Saturday's Game 9/22

The season moves ever nearer its close, now with nine games left on the schedule. It's almost a relief at this point, as the Twins continue to be quite frustrating. But it's only almost a relief; I'll miss looking forward to a game almost every day, despite the aggravation I sometimes, and all too often this year, experience from watching. Scott Baker (9-8, 4.15) will start for the Twins in this early affair, beginning at 12:10 EST, against Javier Vazquez (13-8, 3.83) for the White Sox. After the loss yesterday, the Twins now have winning records against just four of the thirteen American League teams (Oakland, Seattle, Texas, and Baltimore). They've been especially bad in the most critical games, against their division (26-41), and more specifically against Detroit and Cleveland they've been pitiful (9-24). There really isn't much left to speculate about, except that there's no way a team can stay close in a division by playing like that against the leaders.


And I'd like to address a few injury notes in this entry. It's unlikely that we'll see Pat Neshek or Mike Redmond again this year, and it's possible we won't see Carmen Cali either, but I'm not exactly sweating that one. Neshek has, not surprisingly, succumbed to a tired arm, and will at the very least get a few more days off. Redmond, who has not been seen in action since September 4th, is probably just going to rest his thumb for the remaining week and a half so as to not do any more damage to it.