It was over practically before it even started. The Twins had seven runs before they even made their second out, Nick Blackburn cruised and Minnesota thumped Milwaukee by a final of 15-3.
The Twins loaded the bases on Brewers' starter Dave Bush with no outs, and after coaxing a pop-up from Justin Morneau, he imploded. He walked Michael Cuddyer on a borderline pitch at the knees, and as the Twins first run scored, Bush confronted home plate umpire Ed Rapuano about the strike zone and had to be restrained by Prince Fielder. Fortunately for the Twins, Rapuano didn't toss Bush, and as Ron Coomer just said on the postgame show, "It changed the whole complexity of the game." Ah, Coom-dog. Anyway: Kubel 2-run single, a comical balk by Bush, Young 1-run single, Plouffe1-run single, Punto 1-run double, Span 1-run fielder's choice that still didn't result in an out, 7-0 Twins, good night Dave Bush.
The Twins actually had opportunities to take this game from embarrassing to absurd, but Joe Mauer (!) hit into two early-inning double plays, and Jason Kubel lined into a 2nd-inning double play-that-wasn't on a blown call in the outfield. These would prove irrelevant, as the Twins added five more runs in the fourth, with Justin Morneau's two-run, opposite-field double providing the key blow. Meanwhile, Nick Blackburn kept pumping strikes and keeping the ball down, as a clearly dispirited Brewers didn't mount a significant threat until it was 15-0 in the 8th.
Notes and junk:
- Carlos Gomez accounted for the three Brewers runs with a long home run off Blackburn in the 8th. I assume the Twins noticed how Gomez admired his shot at the plate, before flipping his bat and starting his home run trot. In a 15-3 game. Wonder if that will result in a future plunking, or a "just Go-Go being Go-Go" shoulder shrug from Gardy & Co. (UPDATE: Gomez apologized after the game and said he'll take his punishment "like a man." Seriously, read the interview at ESPN1500. Classic Gomez.)
- Did you hear all the Twins fans yelling "Plooooooouuuufe" whenever the new shortstop did something good? I was unaware that so many Twins bloggers were in attendance. Plouffe finished 2-for-5 with an RBI double and an RBI single in his first major league at-bat.
- Mijares pitched the 9th and nothing terrible happened.
- The only Twins player with no hits tonight? Joe Mauer. He did still manage to walk twice, scoring both times.
- Everyone else did something good at the plate, too. Jason Kubel's Beard tallied 4 RBI, O-Dog went 3-for-4, Morneau went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI, and so on and so forth.
- The Brewers just flat-out looked terrible. They've lost 10 of 11.
Enjoy your weekend, everybody.