6/15/05: Giants/Twins

[Steak]

Twins play the second of a three-game series tonight against the Giants at the Dome. Twins are coming off a thrilling win last night in extra innings thanks to Shannon's usual clutch hitting.

Kyle will be on the hill tonight. One of the reasons why the Twins have a good lead at the wild-card race is because of Kyle. He has been fantastic and when he does well, it's even great. He had a little bump in the road in Phx last week so hopefully he will be better tonight.

Lowry vs. Lohse

[Steak]

Kyle is such an enigma as you saw tonight. I can't seem to figure him out just like Gardy and Rick Anderson can't figure him out. He stinks the joint in the first and third inning, but then he gives you a glimpse of what a special pitcher he can be. I loved how he struck out the side against the Giants in the second inning. He was very good after the third inning. I am so frustrated that he can go pitch very good after one bad inning. I don't know what to make of Kyle's performance tonight. Sure he did well, but he cost the team by giving up way too many runs in the first and third. Personally if I have to choose, I did not think he was that great. I am glad he eat up innings and save the pen, but I like to see him set the tone for the first few innings of the game. I wish he would be that domainant from the get-go rather than in the middle of the game when the game is out of reach.

It was good to make a game out of it and the Twins had an couple of opportunities to tie the game, but they could not get the big hit to tie at 5. Twins just fell way behind in this game to make a comeback. It's hard to keep comingback when you are in that hole which is why I am really expaserated with the way Kyle pitched tonight in the first and third inning of the game.

J.C. was good in the eighth, but he started to get hit hard in the ninth as the Giants put it away with the insurance run.

Joe Mauer had a good game as he had two hits.

Torii just continues to swing a hot bat as he homered.

Grant Williams made couple of good plays at third and he got some hits. I tell ya what. I really like watching Grant play. Maybe he can be a good guy to come of our struggling bench.

I thought the offense was solid overall. I just thought Kyle put the Twins in such a hole that it was hard to recover. He did not deserve to win tonight no matter how great he was in the rest of the game.

This loss hurts with the Sux winning tonight so the Twins are now 5 games behind. Fortunately, the Twins can be 4.5 games up tommorow if they can take the series against the Giants tommorow night. This is a series that they gotta have against a bad Giants team.

BTW, it was nice to hear Johan miked up with Dick and Bert tonight on FSN North. Johan raved about Joe Mauer's work as a catcher and as a leader. He talked about how he enjoyed working with Joe. He also talked about his season a little bit. Johan also talked about how he was honored to be Circled By Bert. It was awesome to hear him.

[DiamondGirl]

I too enjoyed the bit with Johan. He just seems to be having fun no matter what!

OK, the Twins need to make a decision about JC - he has shown me nothing in the majority of his outings. Sure he has looked good here and there but look at the his games in total. Those three runs he gave up in the 9th put the game totally out of reach for the Twins. One run difference was was do-able but I believe the guys didn't even attempt a comeback in the bottom of the 9th down by 3.

And to top it off the Indians won in 11 which puts them only 9 games back (4 behind the Twins)! Let's not let them creep up in the standings!

Except for the first inning, Kyle pitched pretty solid. I think he needs to go out there the next time thinking that he gave up 6 runs and be really angy - he seemed to pitche better yesterday when he was angry!!

We've got a pretty good chance to at least win the series tonight.

Let's go Twins.

[Steak]

I have made it clear that I don't care for J.C. I have no idea what the Twins see in this guy, but then again he is just a situational reliever now with Jesse dominating the seventh. I just had enough with J.C. and if he is gone next year, it would not sad me. J.C. is great just to get 1 or 2 outs, but having him pitch for one or two full innings is too much to ask. Sure he can pitch a great game against the Dodgers Saturday night, but then you get this.

I notice the Tribe are starting to cut in the Twins lead, but I ain't worried about them. They are so hot and so cold. They will struggle evnetually again.

Did you caught the quote on Gardy mentioning how the Twins need to be patient and Torii countered with how it's easy to say that when he is not playing? I agree with Torii. It's hard to hit and score runs in the majors. I thought Kyle Lohse was the reason why they lost last night not because of the hitters. Runs and hits come at such a premium. Bottom line is pitching sets the tone.