Indians Series Summary

Tuesday we got another W from Mr. (Find a way to win the game) Slowey!    If Morneau doesn't tip that flare to right field Casilla probably catches it and Slowey would have had 7 shutout innings.  He is getting it done with slightly above average stuff but he has been very smart.  He is keeping hitters off balance and unbelievably he is 8-1!  Good solid job by Nathan to get the 4-out save while Mijares looked a little shaky. On the offensive side, Mauer starts June the way he started May with another home run!  

Wednesday we got what I expected to see against Boston in his previous start.  The rook (Swarzak) got shelled.  It was bound to happen, just surpised it happened against the last place team instead of the first place team.  If I was Gardy I would have left him out for the 5th to see if he could compose himself and put up a zero, at that point with the way Lee was pitching the game was out of reach anyway why not find out what this rookie is made of?

Thursday the slumbering home-run bat of Jason Kubel woke up in a big way!  2 3-run home runs in the first 2 innings!  And we had a Scott Baker sighting: 7 innings 3 runs (2 earned)  and had a shutout into the 6th.  That looked like the Baker we have been expecting to see a lot more of.  He gave up another HR, as he will, but it was a solo shot, which is easier to swallow.

Another bad series for the bottom of the order (4 for 31 with 1 BB) , we need more from them, at least Gomez had 2 hits, although 2-10 isn't anything to get too excited about.  Young and Gomez are still not patient enough at the plate.

Up next Seattle 

Don't expect a ton of runs this weekend as Seattle is leading the AL in Team ERA: 3.88!  The Twins pitchers have to go into this series thinking they will not have much room for error.

The first game is featuring the rematch of the Twins home opener (Liriano vs. Hernandez), this could be a close pitchers duel if Liriano can locate his fastball and mix in his changeup more to keep the hitters off balance and then get Ks with that nice slider.  

The most favorable pitching matchup over the weekend is game 2 with Blackburn vs. Washburn but all 3 of the Seattle pitchers have been very tough, all 3 with ERAs under 4 and Bedard (Sunday's pitcher for Seattle) has his era under 3.  With Felix Hernandez being a tough righty and the other two being tough lefties (which can be tough for the left-hand heavy Twins), the Twins pitchers have to step up this weekend.

Go Twins!