MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, May 17.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 3-for-4. Corey Koskie was 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base, his third. Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3.
Pitching stars: Joe Mays pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and no walks and striking out one. Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning and struck out one.
Opposition stars: Jon Garland pitched six innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out two. Carlos Lee was 2-for-4.
The game: In the first Cristian Guzman singled, stole second, and scored on a Koskie single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. In the fourth Bobby Kielty walked, went to third on a Mientkiewicz single, and scored on a ground out to make it 2-0.
The White Sox did not get a man past first base through six innings. In the seventh, however, singles by Maggio Ordonez, Paul Konerko, and Joe Crede loaded the bases with two out and Miguel Olivo singled to bring home a run, cutting the lead to 2-1. J. C. Romero came in to retire D'Angelo Jimenez, keeping the Twins ahead. In fact, Chicago did not get a man on base after Olivo's single.
The Twins added an insurance run in the eighth. Jones singled, went to third when Guzman reached on an error, and scored on a sacrifice fly.
WP: Mays (4-3). LP: Garland (2-4). S: Guardado (9).
Notes: Jones was back in left field, with Mohr moving to right. Kielty was the DH. The Twins made no in-game lineup substitutions.
Jones picked up right where he'd left off, raising his average to .349.
Rivas went 0-for-3, snapping a seven-game hitting streak. He went 13-for-26 in those games, raising his average from .188 to .261.
Mays lowered his ERA to 5.26. Romero retired both batters he faced to lower his ERA to 3.26. LaTroy Hawkins struck out both men he faced to lower his ERA to 1.47. Guardado lowered his ERA to 1.62.
Carlos Lee has pretty much been forgotten already, but he was a fine player for a long time. He spent fourteen years in the majors, most of them with the White Sox and Astros. He batted .285/.339/.483 with 358 home runs. He also had 125 stolen bases. He hit over 20 homers every year from 2000-2010, topping 30 in five of those years. He made three all-star teams and won two silver slugger awards. His best season was probably 2008, when he batted .314/.368/.569 with 28 home runs. Oddly, he did not make the all-star team that season. He was also durable, playing in over 150 games ten times and over 140 games twelve times. He never led the league in any major categories, and I'm not nominating him for the Hall of Fame or anything. But he was someone you'd be quite happy to have on your side for quite a few years.
Record: The Twins were 24-18, in second place in the American League Central, a half game behind Kansas City.