Minnesota Twins @ Cleveland Indians (May 15-17)

[boblee]

Twins (18-19, 4th in AL Central) @ Indians (21-14, 2nd in AL Central)

-Twins are 0-2 vs. Cleveland this season.

-Twins are 7-11 in AL Central play.

-Twins are 4-8 in May.

-Twins are coming off of their biggest offensive explosion of the season. 16 runs, 22 hits. Torii Hunter had 2 HR's and 7 RBI. Mike Redmond and Michael Cuddyer also homered for the Twins.

-Twins have designated Sidney Ponson for assignment and called up 1B/OF Garret Jones.

Game 1, Tuesday, 6:05 PM
Ramon Ortiz, RPH, (3-3) 3.80 ERA vs. Paul Byrd, RHP, (2-1) 2.84 ERA

Game 2, Wednesday, 6:05 PM
Carlos Silva, RHP, (2-3) 3.00 ERA vs. C.C. Sabathia, LHP, (4-1) 4.02 ERA

Game 3, Thursday, 11:05 AM
Johan Santana, LHP, (4-3) 3.35 ERA vs. Fausto Carmona, RHP, (4-1) 3.12 ERA

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

Win games 1 & 3. Lose game 2 badly.

[Neutron 14]

Win games 1 & 3. Lose game 2 badly.

I don't think Santana will lose to my-my-my-Carmona.

[Irishmans Shanty]

boblee, thanks again for including the starters and the factoids for the impending series with Tribe. I see the pink bats and the 16 run mirage on Sunday night renewed your Twins interest.

I wish I were with you guys in your optimism. I haven't felt good about a Twins trip to Cleveland since 1984 when the Twins and Frank Viola blew a 10-0 lead at the Mistake by the Lake.

Plan of attack: As always, walk Hafner every AB.

[Govs93]

I think this will be the beginning of an horrendous roadtrip... Cleveland sweep.

If the Twins do get a game, I'd almost go the opposite of ERE and say that they'll get game 2 (in a slugfest). For some reason, the Twins always seem to get to Sabathia. I think he's something like 3-5 against Minnesota the last 3 years.

[boblee]

Twins NEED 2 of 3 here, at least.

[Irishmans Shanty]

I think the Twins need to be 5-4 on this road trip.

Obviously three of those five wins would be best if they came against CLE but that isn't happening. With 125 games left on the schedule I'm still looking at the big picture and right now hanging around .500 is all I think I can ask for.

If a team can stay around .500, the drop dead date for missing the playoffs is a long ways off.

Hang around, hang around, and see what happens is going to be the '07 mission.

Afterall, that's the front office's mission, why can I expect more.

[packerboy]

IS,
You, of all people, should know that the only thing the Twins need to be is:

34-34 on June 18.

[Irishmans Shanty]

IS,
You, of all people, should know that the only thing the Twins need to be is:

34-34 on June 18.

You couldn't be more correct PB.

And Ron Gardenhire and Torii Hunter knows it too.



Those are the boys in charge, do they look worried to you? Didn't think so.

Bring on the next 125 games.

[Neutron 14]

IS,
You, of all people, should know that the only thing the Twins need to be is:

34-34 on June 18.

A Tale of two Cities

The Catcher in the Rye

Wuthering Heights

Twins 34-34 on 6/18

Ahhh..... The Classics....

[packerboy]

Not to mention:

Desperate Housewives

The Blob

I Was A Teenage Werewolf

and

I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

Win games 1 & 3. Lose game 2 badly.

I don't think Santana will lose to my-my-my-Carmona.

Isn't that what I said?

[Neutron 14]

my-my-my-bad.

[boblee]

I think Ortiz is running out of bad starts he will be allowed to have...but wow can Mr. Morneau swing the twig.

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

Does anyone else feel like those 7 runs were wasted? That's like 2 games worth of wins with our other pitchers.

[Irishmans Shanty]

Yes it was a waste, the Twins just hit 3% of their yearly allowance of HR's in a 15-7 loss.

The only thing to look forward to in this series is a Neshek/Jason Michaels matchup. I've never seen a professional hitter look so frightened and off balance in the batters box.

[boblee]

Garrett Jones got his first major league hit last night.

[Irishmans Shanty]

In the paper today it said the Twins were wondering why C.C. Sabathia hit Justin Morneau in the 4th inning.

Answer
The Indians are proactive and instigating everything that happens on the field and in the players' heads. The Twins have trailed for 30 of 38 innings against Cleveland this year and have only enjoyed a lead for 1/3rd of a fram. C.C. is just giving the Twins something else to think/worry about and thus diverting them from what the focus should be.

It was great to see two Indian free agent signings (Nixon, Delucci) get two-out RBI singles last night. I'd say the Tribe are proactive in the front office too. Something tells me if the Tribe ran their team like the Twins they would still be running Belliard, Boone, and Jason Micheals out there as starters or possibly 40 year old Brian Jordan as their new left fielder.

[boblee]

Well, Julio DePaula made his major league debut yesterday...

[Irishmans Shanty]

0

[Irishmans Shanty]

00

2nd: Leadoff double yields nothing (0x3 with men in scoring position)

[Irishmans Shanty]

000

Inning lowlites

3rd: Bartlett can't execute a bunt, pops into DP

[Irishmans Shanty]

000-0

Inning lowlites

4th: Cuddyer reaches second with one out (Twins 0x5 with men in scoring position)

[Irishmans Shanty]

000-00

Inning Lowlites

5th: Punto reaches second (Twins 0x6 with men in scoring position)

[Irishmans Shanty]

000-000