CLEVELAND 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN CLEVELAND
Date: Tuesday, June 10.
Batting stars: None.
Pitching stars: Scott Baker pitched seven innings, giving up one run on eight hits and one walk and striking out one. Matt Guerrier pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: C. C. Sabathia pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and no walks and striking out five. David Dellucci was 2-for-3. Ryan Garko was 2-for-4.
The game: The Twins opened the game with two singles, but the rally fizzled when Carlos Gomez was doubled off second base when a long fly by Justin Morneau was caught. The Indians took advantage of it, scoring in the bottom of the first when Ben Francisco hit a one-out double and Garko delivered a two-out single.
And that was it for the scoring. The Twins never really got a threat going after that. They got three more singles, but no runner got past first base. They had no extra-base hits and did not draw any walks. It was 1-0 after one inning, and it was 1-0 at the end of the game.
WP: Sabathia (4-8). LP: Baker (2-1). S: None.
Notes: Michael Cuddyer was in right field. Denard Span, who was a rookie that year, is listed as the regular right fielder, but he didn't really take over the job until Cuddyer was injured in late June. The injury essentially ended Cuddyer's season, although he made a handful of appearances in September.
Mike Redmond was the DH in this game. Craig Monroe started the season as the DH, but he was found wanting Jason Kubel became the more-or-less full time designated hitter.
Brendan Harris was at shortstop. Adam Everett was supposed to be the regular shortstop, but he missed much of the season due to injuries. Harris and Nick Punto pretty much shared the position after that.
Matt Macri was at third base. This was another instance of a failed plan. Mike Lamb was supposed to be the third baseman. When that didn't work, Brian Buscher became the more-or-less regular at the position.
This was Macri's only season in the majors, and he got only thirty-four at bats. He made the most of them, batting .324/.361/.441. There's nothing in his record that suggests he could've sustained anything near that, but he still has a lifetime average of .324, and that's pretty good.
Other than Macri, Alexi Casilla was the leading batter on the team at .330. He would finish at .281. It was an empty .281, as his OPS was .707. That was the second-highest OPS of his career--he was at .726 in 2010.
Joe Mauer was batting .327. His average was sustainable, as he finished the season at .328 and led the league in batting.
Mike Redmond was batting .311. He would finish at .287.
This was the year the Twins lost game 163 to Chicago. When you look at the names listed above, it's remarkable that they came that close to winning the division, although it may be more due to the weakness of the division than anything else. Still, it's rather frustrating to think that, if they'd just made one or two moves to acquire some good players, rather than shopping in the bargain basement, they probably could've won the division easily.
Record: The Twins were 31-34, in second place in the American League Central, six games behind Chicago. They would finish 88-75, in second place, one game behind Chicago.
The Indians were 30-35, in third place in the American League Central, seven games behind Chicago. They would finish 81-81, in third place, 7.5 games behind Chicago.
