Twins 0 - Angels 1

Despite the loss, what we have pictured here is the Twins reacting to DH Craig Monroe's walk in the eighth after being behind 1-2. True Story. Looking over my notes from the game, I literally described the bottom of the 7th as - "Zzzzz Zzzzz". The other eight innings weren't much different. Not hitting is one thing, but inning after inning of "aggressive" at-bats in which no player is willing to take a pitch, well that's just painful to watch. The Twins did their best to keep the pitch count low for Saunders, who averaged 10 pitches per inning. (UPDATE: Aaron Gleeman agrees about the lack of plate discipline.)

Carlos Gomez will bring many things to this team, but patience at the plate is not one of them. I checked the stats, and over his carrier, Luis Castillo averaged 49.4 pitches per plate appearance (I know, I'm as surprised as you are) when hitting leadoff. As Bert likes to relentlessly point out, part of leadoff duty is seeing as many pitches as possible. Nobody likes to watch guys take strike 3 looking, but seriously, how about taking strike 2? or 1!

Dirty Sock - Nick Blackburn. He worked with great pace and threw strikes all night - two things Ron Gardenhire and I love.

Ron Gardenhire and I also love bowling and beer. And each other.