Twins at the Jake for 3

[catman]

Tonight at 6, its Blackburn v. Carmona.
Saturday at 6, its Slowey v. Pavano
Sunday at noon, Perkins goes against Laffey.

[henks]

Slowey has been getting progressively better, and Perkins is a beast.

Twins should take 2 of 3, if not sweep.

[henks]

Twins take the first one 5-1.

Blackburn goes 7, giving up 6 hits and only 1 run, while striking out 4.

Morneau hit a monster shot, and Morales went 2-4.

[catman]

Nice to see the Twins take the first game against the Indians. Lets see if they can continue pitching well the next 2. This was the game I was the most concerned about in this series. Carmona has pitched pretty well since being added to the rotation and Blackburn is hot and cold. He was hot tonight.

[catman]

Thusfar, the Twins are playing pretty well tonight. The right-handers are 5/8 with 4 consecutive hits in the 4th inning. Crede got an infield single to 3rd, Cuddyer hit a double down the left field line, Delmon Young hit a dribbler to left and Redmond hit a looper just out of the 2B's reach. So far, they have scored 2 runs, but just lost a runner on a poor base-running play by Young. Casilla hit a ball that Choo made a very nice catch on, ending the inning. It would have been good to score a couple more runs, but Slowey is pitching well. Its 3-0 in the middle of the 4th inning and Slowey has allowed 2 hits, both singles.

[catman]

Double by Hafner with 1 out. Slowey left a pitch up and out over the plate. Young almost made a good catch.

[henks]

Other than a few pitches...Slowey is punishing the strike zone. He looks pretty good tonight.

[catman]

Homer by Kubel extends the lead to 4-0. Slowey has 5 K's and no walks through 5 innings.

[catman]

Twins load the bases against Pavano and Perez comes in to relieve him. Span hit a sac fly to left, giving the Twins a 5-0 lead. Casilla fans and Morneau grounds out to 2B to end the inning.
It would be nice to have a big hit with RISP.

[catman]

Nice play by Victor Martinez at 1B. He just saved a couple of runs for the Indians.
Still 5-0 after 6 1/2 innings. The Twins should have 10 or 11 runs, though.

[catman]

Kubel and Crede go back-to-back in the top of the 9th. A fan was hit by Kubel's and is apparently hurt.
Such a shame that people get hurt watching ballgames.

[catman]

Twins win 7-1. Very good performance by Slowey. Kubel hits a couple of solo shots and Crede hits one a long way.

[henks]

Slowey looked great until the 9th, but Ayala eventually shuts the door.

Kubel has been hitting really well since that night he had the GS.


Let's go for the sweep!

[catman]

Frankly, the Twins need to beat up on the Indians now, while they are not playing their best. They need these wins.

[bcshorts]

Frankly, the Twins need to beat up on the Indians now, while they are not playing their best. They need these wins.

I would agree with that. Especially getting these without Mauer. I originally picked the Indians to win the division, but I'm not sure I'm sold on that anymore. The Twins pitching is just going to be so good, I'm not sure that Cleveland has the consistency to win the Central. However, they are better than this...