First Pitch: 12:10 pm CT
TV: FSN
Radio: TIBN/TRN
Know Thine Enemy: Let's Go Tribe
Hilarious .gif of the Day: This one. Potentially NSFW, if your work doesn't like monkey butts
After last night's exciting walk-off win, the Twins look to split the series with Cleveland today. You all know how important this series is, so I'm not going to bore you with any more stats or numbers. We all know: today is a must-win to at least remain within reaching distance of first place.
Lineups and pitcher information after the jump. Come along, will you?
Throwing for Minnesota
What Blackburn really needs to do today to be the most effective: pitch deep into the game and...not suck. Shouldn't be too hard, eh? Blackburn has had flashes of brilliance this season, and I'm sincerely hoping he shows his good side again today.
Throwing for Cleveland
Tomlin has been pretty good for Cleveland this year, not striking a lot of guys out but keeping his walks to a minimum. He's walked over 50% fewer batters than Blackburn has this year. Not that that's really impressive, but it kind of is. The Twins really need to try and hit Tomlin early, as the Cleveland bullpen is usually pretty effective.
Lineups
Twins
Revere CF
Casilla 2B
Mauer 1B
Cuddyer RF
Thome DH
Valencia 3B
Young LF
Nishioka SS
Butera C
Notes
-Justin Morneau began "baseball-related activities" this week, with a return looking to happen sometime in August.
-According to Andrew Baggarly, the Giants beat writer, San Francisco is interested in Michael Cuddyer...as a 2B option.
-Mauer was given the option to play either 1B or catch today and he chose to play 1B. Looks like the experiment is going well.
Enjoy the game, everyone!