There were some good things about this game. Carl Pavano pitched the archetype of the Carl Pavano Game (2 runs, 7 innings, a whole bunch of hits that didn't amount to much). Justin Morneau was back and turned a nice 3-6-3 double play. Tsuyoshi Nishioka tallied two RBI in key situations.
The very bad things, though. The very bad things were the reason the Twins lost 3-2, and they were the reason this whole year has been so thoroughly disappointing: not enough offense, horrible defense, and injuries that just won't effing let up.
They started four hours before the first pitch, when Michael Cuddyer injured his neck swinging at the last pitch of batting practice.
They continued when the Twins were unable to do much against Cleveland starter Justin Masterson. Nishioka's RBI single gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead, but he was caught stealing to snuff out any rally.
They blossomed in the 6th inning, as the Twins middle infield butchered ground ball after ground ball, Nishioka in particular. His error (which should be plural) allowed the Indians to eventually tie the game.
They turned ridiculous in the 7th inning, as Alexi Casilla tweaked his hamstring running to first and had to leave the game. In the bottom of the inning, Casilla's replacement, Matt Tolbert, immediately missed an easy grounder. The Indians managed to not capitalize on this mistake and Nishioka's failure to cover second base on the final out of the inning. Pavano went Last Boy Scout on some dugout items afterwards, with good reason.
They turned briefly hopeful in the 8th, when Nishioka lined a 2-out, go-ahead single to right that scored Danny Valencia, before going negative ham in the bottom of the inning. With a runner on first and one out, Glen Perkins allowed a double on a ball that Denard Span wasn't able to get to (maybe Revere gets that if he's playing center?) that tied the game. He then surrendered a bloop double that deflected off the heel of a diving Revere's glove that gave the Tribe the lead for good. The Twins went 1-2-3 in the 9th.
Studs: Carl Pavano. Deserved a much better fate.
Duds: the middle infield. I'm glad Nishi hit the ball okay, but that was amateur hour in the field. As noted by John Shipley on Twitter, if Plouffe or Valencia had done that, they would've been demoted to the Twins Class A affiliate in Siberia.
Oh, well. It's just a game, right? Enjoy your weekend, everybody.