Date: 7/17/09

Opponent: Texas Rangers

Home/Away: Away

Starting Pitcher: Perkins

Final Score: W 5-3

Record: 46-44

Best Moment: Kubel's 3-run homer, which gave the Twins their first lead. That was pretty sweet. The other runs were driven in by Gomez on a triple. Both Kubel and Gomez had 2 hits, as did Morneau and Crede. Span, Mauer and Harris each had a hit apiece. Casilla has returned, and he provided exactly the sort of offense we would expect out of a middle infielder in the 2 hole, which is to say none. He went 0 for 4 and didn't cover 2nd on a stolen base attempt. He sure doesn't miss a beat, does he? To be fair, he had 2 hits taken away by some good defensive plays by the Rangers.

Perkins made it through 5 innings, barely, and gave up 3 earned runs. He really started to labor in the 5th and just couldn't seem to get the final out. But he did enough to get a win, so I won't complain too much. The bullpen was fantastic, pitching 4 innings with only 2 hits. Bobby Keppel pitched 2 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts. He's been very good so far; I'm hoping he can continue to overachieve. I'm somewhat concerned that we used all the good relievers in the bullpen in this game; hopefully we can have a long outing from Baker today. I'd just as soon not leave the game up to Duensing and Mulvey.

Most Questionable Moment: Gomez almost gets thrown out at 3rd on his triple. Aggressive baserunning is all well and good (notice I said aggressive and not stupid), but when you have 2 outs and the tying runner is somewhat slow (Harris), maybe it would be better just to stay at 2nd instead of risking the run not scoring. Obviously it turned out okay, and it looked like the run would have scored anyway, but it could have been really bad. Also, I know this is questionable in every game, but why does Gardy insist upon having some crappy hitter batting before Mauer? Casilla has done nothing but suck this season with the Twins, so how about we ease him back into the lineup and see how he does before throwing him in the 2 spot.

Worst Moment: Bert starts talking about losing body fluids. I start trying to scrub my brain to remove some horrible mental images. Unfortunately, it is more of a challenge to forget the actual image of Dick Bremer in a swimsuit. 

As for the game, we grounded into 4 double plays! What the fuck? The most stunning came when Span grounded into a double play with Gomez on 1st. I mean, you'd think that one of the two could have beat out the throw. Oh well, we still won. And I have to mention Gardy throwing Harris up the bus (again) in the post-game press conference. He blamed him for not turning a double play in the 5th inning and costing Perkins 20 pitches or so. But Gardy just has to have justification for playing Punto and Casilla over Harris, so he has to call out every mistake, momentous or insignificant.

Quotations of the Day: 

• "I don't want to jinx the guy. He's throwing the ball really good right now." - Ron Gardenhire, referring to Bobby Keppel. If he starts sucking, I'm blaming Gardy. Everyone knows that the easiest way to jinx someone is to say you don't want to jinx them. Duh.
• "It's exciting to help a team win. But I've pitched now six times. These guys have 40 innings, and I have 14. This is a small sample size. I hope I can continue this. But to say dominant after 14 innings, that's ludicrous to me." - Bobby Keppel, keeping his ego in check.
• "I also talked about trying to get a little more active on the basepaths, and with Alexi maybe that will help us. If I put Alexi and Nicky in the middle, we've definitely got speed all over the place." - Ron Gardenhire, apparently forgetting that speed does no good when it's running to the dugout after a pop-up.
• "Hopefully [Casilla will] come up and get hot in that second hole, and I won't have to worry about that one. We can give Harris a break out there. We saw where he got a little worn down. Nicky I know can play anywhere and everywhere, solid defense, so we'll see." - Ron Gardenhire, on his infielders. I'm pretty sure when he says "give Harris a break", he means "sit his ass down on the bench where he belongs".
• A text conversation between my brother and myself, regarding the infielders and our hopes that Punto would not take playing time from Harris:
  • Matt: I'm praying. And crossing my fingers. And using my Nick Punto voodoo doll. And I've got garlic on my necklace.
  • Me: Probably not going to work since Gardy wants to keep Punto "in the mix". *sigh*
  • Matt: Hopefully he puts more Harris in the mix than Casilla and Punto. There won't be a mix if he puts too much suck in it
  • Me: Everyone knows a pure Casilla-Punto mix tastes horrible.
  • Matt: No, there is no mix. The suck is too great for any of the mix to stay in the bowl.
  • Me: I feel like I should invent a mixed drink in their honor.
  • Matt: Good idea. Casilla has to be some kind of rum. The shittiest kind. Ron Diaz. Punto should be some shitty Italian wine. That would taste terrible.
  • Me: Yeah, I think that's perfect. It probably would make me puke, which is accurate.

Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Michael Cuddyer (0 for 4, 2 strikeouts, 1 GIDP, 1 left on base). Nobody freak out, but we have a new SAPotG leader. It was a hard fought battle, with both the Black Hole and Cuddyer fighting for supremacy. In the end, Cuddyer's strikeouts narrowly edged Casilla's defensive flounderings, bringing him to the top of the charts. Will Casilla stand for this? Tune in tonight...