July 29, 2008.

Tonight's edition is a full-on community review--in the morning we'll have the best snippets included right here on the front page.

Let's see what you've got--have fun!

joeiscool: 

Perkins looked shaky—not terrible, but not great. The defense saved him in a few innings. If the Twins are looking to make a move to bring Liriano into the rotation, I think it will be him, but I think (much to the dismay of many in the internet baseball community) Liriano will stay in AAA for at least one more start.

cmathewson:

I think [Perkins] should go back to the bullpen. He has a very good fastball and decent secondary pitches. But I think h’ll have more success with that mix in the pen. Of course, moving him to the pen makes room for Liriano. It’s time. We’ll know when Liriano is held out of his next AAA start.

TMW:

Hi, I’m Glen Perkins. I’ve dominated the Detroit Tigers lineup multiple times this year by pitching from the 3rd base side of the rubber and pounding a ton of fastballs inside. Ozzie Guillen gave me 8 right handed hitters last night and I pitched from the middle of the rubber closer to 1st base than 3rd. I didn’t pitch inside at all last night and I got pounded. Why did I do this? Because I want Francisco Liriano to take my spot in the rotation. I’m such a mench.

DedicatedFollowerofFashion:

I thought the turning point of the game was when Ozzie Guillen left the starter Richard in to face Morneau. He had been struggling that inning, and Mauer the batter before drilled Richard in the leg.  I don’t know if Guillen was leaving him in to get that win stat, but you just knew Justin was going to deliver.

natetheskate:

Love the back to back bunts in the 7^th to get Gomez around for what ended up being the winning run.

joeiscool:

Nathan looked good as usual, the Swisher homer, he just went down and got a pitch and somehow muscled out a broken bat no-doubter, but to me the bigger part of the inning was the Delmon Young. For as much grief as he gets about his defense, he proved he can run down fly balls as good or better than any other option we have in LF when he snagged that ball.

joe is cool:

It did NOT look good for the first few innings. It looked like another down night, but as I predicted (wishfully) they might have better looks the second time through the order. And while it actually started in the second and extended into the third time, it was still nice to see the Twins come back - AGAIN - in the 5th inning.

DedicatedFollowerofFashion:

Is it too early to throw Morneau’s name in a MVP discussion? he is up there in batting average, second in RBI, and just like in 06, the team has just jumped on his back and that big Canadian Moose is charging his team to win after win. Whether he is an MVP or not, Justin is just flat out awesome lately.

Andersklasen:

Half game back.  WHOOP!

 
Gavin Floyd pitches another career-highlighting game, brushes against history after nearly no-hitting the Tigers in April.

While The Perfect Game is rare, a No-Hitter is pretty damn close.  Floyd combined a masterful performance with some help from his defense, the end result of which was a great win for the White Sox.  There was a little trouble in the first inning, as he walked Brendan Harris and Joe Mauer in back-to-back plate appearances, but no damage was done.

Another walk to Mauer in the fourth led to Minnesota's only run.  With Joe on first, Justin Morneau took a strong cut and lined the ball hard into left field.  Carlos Quentin appeared to make the catch, but in the next instant the ball slipped from his glove.  Michael Cuddyer followed up with a long fly out to right field, advancing Mauer to third, and Jason Kubel completed the hitless scoring opportunity by lifting a sacrifice fly to Nick Swisher in center field.  It made the score 2-1, but Floyd wouldn't give the Minnesota offense another opportunity.

Cuddyer described what it was like for hitters in the batters box:

"He had late movement, and that's the best kind you can have," Cuddyer said. "It looks like a strike all the way to the zone and then maybe it falls out. To the naked eye, it looks like we are chasing, but when you're up there, it looks like a strike."

Gavin Floyd's curveball has always been his best pitch, but on Tuesday night his fastball and slider were just as effective.  Games like this are what can happen when guys with great stuff, like Floyd, can get it all working at once.

After retiring Brendan Harris on strikes to start the top of the ninth, Joe Mauer stepped in, 0-for-1 with a pair of walks.  On a 1-0 count, Floyd's slider broke over the plate and Mauer took advantage.  Mauer pushed it, lining the ball into the left-center field gap.  Swisher, who had been playing Mauer to pull, was out of position.

Knowing it takes a little luck to put a No-Hitter on your resume, Floyd mentioned he could only do what he could do:  throw strikes and get people out.  It was Swisher who sounded disappointed when talking about trying to keep that goose egg intact:

"In the sixth, I looked up and realized they didn't have [a hit]...I didn't care if I had to run through the wall to catch it. I was going for it, and tried my best superman impersonation, but I didn't get it. In my mind, it [stinks]. The win was great to get, but I wanted that for Gavin."

That one hit was enough, and Ozzie Guillen lifted Floyd from the game with a 7-1 lead, one out and Joe Mauer standing on second base.  It was Mauer's ninth double of the season.  Bobby Jenks came on and closed out the ninth.

It wasn't much fun to watch as a Twins fan, but as a baseball fan it's easy to appreciate what Floyd nearly pulled off.  We know first hand what it's like to cheer for someone or something that isn't extpected to do too much, and Gavin Floyd's career hasn't exactly gone as it once was projected.  Tuesday night he was effective as any pitcher in the game, and he nearly pulled off a No-Hitter.

Having said that, I'm glad Mauer broke it up.  It's a small victory, one of those "moral victories", but you take what you can get out of a loss.  Game two of the series is tonight, hopefully we can turn it back around and start another winning streak.

[Note by Jesse, 05/07/08 5:39 AM CDT ]  Be sure to check out our Q&A with Twins President Dave St. Peter from Tuesday moring!