Pregame
From the Sox Series Preview:
John Danks: Just 23 in April, Danks is enjoying a very successful sophomore campaign with the South Siders. It's easy to see why: better strikeout rates, better walk rates, home run rates cut in half, more gound balls, static line drive ratios and he's leaving more men on base. Deciphering that formula is easy: Danks is much better than he was in 2007. He throws a good cut fastball now, in addition to the fastball/curveball/changeup/slider repetoire. Also, he's been better on the road, and he handles right-handed hitters extremely well. If there's one chink in his armor right now, it's that he's come undone a bit in his last three starts, totaling 17.2 innings with 15 runs and 24 hits. He's still getting strikeouts and limiting walks, however, so it might be that he's just leaving the ball over the plate a bit too often. That, or he's been unlucky. Let's hope for the former.
Taking the hill for the second place Twins will be 26-year old Scott Baker. His last outing was his worst since returning from the disabled list in early June, and having said that, it wasn't that bad, relatively speaking. Five-plus innings, five hits, three runs; I'd take that from Livan Hernandez ten out of ten times. Baker's keys for success tonight: get ahead in the count early and often, attack the hitters no matter what the count, and have confidence in all pitches.
Tonight's lineup features Adam Everett, who will see his first major league plate appearance since May 21st. Otherwise it's the typical lineup we see versus left-handed pitchers, with the exception of Jason Kubel getting a start at desginated hitter. Game time is in thirty minutes!