I attended tonight's game, and I thought I'd post some of my thoughts the day after everyone usually weighs in.
Boy, I don't really remember Cuddyer striking out this much. It's even weirder because he looked good at the plate.
Morneau looks like he's on a mission to show everyone that he deserved the MVP. Every time he has come up, I felt like he could blast one.
Daniel Cabrera really pitched well for the Orioles. However, everyone and their brother in my section thought it was asking for trouble for him to get the ball in the 7th. Despite the fact that their pen pitched 3 1/3 yesterday.
The situation I'm going to pay close attention to this year: The 1-2 count. The way a pitcher handles a 1-2 count can effect his success a good deal. A good pitcher will go after the hitter knowing a 2-2 count is a much better situation for a hitter. The difference is much larger then 0-2 to 1-2.
IMO, the turning point of tonight's game was when Hunter had a 1-2 count leading off the 5th. Cabrera wasted a pitch to make it a 2-2 count. Hunter eventually worked a walk, stole second, and scored to tie the game at 2.
Speaking of steals, the Twins must really know something about Cabrera's delivery home. Tyner's belly-flop scramble included, they stole 4 bases off him in 7 innings.
It seemed like Boof labored all night. I was suprised to look at my scorecard and see that he retired the final 8 batters he faced and didn't allow a hit outside of the 2-run 3rd inning. He also struck out 6 in his 6 innings.
It's modern baseball when a team uses 5 relievers (6 total pitchers) in one game and only gives up 2 runs in that game. None by said relievers. Hopefully Ortiz can go 7 tomorrow.
Gardy usually likes to get all his players into games early. Here's the guys that haven't gotten involved yet: Luis Rodriguez, Mike Redmond, Matt Guerrier, and Chris Heintz (don't expect to see him anytime soon).
Nathan is on pace for 162 saves.
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