Date: 9/4/10

Opponent: Texas Rangers

Home/Away: Home

Starting Pitcher: Pavano

Final Score: 12-4

Record: 79-57

Recap: It was another nice win for the Twins, and after so many close games of late, it was kind of nice to see a blowout. Jim Thome tied and then passed Mark McGwire for 9th on the all-time home run list, rather reminiscent of when he tied and then passed Killebrew for 10th on the list in a game in July. Good for him; he's certainly deserving. But the other impressive offensive player in this game? Matt Tolbert. He had 2 triples and a career-high 5 RBIs. It was a very good game for him. It was certainly hard to miss Valencia when he was playing like that (not that I'm advocating for Tolbert to take over). 

It was really not Colby Lewis's day. 3.2 innings, 8 hits, 2 walks, 2 home runs, and 9 earned runs. Ouch. I'm guessing he'd rather face a firing squad than Jim Thome at this point. It started badly for him, when the Twins batted through their order in the 1st inning and scored 5 runs, punctuated by a 2-run double by J.J. Hardy and Matt Tolbert's first triple. Lewis got through the 2nd inning okay, but gave up a home run to Thome in the 3rd. Then in the 4th, he gave up another homer to Thome, this time a 3-run homer giving the Twins a 9 to 0 lead. The Rangers added a few runs in the 5th and 6th, but the Twins struck back with 3 more runs in the 7th thanks to another Tolbert triple. 

Thome ended up 2 for 2 with 3 runs, 2 walks, and 4 RBIs. Tolbert was 2 for 4 with a run and 5 RBIs. Span had 2 hits as well. J.J. Hardy has been doing extremely well lately, and he had an impressive game with 3 hits, 2 runs, and 2 RBIs. Pavano delivered a typical solid 8 inning outing, allowing 3 runs over that span and picking up his 16th win of the year. Rob Delaney made his MLB debut and gave up a lead-off home run in the 9th before settling down to pitch his first full inning. Might as well get that first run and homer out of the way I guess. Now the Twins have a chance to sweep the Rangers and at least maintain their lead in the Central. 

Best Moment: Thome making it to 9th on the all-time homer list.

Most Questionable Moment: The Rangers managing to give up 12 runs facing a Twins lineup that didn't have Mauer, Morneau, Kubel or Valencia in it. 

Worst Moment: Not getting a shutout. 

Quotations of the Day:

• "It gets them a chance to get a second wind. I think after tomorrow we'll be where we need to be as far as having everyone rested, because that one game did wear us out a little bit." - Carl Pavano, on saving the bullpen by pitching 8 innings.
• "It's unbelievable watching his swing. It's fun to watch him hit. He's a professional hitter and he's done it for a long time. Very fun to watch." - Josh Hamilton, in regard to Jim Thome.

Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Delmon Young (0 for 4, 1 strikeout, 6 left on base). Skinny Delmon's kind of sucking lately. That's unfortunate. Hopefully he can get himself back on track.