Time to start another series winning streak. The Royals just swept the Brewers, so surely the Twins can take at least two out of three, right? The Pirates are next and although they have a winning record, B-R's SRS system rates them a -0.5, so there's another winnable series. Just burst the bubble that needs to be burst before something drastic happens, like the Pirates making it to the postseason. Finally, uh, let me check the master schedule I have saved to keep the sidebar updated... Right, Cincinnati is next and they're actually kind of good. That's okay, just take things one game at a time and work your way up to a bit of a challenge. Because then it's the White Sox next and it's always fun to beat them.
The Twins are 8-2 in their last ten games, which is the best in the majors. Plus, they're only a game and a half behind the Royals. Time to beat up on some more NL teams and move firmly into "mediocre".
Lowe shutout the Twins last time. Pavano was rumored to be quite jealous, as Lowe did it without a single strikeout. Lowe then did okay against Miami and followed that by giving up eight runs in 2.1 innings against the White Sox. He did strike out three that time though, giving him his highest K/9 for a game ever (probably).
However, that was then. Today, I expect dead grass leading to the infielders and tired outfielders as each pitcher continues to one-down the other with fewer strikeouts in the quest to pitch to impact.
The Twins are doing their best to keep the number of starters used this year to a minimum. For which I'm glad of course. Resist needing more than 11 starters!
The MLB preview said Drabek struggled with his control in his previous starts, walking five. I expect he'll end up walking the Twins hitters that can actually take walks, leaving the rest to flail at his pitches out of the zone.
