Minnesota 3, Texas 2
by RandBall's Stu on Aug 28, 2009 11:33 PM EDT
in Game Recaps
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Look at this line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.
Allow me to repeat: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.
A Twins starter did that. Brian Duensing did that. If you saw that coming, quit lying, because you didn't.
While Duensing's start was a welcome change of pace, the Twins' decision to jump to an early 3-0 lead was equally necessary. Span double, Mauer single, Kubel triple, Cuddyer single, and that was that. Literally, as it turned out: the Rangers' Tommy Hunter recovered nicely from that rough start and held the Twins scoreless the rest of the way, with an assist from newbie Pedro Strop.
Meanwhile, the Twins' rookie starter took the Rangers' potent lineup to breakfast, lunch, dinner and breakfast, setting down 11 in a row at one point. Duensing's performance was as unexpected as it was critical to the Twins' playoff hopes. They remain 4.5 games behind victorious Detroit, but move into sole possession of second, thanks to the Yankees' walk-off victory over the White Sox.
Other highlights:
- Elvis Andrus, you have a cool name, but you don't get to run on Joe Mauer. Baby Jesus gunned Andrus down at second to save Matt Guerrier's ass in the 8th inning. (Note: I don't know if I can say "ass" here, but it was a superlative play, so I'm going with it. Apologies to impressionable children and those with delicate sensibilities.)
- Tommy Hunter complained about the mound during the game, so Scott Ullger went out there with a rake and fixed it. I've seen that in a Legion game before, but not in the majors.
- Joe Nathan made it painfully interesting again, surrendering a double to Ivan Rodriguez and almost giving up a game-tying home run to David Murphy, before getting Chris Davis on a dicey called 3rd strike to end the game.
- The new guys will be here for tomorrow's game.
- Per Gardy's post-game comments, Joe Crede was placed on the 15-day DL, noted menswear designer Armando Gabino was sent back down, Jose Morales is racking up some more frequent flier miles, and the organization will announce their other roster move tomorrow afternoon.
That was an interesting Friday, wasn't it, kids? Enjoy your weekend.
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It bears repeating again
Duensing: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
It was vs. the Rangers
the same team that got everyone to say that Dontrelle Willis is back, made Scott Kazmir look still decent and so many more mediocre at best lefty’s look good.
The 2009 Texas Rangers offense: sigh...
by Kinslerhomer on Aug 29, 2009 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions
AND
…I just saw the highlight of Mauer cutting down Andrus. I may have laughed and called him bitch.
ass and bitch? My delicate sensibilities are bruised. Or not …
I did laugh at Andrus’ reaction to getting gunned down. “Whaaaa????”
by SteadyDietOfCheese on Aug 29, 2009 8:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Dicey does not begin to describe the game ending strike three call
Nathan got a gift. Dick & Bert’s reaction to the replay was precious. “Ummm, errrr, it looks like Nathan may have gotten a call.”
Should we be concerned about Nathan? His last three games: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO. Hopefully just a mini-slump, but that 53 pitch outing concerns me.
Well,
4 of those hits and one of those runs was in that 53-pitch outing. And that game was a full week ago, and he’s only been used twice since. I think this is more a case of small sample size than anything else, but I suppose we’ll see over the next few days whether that long outing did anything. I’m not sure why it would though.
You’re right about the call on that last pitch. There’s no way it was a strike.
Nathan
Nathan did get the first two outs on 3 pitches, then ran into a hiccup. Im not worried yet
by DedicatedFollowerOfFashion on Aug 29, 2009 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions
He's right! That Nathan's a bum!
Send him back to AAA! We still got Garbino, ain’t we?
"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
by less cowbell, more 'neau on Aug 29, 2009 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Ummm...no.
Nathan;s not a bum. But we need him to be a dominant closer. I hope it’s a small sample size, but he hasn’t been a dominant closer lately. I would hate it to be due to us throwing him out there for 53 pitches when he’s typically under 20…that’s all.
by Adam Peterson on Aug 29, 2009 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, I know
I was just kidding you.
"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
by less cowbell, more 'neau on Aug 29, 2009 6:41 PM EDT up reply actions
I knew he was going to do well
just not THAT well
Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get. ~Homer Simpson
by thewild_viking_twins on Aug 29, 2009 11:18 AM EDT reply actions
Calm down, Calm down!
They haven’t seen him before right? Or at least not much. This is the pattern, Twins call-ups do really well/start hot then everyone catches on to them and it’s mediocrity again.
Still a fun game to watch. I guess we can say they are “playing well” now.
Duensing did a great job
But he was helped by a few calls on the corners. Still very good though. Similar to what we’ve seen from Perkins when he’s on.
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