Pouncing On Tigers

It’s
unfortunate that the Twins couldn’t pounce on the Tigers every day, but
hey, 2 out of 3 is better than getting swept entirely. I think these
wins were well needed and well deserved. I know there were lots of
bandwagon jumpers at the game on Saturday and thankfully a few of them
didn’t show up for the third and final game on Sunday.

I was
happy to leave work on Friday night in time to catch most of the game.
I didn’t want to miss the whole game because I really wanted to see
Brian Duensing.
Although Brian didn’t fulfill my desire for him to wear the Navy
jersey, he still pitched and outstanding game. I think he’s definitely
doing good on his audition for a spot in next years’ rotation. If the
Twins send him back to Triple-A, they are insane. (not that I would put this past the Twins’ front office by any means.)

Friday’s 3 Stars of the Game:
1. Brian Duensing (6 innings, 0 Earned Runs, and only 4 hits. He was a rock star!)
2. Jose “Mo” Morales (2 for 4 as the DH. He was a Detroit killer.)
3. Jason Kubel (2 for 4 as well with a double…anyone who knows Kubel, knows he pulls a refrigerator behind him, so he doesn’t run fast.)

Honorable Mentions: Michael Cuddyer (home run…making his 1-4 night worth it.) and Delmon Young (also went 2-4 in the night)

Saturday
was a little more nerve wracking and I honestly wasn’t sure they were
going to get the kick in their pants that they needed to get the win
done. The score was 2-1 going into the 8th
inning. I was getting tired of watching the game and was exhausted by
the day at work. The Twins had Span and Cabrera reach on a single and a
double, respectively….and then Justin Verlander decided to walk Joe Mauer. I never understand why they like to intentionally walk Joe Mauer with Jason Kubel up behind him. (Even when it was Justin too they did it.) Kubel is a powerhouse and can get the job done, and he did it again. Kubel got a blooper base hit that scored both Span and Cabrera (Cabrera right on Span’s heels too.)

Joe and Kubel were still on base when Cuddy
was a rock star for a second day in a row and he blasted a home run,
bumping up the Twins lead to 6-2. It was a great come from behind win
and the Twins really needed this to show people that they have it in
them to win it.

Saturday’s 3 Stars of the Game:
1. Michael Cuddyer (rock star had back to back games with home runs and he drove in 3 runs…made his 1-4 night worth it again!)
2. Delmon Young (he went 2-3)
3. Orlando Cabrera (2-4 and he read Kubel’s base hit very well to come into home with the lead run.)

This
brings us to Sunday. I’m not sure I even want to talk about this. Katie
and I had such a bad time at the game with just the people around us
that it by far was not the best game to be at. We blame the lady behind
us with the 30 kids (all her own)
that were sneezing on us, hitting and kicking us in the head and the
back on the Twins losing. They made us both crabby and in pain that
it’s the only thing that makes sense.

The Twins’ defense looked
mediocre at best during the game. Catches that they may have made in
other games, they weren’t making and honestly, Kubel is no Cuddy in
right field…I love Kubel, but I like him in left better than right,
to be perfectly honest. I know that Brendan Harris had decent numbers
against Justin Verlander, but with how clutch Jose “Mo” Morales had
been at the plate the past two nights, honestly I think Gardy should
have played him for a third consecutive game.

It definitely was
not a good day at the plate for Denard Span or Brendan Harris. Denard
struck out all 4 times he was up to bat. Brendan Harris also went 0-3;
Cuddy went 0-4. I will give props to Matt Tolbert went 2-4 and Joe
Mauer went 2-4 as well…but two guys can’t pull it all together for a
whole team.

3 Stars of the Game:
1. Matty Tolbert (even though he thinks he’s gangster with Warren G. as his walk on music he still performed well. He also had a stolen base to boot, which if you watched the previous nights’ game, you’d know how hard it is to do off Laird.)
2. Joe Mauer (see above for stats)
3. Nick Punto (sure he only went 1-3, but he did have one of the 2 RBI’s the Twins came up with.)

Note
from yesterday after the game: The rookies dressed up like
teletubbies…funny thing, Bobby Krappel was the purple one. It made me
laugh when I saw this on the news.

To brighten the spirits, I’m
going to include some photos from a friend (Korey). These are not my
pictures, but they are amazing pictures and I have to share! Enjoy!