Texas Comes North

[catman]

For a 3-game series, starting tonight. Here are the pitching matchups:
Tonight, Matt Fox makes his major league debut against Derek Holland.
Tomorrow, Carl Pavano hosts Colby Lewis.
Sunday, its Scott Baker (hopefully his elbow is OK) v. CJ Wilson.

[catman]

Fox looked pretty good in his first inning and the Twins were the recipient of a questionable call at 2nd (they were the victims of 3 of them last night). The Twins lead 1-0.

[catman]

Matt Fox has looked good for 5 innings. I'm very pleased with his performance sofar. The Rangers tied the game in their half of the 2nd inning and it has remained 1-1 since then.

[catman]

Nice way to open another series. Twins come back to win the game 4-3 with Burnett picking up the win and Capps getting a 5-out save (10 pitches). Everyone should be available tomorrow.
Defensively, Jason Repko made a great throw to get Alex Cora at 3rd base.
Good win for the Twins, but Danny Valencia came out of the game with a "tight" hamstring. Josh Hamilton also left the game with a (hopefully) minor leg injury.

[Tobywan]

Josh has been trying to play through pain, he had 1 or maybe it's even 2 cortizone shots already and the doctors are reluctant to give him more. With Cruz already out that could be a huge blow to the Rangers if they have to do with out Josh, too.

[catman]

The Twins bats seem to have awakened today. Thome has 2 homers, Tolbert has a 3-run triple and Hardy has a double and a single. Stasche has pitched 4 1-hit innings. He has not allowed a walk or strike out.

[Tobywan]

Hey now, give a little more love to my man Thome, that was 583 and 584 to surpass Big Mac.

Nice win for the Twins, they clobbered ‘em.

[catman]

Thome's 2 homers were certainly welcome. He's playing very well this year. Gardy and he have a good understanding about how to use his skills.
Tolbert's 2 triples were very good also. If he can drive the ball the way he did last September, he'll get quite a bit of playing time. Hardy and Hudson will get a couple of days off as they need them.
Congrats to Gentleman Jim on passing Big Mac.
Today's game was the perfect place for Rob Delaney to get his feet wet in the bigs. He pitched 1 inning and allowed a long home run to Ian Kinsler, a walk and got the 3 outs he was asked to get.

[catman]

The Twins won another game today -- 6-5 on a very strange call. Michael Young was called out for making contact with the 3rd base coach. Tough way to end the game, but I guess its in the rulebook.
Blackburn pitched a very good game allowing 2 runs in 7 innings. Jon Rauch pitched a tidy 8th but allowed a couple of runs in the 9th. Capps came in, giving up 3 hits and a run, and benefitting from the confusing call.

The Major League Baseball rule governing the play:
Rule 7.09
It is interference by a batter or a runner when:
(h) In the judgment of the umpire, the base coach at third base, or first base, by touching or holding the runner, physically assists him in returning to or leaving third base or first base.

Nice to see the Twins sweep the Rangers, especially when they had their "legends" game before the regular one. Texas manager Ron Washington played in the legends game and his team had a good time laughing at him, and the rest of the legends. A good time was had by everyone that participated, I'm sure. Lots of laughs and smiles, no injuries to anyone. I guess that's important too.

[catman]

very good series.