Date: 6/22/10

Opponent: Milwaukee Brewers

Home/Away: Away

Starting Pitcher: Baker

Final Score: L 7-5

Record: 40-30

Recap: I cannot tell a lie: That really sucked. In the 1st inning with 3 runs already in and the bases loaded with no outs, I was already mentally planning for a blow-out. Actually, I was sort of planning to make an off-color joke relating big innings to big other things. Silly me. I should have known the bottom of the order would fail utterly, some dudes named Narveson and Loe would shut us down for the next 6 innings, and Baker would have one of his patented middle inning meltdowns. It's frustrating. We did mount an 8th inning rally, but it was too little, too late, especially with Burnett's poor outing.

Span was hit by a pitch in the 1st inning. Then Hudson and Mauer walked to load the bases. Things were looking good when Morneau laced a single to left to score 2. Cuddyer followed with a hit to score Mauer, before Young singled to load the bases again. Still with no outs, Danny Valencia swung at the first pitch and popped it up for the 1st out. Then Punto struck out and Baker grounded out to end the inning. 3 runs in an inning is good, but we had a chance to have a huge inning instead of just a modest one. It was a little deflating, but I still thought we had a good chance to win.

You could tell Baker wasn't quite on. He seemed to be throwing lots of pitches and getting lots of fouls. A number of the Brewer hits were not hit well, they just dropped in or found holes through the infield. Baker ran into trouble in the 4th inning as the first 4 batters had hits, including a 3-run homer by Casey McGehee. The pitcher actually drove in the 4th run of the inning with a single that was just fair down the left field line. 

Baker left the game after 6 innings with 5 earned runs. Burnett was brought on in relief and was quite unsuccessful at keeping the game close. The first batter homered, followed by a double, ground out, and then another double. 2 runs scored in the inning, and those runs ended up being the difference in the game. The 8th inning was our big chance for a rally, and we got a couple runs back, but not the 4 we needed. Morneau doubled to start the inning before Cuddyer walked. Then Skinny Delmon doubled and scored both. It was kind of funny how close Cuddyer was to Morneau; it was like he was trying to outrun a fire. At this point the pitcher's spot in the batting order was up, and Thome came to the plate. He popped out for the first out. Punto then walked on an extremely close pitch (the strike zone seemed pretty small tonight). We still only had 1 out, but Kubel smoked a ball right to the pitcher and Delmon was doubled off 2nd. The inning ended, and we were still down by 2. We would finish the game down by the same margin. It wasn't exactly the start I was hoping for, but we still have a chance to pull it together and win the next two games.

Best Moment: The first 6 batters in the 1st inning.

Most Questionable Moment: The "strike" called by the umpire during Morneau's at bat in the 9th inning that was about half a football field off the plate.

Worst Moment: Losing.

Quotations of the Day:

• "On the Richter scale, a 4.3." - Dick Bremer, observing Prince Fielder flop to the ground while stretching to field a ball on an infield single hit by Orlando Hudson.
• "A tough loss for us, but a good battle." - Ron Gardenhire

Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Alex Burnett (0.1 innings pitched, 3 hits, 1 intentional walk, 1 home run, 2 earned runs). Baker was pretty terrible too, but I went with Burnett since he happened to give up 2 runs in a third of an inning.