Johan needs to go 8 strong today, so our bullpen can rest up for this weekend's series with the Yanks.

2 strikeouts on only 12 pitches - a nice top of the first for El Presidente.

Come on Cuddyer - let's pick up a run or two here in the first inning.

I think Santana is "locked in".

mlb.tv with an interesting configuration today. No FSN or Royals broadcast apparently, so we get the Twins' stadium video feed with the radio guys on audio. Perhaps the shake-up will get these guys out of their funk.

Wow, De La Rosa owned Hunter there. Torii was guessing fastball on all three pitches and didn't get close to the ball on any of his swings.

Rondell!!!

Oh, the Insanity!!

That was a terrible pitch, but it's good to see someone capitalizing on a terrible pitch.

I know it seems homerish to show up right when the Twins take the lead but I just tuned in my MLB.tv. Forgot it was a 10am start for us here on the west coast. Honest!

Oh, and it's funny to see this MLB.tv broadcast, it appears to be the "in-house" camera feeds from the Metrodome so we get to see the silly games like "throw a baseball in the back of a Dodge pickup" between innings.

btw, Santana's last K was his 200th for the year

Dodgeball beats all other between innings programming I've ever seen on mlb.tv. I'm glad I don't have to see Tom Petty every 15 minutes today.

btw, Santana’s last K was his 200th for the year

Thanks for the note. Even if the Twins fall out of this thing, Santana's in a Cy Young race, so it's good to see him rack up the counting stats.

Another quick inning. Three cheers for three outs from El Presidente!

Lew Ford splits vs. LHP:

.297/.366/.541 -- 2003
.293/.367/.483 -- 2004
.233/.308/.320 -- 2005
.211/.260/.344 -- 2006

What a drop-off. Ford went from completely decent against LHP in '04 to totally worthless. There's really no reason to keep him around next year.

Hey, Bartlett was paying attention the last time De La Rosa pitched and noticed that he walked everyone and his brother.

btw, Santana’s last K was his 200th for the year
btw, Rondell's last homer was his 4th for the year. A couple more and we'll have to count them with two hands.

Ooh. Cuddy with RISP. Go Cuddy.

Jinx = me.

A big spot for Cuddyer here...and he grounds into a 6-3. Against LHP, there's a ton of pressure on him to succeed because of all the other general ineptitude against LHP on the team.

Too bad it took an injury for us to get the lineup many of us were pining for these past couple months.

PH, a White Sox fan, made a very entertaining comment on BBTF about Morneau/Hafner:

Watching him [Morneau] and Hafner learn how to hit lefties, I can relate to how the scientists in Jurassic Park felt while they watched the raptors learn how to unlock the door.

Hey ubelmann, you a fan of the eels?

Torii "One Step Short" Hunter comes up a little short on that. At least he didn't try to be a hero and make that into a disaster.

Nice turn there.

Hey ubelmann, you a fan of the eels?

Definitely.

Too bad it took an injury for us to get the lineup many of us were pining for these past couple months.

It's funny how you can go from 9th hitter to 2nd hitter thanks to one injury.

Rondell is just 7 homeruns from cracking the top 100 in Twins history.

Rondell is just 7 homeruns from cracking the top 100 in Twins history.

A 7-HR September would certainly be an interesting development from Rondell.

Hey ubelmann, you a fan of the eels?

Definitely.

Back in I want to say 1997 I saw them on the PBS show Sessions at West 54th. They did an incredible set including a cool version of "Susan's House" where E talked through a real telephone plus a cover of Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend."

What has been bugging me for YEARS is that they also did a song -- a FAST one -- that was really cool. I can't remember much about it other than I think the key line, might be the title said something about "hell." Any idea which song that might be? Have you seen this show?

All the eels fansites have been useless to me in finding this info.

What has been bugging me for YEARS is that they also did a song — a FAST one — that was really cool. I can’t remember much about it other than I think the key line, might be the title said something about “hell.” Any idea which song that might be? Have you seen this show?

Wait... the key line might have been something like "holier than thou" now that I think about it.

I'm afraid I can't help you there, Brink. I'm a pretty casual eels fan, and could have even been unaware of their (his?) existence back in '97, as I was only a couple of years past when I was willing to accept pop music.

It's a little weird that I don't remember that appearance, though, as I was a huge fan of Sessions at West 54th. I still miss that show.

The best thing that could happen now is for the Twins to bust it open so we can eventually turn the game over to Groundskeeper Willie.

Torii Hunter starring in a comedy of errors. The difference between old Torii and new Torii? Old Torii turns that into an out, and new Torii turns a relatively harmless single into a triple.

Torii morphing into Manny Ramirez in the OF. I think the Twins could abide that if he'd morph his bat into Manny's as well.

It's criminal that Torii didn't get an error on that. Criminal.

I think that scene was adapted from Major League:

I stuck up for you Jobu Torii. You no help me now...I say fuck you Jobu Torii. I do it for myself.

Without Johan today, we'd definitely be losing.

Speaking of criminal, in some states, Johan Santana's FIP today of -0.40 (that's right, it's negative so far) is illegal.

Nice piece of hitting by Elrod on that.

Whew. Good hustle by Luis there and a good slide to finish it off.

And the ugly DP monster strikes again. Sigh.

Is anyone else still surprised by Redmond? I keep waiting for him to turn back into a pumpkin, and he just keeps on hitting. No power at all, but it sure is nice to not have an automatic out from the backup catcher, like so many teams have to deal with.

JB's DP in that situation worth -1.24 runs. Ouch.

$%&@#$%(*

Is anyone else still surprised by Redmond? I keep waiting for him to turn back into a pumpkin, and he just keeps on hitting. No power at all, but it sure is nice to not have an automatic out from the backup catcher, like so many teams have to deal with.

Someone elsewhere was wondering why pitchers ever pitch him on the outer half of the plate. It seems like all he does is shoot the ball the other way. It's working, but it seems like a good pitcher could just pound the inner half and get Redmond out. I am still a little surprised that he's doing this well.

We have had more buzz killing plays in the last 4 games than any stretch I can recall since the Dictators left.

Wow. This game has all the makings, doesn't it?

I hate it when there's absolutely no margin for error. Boo.

d.@.m.n.

Johan's FIP skyrockets to 2.37 on the back of that HR. De La Rosa's FIP is 5.20 so far.

The kiss cam as between innings programming is definitely not welcome, though.

Mike "Automatic The Other Way" Redmond.

I don't know how to look this up, but when was the last game where Santana didn't give up a home run? It seems like the only runs he's yielded in the last month have been via home run. Teams don't string hits together against him, but he's been giving up home runs in virtually every start I can remember. Thankfully his WHIP is so low, there's rarely anyone on base when they happen.

And....mlb.tv stopped working for me. Brilliant.

2 on, nobody out, Morenau at the plate. Can the Bumbling Twins screw this up?

Would be nice to see the ejection of this King Kong-sized monkey off their back.

I don’t know how to look this up, but when was the last game where Santana didn’t give up a home run?

Santana's gamelog is here. No HR just two starts ago against Chicago.

Morneau been a little shaky at the plate lately. He's yet another Twin who could really use a hit.

Why isn't Morneau bunting here???

Why isn’t Morneau bunting here???

Heh.

suicide squeeze opportunity!

Well, can Torii lay off the slider off the outer half, or will he flail?

Will Torii pop-out on the first pitch or ground into a double play? If double play, will it be a run-scoring double play?

Bases loaded, no one out. Could the promised land be near? Or will the Twins succumb to yet another shrinkage moment?

Anything but a double-play grounder would be acceptable, Torii.

Even a DP scores a run here. Which way can Torii find to screw this up? Strikeout? Pop-up? Stay tuned to find out.

Player Of The Game!

Jeez, the omniscience here is uncanny.

Double play groundout was a better choice than about 3 or for other options I can think of.

I grudgingly accept your non-RBI run-scoring event, Torii. Way to not completely fail.

craptastic. even with the run.

I feel bad that I did not predict the first pitch flailing miss, second pitch ground ball double play that scores a run. I failed.

Expected runs with bases loaded and zero outs: 2.25. runs expected with man on third and 2 outs: 0.36. Torii costs us 2.25 - 1.36 = 0.89 expected runs. Argh.

Hehe, fun with run expectancy. Expected runs:

2.42 -- Bases loaded, no outs
0.39 -- Runner on third, two outs

On average, Torii's run-scoring DP costs the team about 1.03 runs. Not quite as bad as JB's DP, but it's up there.

I was using the 2004 matrix. great minds....

Heh, good work Brian, I guess we had similar thoughts there. Although it looks like we've got different run expectancy charts.

Bases loaded, no one out. About $13 million dollars worth of Twins hitters coming up. Result? One run. That, my friends, is money well spent.

I thought maybe Torii fell over there it was taking so long for him to show up in the picture. It didn't cost us anything on that play, but wow, Torii is really not helping out today.

Santana knows he pitches better under pressure, and therefore allows Brown to get on.

Shealy "does his job." Whatever. Shealy's job was to drive in a run, not to make an out.

Probably shouldn't say this...

I'm growing weary of hearing the Pro-life "Billboard People" ad on 'CCO at every commercial break. It bothers me when they have these kids that can barely talk on the radio for a cause they certainly cannot yet understand.

I'm also growing weary of listening to the adverts for my company as I sit in it's dull cubicles. Calgon, take me away.

There could be some positives with this home station move...

No RBI for Hunter on the DP? I should hope not.

After the next batter (Buck) we have a second mention of Shealy doing his job. Productive out, baby.

Johan pitches around the MVP there.

"There are no positives to the KSTP move."

- Sid & Dark Star

Santana smartly sets up the double play...

Santana thumbs his nose at the DP; goes for double-digit K instead.

I’m growing weary of hearing the Pro-life “Billboard People” ad on ‘CCO at every commercial break. It bothers me when they have these kids that can barely talk on the radio for a cause they certainly cannot yet understand.

I don't like having politics thrown in with my sports, so shame on 'CCO for thrusting it on me.

That's a big out. Even for Johan

“There are no positives to the KSTP move.”
There are at least two positives. No Sid. No Dark Star.

Grudz must be looking fastball because those were two meaty change-ups.

This is no doubt it for Santana for today -- nice way to close it out.