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Twins (12-10) @ Tigers (12-9)

-Twins are 5-3 on the road.

-Twins are 3-6 in AL Central play.

-Twins have won one in a row.

Game One, Friday, 6:10 PM

Ramon Ortiz, RHP, (3-1) 2.48 ERA vs. Nate Robertson, LHP, (2-1) 2.05 ERA

Game Two, Saturday, 12:10 PM

Carlos Silva, RHP, (1-1) 2.74 ERA vs. Justin Verlander, RHP, (1-0) 2.08 ERA

Game Three, Sunday, 12:10 PM

Johan Santana, LHP, (3-2) 3.44 ERA vs. Mike Maroth, LHP, (2-0) 5.06 ERA

We all know what happened this weekend in Detroit last year.

I'll be optimistic here and say that Twins' pitchers will not surrender 33 runs by the conclusion of play on Sunday afternoon. However, I firmly believe that Twins' hitters are very capable of duplicating last year's output of 1 run on 15 hits.

Let the games begin.

As long as I'm thinking about the Tigers, I notice they have no room for Chris Shelton right now on their 25 man roster.

What would a divisional rival in need of some pop from the right side of the plate need to pony up to get a 16 HR guy who is currently in the minor leagues?

Irishmans Shanty wrote:As long as I'm thinking about the Tigers, I notice they have no room for Chris Shelton right now on their 25 man roster.

What would a divisional rival in need of some pop from the right side of the plate need to pony up to get a 16 HR guy who is currently in the minor leagues?

You could probably start with the Cy Young winner, batting champ & MVP...

Twins win the Friday night game 5-3

Mike Redmond - multiple RBI double
Joe Mauer - two out, multiple RBI single
Ramon Ortiz - just keeps giving the Twins a chance to win
Joe Nathan - nothing but 0-2 counts and a nasty slider

What an enjoyable night, Twins' fans get to watch another team with numerous players hitting in the .100's.

I wonder if Sheff will be able to hit as a DH, maybe he needs to play D.

Carlos Guillen's wing is hurting, DL for the Tiger's heart and soul seems imminent.

Brandon Inge is a bonafied .130 hitter right now, I'm sure he'll come around but boy is he ugly right now.

Gotta give the Twins credit. They kind of struggled with a soft schedule for a few days, but have rebounded nicely against the Tigers. They are becoming some real "Road Warriors". Go Twins.

Irishmans Shanty wrote:We all know what happened this weekend in Detroit last year.

I'll be optimistic here and say that Twins' pitchers will not surrender 33 runs by the conclusion of play on Sunday afternoon. However, I firmly believe that Twins' hitters are very capable of duplicating last year's output of 1 run on 15 hits.

Let the games begin.

Tigers might give up 33 runs.

grindiangrad-80 wrote:Gotta give the Twins credit. They kind of struggled with a soft schedule for a few days, but have rebounded nicely against the Tigers. They are becoming some real "Road Warriors". Go Twins.

They're hitting the boofin' ball... good things are starting to happen.

About 10 days ago, I was looking for Hunter to bunt when given the chance. Since that day he is hitting about .400. I guess that is why I build cabinets for a living. Go Twins.

Ah, Crain comes in and gives up another clutch home run. Very nice.

The bullpen isn't quite as dominant as last year. Hopefully, that will change as the season goes on. The Twins seem to play to their competition. Just have to hang around till mid August, then go on a roll.

Come on you guys, the bullpen is fine. The Tigers and the deep ball are going to happen. The Tigers #8, #9, #1 hitters accounted for 74 bombs last year, that's three homers a week. Even though Monroe and Inge are scuffling in the .100's they'll still get their longballs. The Twins #8, #9, #1 hitters accounted for 5, 7, 8, 8, 12, or 13 dingers last year depending on who you want in the #8 hole.

Just because we are used to watching are own slap hitting pirhanas needing three hits to score a run doesn't mean the bullpen is bad because other teams have some pop in their bats.

It's Jesse Crain, not the bullpen. He's given up more GW hits/situations in the last 2 years than anyone else on the Twins that I can remember. Pitch him in the 7th inning, but don't put him into any kind of pressure.

Crain and his role in the Twins' 11 Losses this year.

4/7: Did not pitch
4/9: Did not pitch
4/10: 1.2 innings, 0 runs
4/13: Did not pitch
4/15: Did not pitch
4/20: Did not pitch
4/22: Did not pitch
4/23: Throws a 1-2-3 11th and then gets beat up in the 12th, that night the batters needed to hit the Boofin ball!
4/24: Did not pitch
4/25: one shutout inning
4/29: throws one shutout inning and then allows a HR to a guy who hit 28 of them last season.

ERE you did say the last two years, and yes I'll agree with you there, but for this year, Crain been good. We can't expect these guys to shutdown the opposition's bats everytime. If you think Crain has been poor, you would have loved the Ron Davis roller coaster

The problem with Crain is that he is a 1-inning guy and Gardy throws him out there for more than 1 most of the time. Some guys just can't take that period of rest in between innings, and Crain seems to be one of them.

Blue Breeze wrote:The problem with Crain is that he is a 1-inning guy and Gardy throws him out there for more than 1 most of the time. Some guys just can't take that period of rest in between innings, and Crain seems to be one of them.

Maybe that is the problem. I always seem to forget his 1 shutout inning before he gives up the big jack. I'm just thinking back to last year's postseason as well, he didn't do so hot there.