Twins in Tampa

[catman]

Twins take game 1 of a 4 game set in St. Pete, scoring 5 in the 9th. The final score was 11-8. Nice to see a game like this go in the Twins favor, especially when Perkins lasted only 2/3 of an inning. Humber pitched 5 1/3 and Korecky pitched an inning. Guardado pitched the 8th, getting the win. Nathan came in and threw 7 pitches for his 37th save.
In the game, Evan Longoria hit 3 homers, continuing a troubling trend for the Twins pitchers. They have now allowed a leage worst 31 homers this month, hitting less than 10 themselves (they hit 2 tonight).
Alls well that ends well.
By the way, the Sox lost in New York tonight, so the Twins trail by 1.5 games going into the weekend. The Sox are in KC, and the Twins finish off their last road-trip in Tampa. Good way to start a series.

[henks]

They need to keep it rolling and finish out the season on a positive note.

[catman]

The Twins' pitching has not improved over the past couple of games. Blackburn had a short start, as did Slowey. Liriano has to show that last game was just a bump in the road if this team want to play on into October.
The good news is that the Sox are not playing much better and are coming to the Dome next week.

[catman]

Liriano comes through with a well-pitched game today. Nice to see him come off a poor start with a very good one.
The road season is done with the Twins record coming in at 35-46. How many of those games were very close, or did the team have a late lead in? They could, and probably should have, won at least 5 more road games than they did this season.
The Twins finish with 6 games at home -- 3 with the Sox and 3 with the Royals.