Good game, guys.

That was a good game.  You know, really, the Twins have played a lot of good, close, entertaining ballgames lately.  They've come out on the wrong side of more of them than we'd like, but that happens sometimes.  Thirteen of their last sixteen games have been decided by either one or two runs.  That makes for an interesting game to watch, even if you don't ultimately win.  Sometimes we (and I include myself in this) get so focused on winning and losing that we forget what a great game baseball is, and how much fun it is to watch a good, close ballgame.

Of course, it is always more fun when you win, which is what the Twins did yesterday.  Kyle Gibson made another strong start, going eight innings and giving up two runs.  That makes four good starts out of five and five good starts out of seven.  It seems like his good starts tend to be really good and his bad starts tend to be really bad.  That may just be a fluke, but it seems like it also could indicate that he doesn't have a lot of margin for error, and that when he's off just a little bit, he's going to get hit hard.  That may not bode well for the future, but we'll see.  For now, he's pitching really well most of the time, so let's enjoy it while we can.

As you probably know, Chris Parmelee took inspiration from the old John Fogarty song and said, "Look at me, I can be center field."  As the game log noted, this seems to have gotten more a shrug of the shoulders from Twins fans than outrage.  As it also noted, this is partly because we've already seen Eduardo Escobar in center and we've also seen Eduardo Nunez and Jason Bartlett used in the outfield, so we've grown accustomed to this sort of thing.  Also, for me at least, I'm making the assumption that this was a one-off.  Gardy felt he needed to give Fuld a day off, and since he doesn't have another center fielder on the roster, it was basically Parmelee or Pedro Florimon.  We could talk about whose fault it is that there's not another center fielder on the roster, but a) that would be speculation and b) it would be beating a dead horse.

And, we have to admit, the Twins got a way with it.  Other than, possibly, a botched rundown play which turned out to not cost them anything, I'm not aware of any plays Parmelee failed to make.  And the Twins did win the game.  That wouldn't make Parmelee in center a feasible long-term strategy, but again, I don't think Gardy sees it as one, so I'm not too worried about it.

Jorge Polanco got his first start and went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.  That makes him 2-for-5 with a double, a triple, and two walks, which is a line of .400/.571/1.000.  I still expect him to be send back to the minors as soon as Plouffe or Nunez can play, and I still think that's the right decision, but it's nice to see him come up to the majors and not look like he's completely overmatched.  He's made a good impression, and we may see him back in the majors sooner than we'd have expected a week ago.

So, having snapped their losing streak, the Twins come home to face The Surprising Kansas City Royals.  Yohan Pino, who's made one good start and one bad one, goes for the Twins.  It's time to get rolling on that season-ending eighty-three-game winning streak!  We're still on track for 119-43!