CLEVELAND 9, MINNESOTA 5 IN CLEVELAND
Date: Monday, April 2.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 4-for-4 with a walk, a double, and a stolen base. Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a walk. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Jack Cressend and LaTroy Hawkins each pitched two perfect innings, with Cressend striking out three.
Opposition stars: Matt Lawton was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second. Ellis Burks was 2-for-4 with a home run. Travis Fryman was 1-for-4 with a grand slam.
The game: The Twins again jumped out to a first inning lead, getting RBI singles from Guzman and Dustan Mohr to take a 2-0 lead. The Indians came right back with three in the bottom of the first, as Omar Vizquel had an RBI triple and Burks hit a two-run homer. The Twins took the lead back in the third on an RBI double by A. J. Pierzynski and a run-scoring single by Jones. In the bottom of the third, however, Cleveland took the lead to stay on a grand slam by Fryman that made the score 7-4. Lawton hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Indians a 9-4 advantage. Torii Hunter singled home a run in the sixth to cut the lead to 9-5, but that was as close as the Twins would come. Cleveland did not get a baserunner after Lawton's fourth-inning home run, but by then it did not matter.
WP: Ryan Drese. LP: Eric Milton. S: None.
Notes: Denny Hocking started at second base. He would become the starting second baseman until Luis Rivas came back in early June. He went 1-for-4 to make his average .111...Future Twin Jim Thome was 1-for-4...Milton lasted four innings, giving up all nine runs on eight hits and a walk. He did strike out four...Drese did not pitch particularly well either, going five innings and giving up four runs on eight hits and five walks. He struck out five...Jones raised his average to .467...Mohr was 1-for-5 to make his average .400.
Record: The Twins were 5-2, in second place, one game behind Cleveland.
GOSO. No way we're competing with Cleveland. Especially since Thome is probably going to hit 50 homers this year
He should reach 300 homers sometime mid-season, but he’ll also be turning 31. I wonder if he can catch Harmon.
282 coming into the year and none so far this year. Definitely will reach 300 this year. To reach Killebrew's 573, he's going to need to continue for another decade. He moved to first at only 26 so that doesn't bode well for long term health. If he stays in the AL so he can DH, might be fine.
I suspect Cleveland might’ve been tempted to play him at third a little bit longer if they hadn’t been able to trade for Matt Williams. Then again, perhaps they should’ve given Jeff Kent a try there. He’s hit even better than peak HoJo since going to the Giants. Maybe he doesn’t have the arm for third, though.
they have this 23-year old kid on the bench (err, in AA, but destined for a cuppa) named Victor Martinez. Maybe they should move him to 3b? He seems a little tall for a catcher.
He’s a couple inches shorter than the Twins’ #1 draft pick last year. Maybe they can stick?
All this speculation is a complete waste. Only the future will tell.
He's had old player baseball skills for several years now, and those guys tend to break down, drop off by 35. And I'm pretty sure Thome isn't on the juice.
Unless you count moo juice.
On the bright side, Milton protected the bullpen ERA in this game.