that Delmon and Brendan made the whole thing a moot point.

I'd Like To Buy a Bag of Gummi Bears For...

Jason Kubel

I am nothing if not a woman of my word. In the seventh inning of Tuesday's game, right after both Mauer and Morneau reached, Jason Kubel stepped into the box. I looked up from my laptop, looked at Kubel's face on TV, and literally said out loud, "Jason, I'll buy you a bag of Gummi Bears if you hit a homerun." And he did. And it was sweet.

This is significant due to a series of events. First, this article mentioned how Gummi Bears fueled Kubel to hit two three-run homeruns in one game last week. Then, earlier this evening, I saw a piece on SportsCenter about how the Lakers' Lamar Odom loves loves loves candy and sweets, which reminded me of the above article, so I told j-bro about it. Then, right before I looked up and spoke only to the TV, I was playing a game on Pogo called Sweet Tooth, which features Gummi Bears as game pieces. I don't play it very often because I used to play it a lot and kind of got sick of it, but tonight I thought "what the heck?"

So the article, the Odom piece, the game, and Jason Kubel all came together to create one perfect, sweet, delicious moment. We need all of those we can get while on the road. Thank you.

[EDIT:] Yeah, clearly I wrote the above post before the ninth inning clown show. If I had waited until after the game, my enthusiasm would've been a little tempered.

But I did some asking to find out what happened to our relievers. Rumor has it that former-Twin Craig Breslow brought over some wasabi peas and told the guys they were just like the sugar-coated peanuts you get at Chinese buffets. Obviously the boys dug right in (who wouldn't). And since they were expecting sweet instead of heat, they tossed them into their mouths by large handfuls. Once the spice kicked in,they were quite uncomfortable, but they were too embarrassed and too macho to admit it, so they just kept eating. Then Crain and then Mijares were called in to pitch, but the hot snack made their eyes water so badly they couldn't see Joey's mitt. Fortunately for the Twins, Joe Nathan didn't eat any because he had just put a new piece of gum in his mouth and he didn't feel like taking it out.

Pitching Duels?

Well, at least the Twins didn't get swept...for what that's worth. And they are still struggling to score runs on the road.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 2 - Mariners 1
Saturday: Twins 1 - Mariners 2
Sunday: Twins 2 - Mariners 4
Twins drop series

Looking at these scores, it would appear that this series had some nice pitching duels. Any time the game is low-scoring, that's the term that the announcers use. And I guess it's true, because all pitchers involved did a nice job making pitches when they had to and keeping their teams in the game. But the games were also fraught with wasted opportunities. Both sides were guilty, but the Twins were far more so.

Let's look a the team LOBs (runners left on base):
Friday: Twins 10 - Mariners 6
Saturday: Twins 9 - Mariners 6
Sunday: Twins 12 - Mariners 13

And the team RISPs (hitting with runners in scoring position):
Friday: Twins 1 for 9 - Mariners 0 for 4
Saturday: Twins 1 for 7 - Mariners 0 for 4
Sunday: Twins 0 for 8 - Mariners 0 for 9

I've never claimed to be very "stat-y." But these numbers tell me what I intuited while I was watching the games: pretty much that the Twins should've scored more runs than they did. But on the flip side of the same coin, Liriano and Blackburn pitched very well (and even though Slowey struggled, he wasn't devastatingly awful). Too bad the Twins hitters made the Mariners pitchers seem like they pitched very well too.

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Now, the boys are off to Oakland for a four-game (my favorite - not) series. I'm not a fan of weekday west-coast series, because I'm an (almost) old woman and I need my sleep. But not watching is not an option because I lay awake wondering. I'm a fool and I know it. Note to co-workers: if I have dark circles under my eyes and seem to be crabbier than usual this week, it's only the late Twins games.

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And what is up all the four-game series? Do the Twins usually have this many? I don't think so.

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Speaking of Oakland, what's the over/under on the number of times Bert mentions the vast amount of foul territory in the Coliseum during the three games FSN will be broadcasting? I'll say over 11.5 times.

A Couple of Pitchers on My Mind

Obviously, I'm a Twins fan. But beyond that, I am a fan of baseball. Today, I've been thinking about a couple of pitchers whose stories vary greatly.


Randy Johnson
If you haven't heard yet, Johnson tallied his 300th win Thursday. What's absolutely amazing about that is that he had several seasons shorted by injury (or in the case of '94, strike). Many guys don't bounce back like Johnson, but he's only gotten better with age. He's always thrown heat, but early in his career, his control was an issue; he walked or plunked, like, everybody. He led the league in walks '90-'92 and hit batsmen in '92 and '93. But that wildness was part of the success. How frightening would it be to be standing in the box watching a 99 mph pitch and have no idea where it's going? Add that to his ugly, mean, angry demeanor, and the man is badass. He's a five-time Cy Young winner and a 10-time All Star. He's pitched a no-hitter and a perfect game. He's second on the all-time strikeouts list and the 24th member of the 300 Club. And, he's the only member of the 300 Club to have defeated every MLB team. The only problem with him going to the Hall someday is deciding which hat will his bust wear.



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Fausto Carmona
You may have noticed that the Twins easily chewed up Carmona on Thursday. He gave up four runs before logging his first out of the game. As a result, the Indians sent him down to "the minor league complex" on Friday (read: Rookie League - ouch!). And as much as I was glad the Twins got a bunch runs and chased him from the game early, reading about his struggles really do bum me out. Carmona captured my interest in 2007 during the ALDS against the Yankees. Remember the "bug game" that turned Joba Chamberlain into a big wuss? Well, it was cool-cat Carmona who took a breath, fixed his gaze on the catcher's glove, cleared the mechanism, and sat down Yankees one by one. No silly little swarm was going to bother him. He was awesome; I truly enjoyed watching him pitch. Clearly this wasn't the same fellow who took the Metrodome mound on Thursday. I really hope he can find his command or his stuff or whatever it is he's missing and come back better.




Photo credits:
Johnson: ABC News
Carmona: cleveland.com

Just Stuff

Overall, this was a decent series. Wednesday was a little demoralizing, but they made up for it on Thursday. And because Detroit and Chicago didn't have decent series, we're now firmly in second place only 2.5 games back.

Recap:
Tuesday: Twins 4 - Indians 3
Wednesday: Twins 1 - Indians 10
Thursday: Twins 11 - Indians 3
Twins take series

Now, they're on the road for a bunch. Ok, well I hope today's win pepped the boys up to carry over the trip. And I hope they packed their home-away-from-home goodies I suggested too late last time. Most of all, I hope they stay positive and really believe they can win on the road. Rah.

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So I don't really have a theme to go with today. I do have a bunch of random thoughts rattling around in my brain, so I'm just gonna spill them out in whatever order I think of them. I know it's kind of lame. Ok, it's really lame. But it's all I got.

• I'm glad Scotty had a good outing today. Hopefully he can stay in this good groove.
• I'm not too worried about Swarzak ... yet. He's still learning; he just needs to make some adjustments. I'm looking forward to his next outing to see if he can do it. Wait...will he get a next outing, or will Perk be back by then. I don't know.
• I am, however, too worried about Liriano. He's been around long enough to know how to make adjustments. I predict that he has another horrible outing on Friday, he'll probably wind up in the bullpen. Or, they'll put him on the DL for some mystery "injury." Either way, Swarzy might just get that next outing. Of course, I really hope he has an awesome outing.
  
• I like the campaign the Twins put together for All-Star Game voting. It features Uncle Sam wearing a Twins hat and saying, "Speak softly and carry big sticks." Check it out on the Twins website. And while you're there, you may as well vote for Joey and Justin.

And totally off-topic (I know, there wasn't a topic to begin with...whatever), but on my mind anyway:

• I went to Einstein Bros for lunch today. As I walked in, I noticed two women sitting at one of the tables. I'd put them in their mid 50s. One of the women was wearing only, get this, a sports bra and shorts. She was very fit and pretty tan, so she wasn't nastily ugly. But, still, that was an awful lot of skin for 11:30 am. In fact, it was an awful lot of skin for any time of day. I don't care if she was just jogging -- I wear more clothes than that when I exercise (hell, I wear more clothes than that when I sleep, but that's probably more than you wanted to know) -- she needs to throw on a t-shirt, especially in a restaurant. I was glad I took my lunch to go.