Twins Fail to Sweep

The Twins finished the season opening with a 3-1 loss to the Royals. They head off to Chicago (3-2, should soon be 4-2) for an afternoon game tomorrow. I think the big news with today's game was that Denard Span was making his big-league debut. (Although I think everyone watching the game knew that it was Bert's birthday celebration, with a baseball game going on in the background.)

Three Stars:
Boof Bonser - 7 IP, 91 pitches, 8 H, 3 R, 4 SO, 0 BB. Overall, Boof's piece of work was pretty good. Although giving up 4 doubles was too much to overcome, Boof still gave his team a shot to win. With no run support, though, it didn't happen.

Justin Morneau - 2 for 4, HR, R, RBI, 2 SO. He's starting to get things rolling after a very slow start.

Matt Tolbert - 2 for 4, Double. Getting another spot start, he didn't disappoint - picked up his second multiple hit game in as many days.

*One thing I would like to see while Cuddyer is on the DL is batting Young in between Mauer and Morneau. I think Gomez (R), Mauer (L), Young (R), Morneau (L) would be a good way to go. However, as long as Tolbert is hitting as well as he is, I can handle him up there. Regardless, I don't like Mauer in the 3-hole.

A look at some main Twins stats through 7 games:
Carlos Gomez - 10 for 28 (.357), 8 SO, 4 SB
Delmon Young - 8 for 27 (.296), RBI, 4 SO
Joe Mauer - 7 for 22 (.318), 4 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
Matt Tolbert - 6 for 13 (.462), .533 OBP
Michael Cuddyer - 5 for 18 (.278), RBI
Justin Morneau - 5 for 24 (.208), 2 HR, 7 RBI
Adam Everett - 2 Errors
Mike Lamb - 2 for 20 (.100)
Rondell...er, I mean, Craig Monroe - 1 for 11 (.091)
*As a whole, not real great.

Livan Hernandez - 2-0, 3.86 ERA, 1 WHIP
Scott Baker - 1-0, 4.05 ERA, 1.05 WHIP
Boof Bonser - 0-2, 4.15 ERA, 1.23 WHIP
Nick Blackburn - 0-1, 1.29 ERA, 0.86 WHIP
Kevin Slowey - 0-1, 8.10 ERA, 1.20 WHIP (left with injury)
Bullpen - 0-0, 3 SV, 2.84 ERA, 1.11 WHIP
*As a whole, better than expected.

Back tomorrow with NCAA predictions!