When the Angels signed Josh Hamilton last winter, they became many sports-writers' favorites to win the AL West, if not the entire American League. Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton? A sure bet--right?
Yet, here we are--the Angels just lost this series to the Twins.
MVP of the last two games is definitely the red-hot Joe Mauer. He's a combined 8 for 10 in the past two games, with six RBIs, which includes one home-run, one double, and six patented Joe Mauer singles. Number of walks? Zero. None. No walks. All hits. Can't you just picture Joe, in the middle of the street, beating his chest, screaming, "HOW LAZY AM I NOW, TWINKIE TOWN!?"
Tonight's game was also the first in which slumping rookie Aaron Hicks got a night off from batting in the lead-off position--and it seemed to help. Although Hicks did not get a hit, he walked twice and appeared to be more of the patient and calm Aaron Hicks we saw during spring training. I personally thought Aaron Hicks looked better even last night when he was a late substitution in the game where another rookie--Oswaldo Arcia--took most of the spotlight.
Oswaldo Arcia was called up for Monday's game to replace Wilkin Ramirez during paternity leave, but when Wilkin hurried back in time for Tuesday's game, Oswaldo was sent back down. Of course, in true Twins fashion, Darin Mastroianni landed on the DL Tuesday night--meaning Oswaldo turned around and got right back onto the return flight to Minneapolis.
I doubt the Twins would call Arcia up just to leave him on the bench to get rusty, so expect some interesting looks into the future in the following days.