Twins stay hot!
Another great game thread today, thanks to those who participated. I wasn't able to catch the last three innings, but most of the action was over by that point anyway.
I know they do "3 Stars" for Twins radio broadcasts after the games, and so I'll rip them off this afternoon to point out a few things about what I saw.
Star 3: Nick Punto. Punto's play to end the top of the third inning was sick. With runners on the corners and two away, Polanco hit a speedy grouder back up the middle, just to the left-field side of second base. With Curtis Granderson and Alexi Casilla in a sprint for the bag, Punto dove and did the only thing he could to get the ball to Casilla in time: flick it with his glove. He might have been trying to actually flip the ball, but in any event what he managed to do was roll it. Casilla's momentum carried him over the bag, but he gloved the ball and managed to keep his foot on the base just long enough to record the out and put another zero on the scoreboard for Blackburn.
Star 2: Joe Mauer. I know it's not true, but he seems to always get on base multiple times a game. This afternoon he was 2-for-4 with a walk, and opened the scoring for Minnesota in the bottom of the third by scoring both Span and Gomez on a single.
Star 1: Nick Blackburn. Nick went seven innings and shut down the Tigers, allowing only a trio of hits (all singles) while striking out four and walking just one. After getting touched a bit his last time out, it was nice to see him bounce back for one of his strongest performances of the season. It constitutes Blackburn's 10th quality start of the summer.
Anyone else have anything to add? Also, in case you missed it, I posted my American League All-Star selections this morning. Does it match your ballot?