The WGOM

Saturday Morning Twins Talk

April 30th, 2005 by SBG

Hi SBG fans, this is SBG. NO cat blogging yet, I don't know if Lucy will get around to it or not. With two weeks to go before the wedding, there isn't a lot of time to talk about Jags and Theo. Sorry boys!

Last night, I was driving home and listening to the first couple of innings of the game. I was thinking that playing the Boys from Everywhere (LA of A!) would be a good test. The Twins had won five of their last ten games, all against the Royals. In fact, the Twins, going into last night had one win against teams over .500. So, seeing how they played against a good team would be interesting.

Except it wasn't at first. Carlos Silva was getting lit up like a Roman candle on July 4. Balls were flying everywhere. After 3 innings, the game was 4-1, advantage BfrE and SBG and Lucy were off to eat Mexican food. (No, not Chipotle.) While we were enjoying our Fajitas, I happened to notice a TV in the corner. (I didn't say it was fine dining, either.) I knew the game had moved along quite a bit, but there was the rocket man, still in there, still pitching. And I noticed a few shots of Twins players scoring and shots of the crowd applauding. And I was thinking, hmmmm, maybe things are all right.

Then, I saw a play that was the essence of Torii Hunter. Hunter hits the ball down the right field line and then tears toward first. After he rounds first, he temporarily slowed, so as to deke the right fielder and then he charged into second for a hustle (and guile) double.

I've written a fair amount about Hunter in the past. Sometimes, I'm critical of him, like when he spouts off about lockerroom chemistry or he complains about who is or isn't returned to the Twins roster in the off season. Other times, I've expressed some disappointment with his production at the plate. This morning, I see he's hitting .238/.330/.450. But, there's no doubt that Hunter plays hard. It is fun to watch him play. His base running has really improved, and that double was a thing of beauty. Had I been at the ball park, I would have stood and cheered that effort.

Back to the game. I saw that Joe Nathan was strolling out to pitch and I said to Lucy, I'm going to check the score. Perhaps someday I'll become a little more crafty (like, I could have pulled out my phone and checked it!). Nevertheless, I did check and see it was 7-4. And, of course, Nathan nailed down the ninth and the Twins won a come from behinder against a good team.

This morning as I looked over the play-by-play account of the game, I realized Silva's outing was like sausage making, you don't want to know how he got there. Silva pitched four scoreless innings after the third, but he was in trouble a couple of times after that. In the fourth, the BrfE had 2nd and 3rd with no outs. In the fifth, the BfrE again had 2nd and 3rd with no outs and the bases loaded with one out. In each of these innings, the Twins bailed Silva out with a double play. Kind of reminds me of Silva's shutout last year. Butch and I went to that game. Back then, when this website had just millions, and not billions, of readers, I wrote:

I went to the Twins game last night with my Dad and the Twins won 10-0 behind Carlos Silva's 11-hit complete game shutout. Dad called it a "gem." Hee-hee. My Dad is pretty funny.

Silva was in trouble all night. However, he kept inducing double plays, and the Angels never really hit a ball hard. On the other hand, the Twins offense continued to show that it is hitting its stride, bashing four homeruns and scoring runs in bunches. While not the 1927 Yankees, they now have scored an average of 6.25 runs in their last twelve games. With the shutout, the Twins now have the best team ERA (4.04) in the American League. Oh, and the bullpen has thrown a total of 3 1/3 innings in the last four days. That's good, because Kyle Lohse is pitching tonight.

That's right. Silva blanked the BfrE last year on 11 hits. And he avoided enough damage last night to get a good win for our side. That's what you get with Silva. Guile, guts and a lot of double plays. Silva also issued his first walk of the season, lowering his K/BB ratio from infinite to 9:1.

Have a good weekend, everyone, and hopefully, there will be a Jags and Theo siting later today.

This entry was posted by SBG on Saturday, April 30th, 2005 at 8:28 am and is filed under Uncategorized. It is one of 928 entries by the author. We are no longer accepting Letters to the Editor on this post.