Date: 9/15/10

Opponent: Chicago White Sox

Home/Away: Away

Starting Pitcher: Duensing

Final Score: W 9-3

Record: 87-58

Recap: And the bell continues to toll for the White Sox. That game started and ended in a similar manner to yesterday. Neither team scored until the 5th inning, and the score was the same. But man did the Sox seem defeated in that game. I guess I'd feel the same if I were them. I kind of feel bad, but only a little bit. I think the worst part for them had to be all the bad luck they had with the Twins getting hits off the 3rd base bag and infield singles. There wasn't really a lot they could do. 

Duensing pitched well. He seemed to be throwing a lot of pitches and getting into full counts, but he managed well enough. He pitched 6 innings with 2 earned runs coming off Carlos Quentin's home run in the 6th. Guerrier also gave up a run, although it was mostly because of Skinny Delmon misplaying a ball hit by Alexei Ramirez into a triple. 

The Twins offense was pretty prolific as you may have guessed from the 9 runs we scored. Span, Thome, Valencia and Hardy each had 2 hits, all singles except for a double by Valencia. The real offense hero was Mauer, who had 3 hits in the game including a 3-homer, the biggest blow for the Sox. He also drove in 3 runs and scored 2. We also had a Punto sighting. After being gone so long, I had kind of forgotten that he was on the team. Alas, he went 0 for 1 with an error. Just getting his feet wet again I guess. Nonetheless, it seems like a matter of time before the Twins win the division. Our next goal? Trying to get the best record in baseball and secure home field advantage for the playoffs. 

Best Moment: Mauer's 3-run homer.

Most Questionable Moment: According to Dick Bremer, the decision by the White Sox to not play the infielders in with the bases loaded. He seemed mortally offended by the choice with their season on the line.

Worst Moment: Skinny Delmon messing up the field. But hey, at least he got his 100th RBI.

Quotations of the Day:

• "There's a lot at stake. We want to win our division. There's home-field advantage out there, everything." - Ron Gardenhire
• "There are a lot of things out there, but you also want to give guys a break. If you are fortunate enough to get in that situation where you can win a division and you can do it early enough, you can do a lot of things." - Ron Gardenhire

Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Jason Kubel (0 for 3, 1 strikeout, 4 left on base). I feel kind of bad picking him since he left the game with a sore wrist, but oh well.