4/15/05: Twins/Indians

[Steak]

After a successful homestand which included the sweep of the Tigers, the Twins go on the road to play hated rivals in the Indians and the She-ca-o Whiney Sux. First things first and that's the Cleveland Indians. This is a big series. Indians are more of a threat to the Twins than the Whiney Sux IMO. Indians got good young pitching and great hitters. Unfortunately for them, they got pen problems. Still that team is a threat. Indians have played the Twins tough even when they stunk in 2002. Twins have won the season series in the last three years, but as Ron Gardenhire and his team will tell you that it has not been easy going up against them.

Indians have been a hated rival for the Twins. There is no love lost from both organization especially with the hatred coming from the Indians. This hatred began in 2001 when the Twins were the team on the rise and as the veteran Indians would go degrade the Twins and all. I think Indians/Twins is a poor man's version of Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. I don't think anyone like each other and I expect this rivalry to match up a notch. I was reading a quote from that gangsta C.C. Sabathia on Sunday about how he hates the Twins and he seems serious too. Well I don't like him either and I hope he gets his Sunday afternoon when he makes his first start.

A good pitching duel tonight between Johan and Indians All-Star pitcher Jake Westbrook at Jacobs Field. Johan has not lost in quite some time. I just hope it's not tonight against the hated Indians. His counterpart, Jake Westbrook has proven that his great year last year has not been a fluke so far.

Should be a interesting series.

Cy-tana vs. Westbrook

GO TWINS!

[mntwinsfan]

Twins win 3-2. Santana pitched well. Terry Tiffee 2 rbis. Looks like we found a good guy that will be able to hit the ball. I believe we are 7-3, good start to the season!

Go Twins

[Steak]

Great ballgame tonight and a great win for the good guys. A character win for sure. Both teams played well tonight. I am just glad the Twins pulled it out especially with a neophyte starting for the Twins tommorow afternoon in Dave Gassner.

I was biting my fingernails and crossing my fingers all night long. This Indians team always scare me and tonight was no different. Indians made the Twins pitchers work all night long. I am just glad the pitchers found a way to dig deep and get it done.

Johan was good out there despite giving up two HRs. You gotta give the Indians credit in their approach of trying to hit Johan tonight. They were hitting some of his pitches and they made him work out there like fouling out his pitches. Fortunately for Johan and the Twins, he got it done as he was able to get out of jams through strikeouts and groundballs. He had 10 K's tonight. That is sick. I think you can bet the house that Johan will average 10 K's a game. That's how great he is. He pitches well beyond his age. He knows how to get out of jams so well that it's becoming a craft for him. He is on a 16-game winning streak and I am just glad he was able to keep his winning streak going. I could live with him losing to a bad team, but not against a divisional team like the Indians or the Whiney Sux.

The bullpen was huge as usual. J.C. was in a jam, but he found a way to get out of it with strikeouts. I can't tell you how proud I am at J.C. I know he is not going to keep it up and I am waiting for the shoe to drop, but I am going to enjoy his performance while it last. Juan was huge too in the eighth when the Indians were threatening. In the ninth, Joe was Joe.

It was good to get couple of big two-out hits by Terry and Matthew. I can't say enough about the job that Terry has done since his call-up as mntwinsfan mentioned. Twins really need to find a way to keep him on the roster because he can hit. As for Matthew, I like how he is getting on base and getting hits. I know that won't last so I will enjoy that as well.

I thought Torii and Shannon was great defensively. They robbed some hits off the Indians hitters.

Great win overall. It was good to start the series with a win.

It's a shame the game was not televised in the Twin Cities because it was a good game even though it seemed long.

And yes, the Twins are 7-3 along with the She-ca-go Whiney Sux.

[Steak]

If anyone wants to see to Johan mowed the Indians down, go to Twinsbaseball.com before this afternoon's game is over today. You won't see the highlights after that so check it when you can.

[Lynch]

What I had read about Johan, was that he wasn't really even on his game yesterday. Yeah, he got the win and yeah he got 10 SOs, but it was reported (in the article I read) that his fastball was slow, his changeup was off, etc etc. Was that true or just some dopey "news" guy making stuff up for some silly reason?

[Steak]

I think it's true. Besides Lavelle E. Neal and Gordon Wittemeyer are not the type to make up stuff for their respective papers.

There were times he labored and he seemed to struggle with the cold conditions last night in Cleveland. He still got it done. Could you imagine Brad getting it done if he was struggling in those conditions? Definitely not, but then again Johan is just a special pitcher.