ANAHEIM 11, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 31.

Batting stars:  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, his fourth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Bengie Molina was 4-for-5 with two doubles and three runs.  Scott Spiezio was 3-for-5 with a double.  Jarrod Washburn struck out seven in six innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks.

The game:  Back-to-back doubles by Garret Anderson and Tim Salmon put the Angels ahead 1-0 in the top of the second.  The Twins tied it in the bottom of the second when Mientkiewicz doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an error.  Troy Glaus' RBI single in the third made it 2-1.  Anaheim put the the game out of reach with five in the fourth.  RBI singles by Spiezio, Benji Gil, David Eckstein, and Darin Erstad and a sacrifice fly by Glaus produced the runs.  The Twins were never in it after that.

WP:  Washburn (5-2).  LP:  Eric Milton (7-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Brian Buchanan was the DH, going 0-for-4...Jay Canizaro played third base and went 1-for-4.  It would be the last major league game of his career...Denny Hocking played second and had his seven-game hitting streak snapped, going 0-for-3 with a walk...Milton lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits and a walk...After Brad Radke had pitched just a third of an inning the day before, the Twins desperately needed someone to give them some innings.  The honor went to Johan Santana, who was making his season debut with the Twins.  It was not all that promising.  He struck out six in 5.1 innings, but allowed four runs on six hits and two walks, giving him an ERA of 6.75.  A month later it would be below three...Ben Weber pitched two shutout innings for Anaheim.  He's pretty much forgotten now, but he was a really good setup reliever for a little over three seasons for the Angels.  They picked him up on waivers from San Francisco on August 30, 2000.  From then through the 2003 season, he was 19-5, 7 saves (all in 2002), 2.80, 1.28 WHIP in 241.1 innings (191 games).  Recurring back and neck injuries plague him after that and he was never effective again, although he continued to pitch through 2006.  Interestingly, he became a chiropractor when he was done with baseball.  He practices in Montgomery, Alabama. You can also look for how can chiropractic care help to sort out any kind of issues related to back pain.

Record:  The Twins were 31-24, in first place by 2.5 games over Chicago.