Things continue to fall in place for the first place Twins. This series against the Red Sox brought about many thoughts about how the teams have changed, mainly the Twins, in the last year. The Red Sox made a push for Johan Santana but Sox GM Theo Epstein did not want to part with any of his youngsters.
Any of you who caught some of the games know who I'm talking about. Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury namely. Instead, the Twins traded Santana to the Mets for Carlos Gomez and change. They also picked up Craig Monroe, Mike Lamb, Adam Everett, Livan Hernandez, Delmon Young and Brendan Harris.
The Twins took 3 of 4 from the defending World Series champions and did so handily. Strong pitching and timely hits did it for the Twins in the 3 wins they picked up. Other than the 3 homeruns on Sunday, the Twins scored all of their runs off singles and doubles.
Last night was no different. Craig Monroe hit a big double in the 5th that scored two runs and helped the Twins to jump ahead 6-3.
Hernandez (6-1, 3.90) has been getting great run-support that Johan Santana never could seem to get. If Santana got this kind of run support (31-5 in runs scored to runs allowed this month for Hernandez) then he may have had a nice Cy Young streak going.
Monroe is coming up big in the DH role as well. Batting .290 with 4 HR and 15 RBI, he has shown the consistent big hitting that the Twins have lacked since releasing David Ortiz several years ago.
This team is staying true to its small ball roots and it is definitely proving to be worthwhile at the moment. Keep in mind though Twins fans, this team is pretty new and fairly young. Expect some more ups and downs this year but for the moment, enjoy what they are doing and let's keep cheering them on.
Next game: 5/13 vs. Toronto Blue Jays. 7:10 start time
Slowey (0-2, 6.48) vs. Jesse Litsch (4-1, 4.24)
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