Twins Win Home Finale

The home finale could not have gone much better, as the Twins easily defeated the White Sox 7-1. To start, I'm glad that I get to eat my words about Gardy not playing Brian Buscher and Alexi Casilla, as he started both of them while leaving Luis Rodriguez and Nick Punto on the bench. It doesn't make up for all his poor managing this season, but at least maybe this is a step in the right direction. In the game Jason Kubel, Jason Bartlett, and Michael Cuddyer all had 2 hits, and Cuddy added 4 RBI in the game. On a special note, Garrett Jones hit his first career home run, a solo shot in the 2nd inning, in order to get the scoring started for the Twins and tie the game at 1. His average still sits at only .175, but, hey, at least now he joins the minority of players who have actually hit a home run in their major league career.

The real star of the game, though, was the starting pitcher Kevin Slowey, as he had the best start of his young career. Slowey set a career high in innings pitched (7) and strikeouts (9), while tying his career low for hits allowed in a start (4) and earned runs allowed (1). Slowey was all over the strike zone today, throwing 75 strikes while not even reaching 100 pitches. He has had a real resurgence during his September call-up, as he has now pitched 24 innings this month, while giving up only 22 hits, 2 walks, and 7 earned runs, while striking out 25, which is over 1 K per inning. His numbers in his starts have been even better, as he has allowed only 4 runs (3 earned), 13 hits, and no walks over 3 September starts (18 innings). Maybe the most telling statistic for Slowey this month, though, is that he has only allowed 3 home runs in 24 innings, including none in his last 2 starts (13 innings). He allowed at least one home run in each of his first 8 starts, giving up 14 round trippers over that span.

And, one last note: I didn't get to watch the game today, so could someone let me know if Justin Morneau actually swung at this pitch today: