Date: 6/20/10

Opponent: Philadelphia Phillies

Home/Away: Away

Starting Pitcher: Pavano

Final Score: W 4-1

Record: 40-29

Recap: Man, I should make requests more often. All I asked for was a win and Pavano to make it through the 2nd inning, and boy did he deliver. A 4-hit complete game with 1 earned run is always going to be welcome, but the fact that it came on the heels of two terrible and ridiculously short outings by our starters and against one of the best pitchers in the league made it that much better. The bullpen, who had already pitched 15.2 innings in the series, got a much needed and deserved day off. And even better, I got something else I was hoping for that I didn't even ask for: one of our pitchers getting an actual hit! Okay, it probably wasn't better than Pavano's pitching performance, but it was still cool. I know we're in the AL, but I don't like our pitchers being totally incompetent at the plate. It was really depressing not to get a single hit last year. Maybe the pressure is off now and the rest of the starters will relax and get into the swing of things (so to speak).

It feels really great to leave Philadelphia with a series win considering how awful the first game and a half went. It really could have been brutal if we hadn't pulled out a victory on Saturday. It definitely gave us some momentum going into the final game. Now if we can just keep that going and go sweep the Brewers!

The Twins got on the board immediately thanks to Orlando Hudson, who singled, stole 2nd, and then scored on a Mauer single. Although we had baserunners in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings, we didn't score again until the 5th, when Span hit his 2nd homer of the year to make it 2 to 0. Philly struck back immediately with a solo home run in the bottom of the same inning by Valdez (the 3rd hit of the game for them), but the Twins weren't going to take that. Morneau singled to center to lead off the next inning, and then somewhat stupidly took a very wide turn while Victorino threw behind him to 1st. Stuck in no-man's land, Morneau took off for 2nd. Ryan Howard threw to 2nd to get Morneau, but the throw hit him in the back instead, allowing him to reach safely. So thanks to a bit of dumb luck, he was in scoring position with no outs. Cuddyer grounded out and advanced him to 3rd, and then he scored on a single by Kubel. Our final run came in the 8th when Morneau went deep for the 15th time this season.

Halladay pitched well (8 innings, 3 earned runs, 8 strikeouts, no walks), but Pavano was just better in this game. I feel like his mustache is getting more famous and notorious by the second. It's practically legendary at this point. I was definitely not a fan at first, but it's growing on me. In a "That's weird and hilarious!" way, not in a "Wow, that's so attractive!" way (nor in a literal way; I think I've mentioned that facial hair is not really a great look for me).

Best Moment: Pavano's performance.

Most Questionable Moment: Morneau's baserunning.

Worst Moment: Valdez's homer.

Quotations of the Day:

• "We know how to turn the page real quick. I think that's important in baseball." - Carl Pavano
• "I got a couple of hugs, definitely." - Carl Pavano, on getting thanks for saving the bullpen.
• "We were just happy to make it through the first two innings. After that, it was a piece of cake." - Ron Gardenhire. I guess Gardy had the same request as I did.

Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Michael Cuddyer (0 for 4, 2 strikeouts, 1 left on base). He was the only player in the starting lineup without a hit. You never want to get outhit by an AL pitcher.