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Twins win series but streak ends; Around the majors From the Seats, April 17, 2005 CLEVELAND Johan Santana and the Twins marched into Cleveland and stole the game to extend their win streak to 5. The 3-2 win was decided after the 3rd inning when LeCroy drove in the go ahead run after a Terry Tiffee two RBI single in the second followed by two solo home runs in the bottom of the second. Both Santana and Westbrook had very good outings, the bullpen came through for the Twins though. With Dave Gassner making his major league debut the Twins sat back, waited for a while after trailing 2-0 in the 6th Lew Ford hit a three run home run. Later Hunter would do the same in the 8th. Nathan would save the game for Gassner to get his first major league win and the Twins to make it 6 in a row and win the series against the Tribe. The true highlight from Saturday was Dave Gassner, who did anything but blow hitters away. Instead he hit his marks, got first pitch strikes and used his defense. Dave Gassner will make things difficult and interesting when Carlos Silva comes off the DL, he will also put a lot of pressure of Kyle Lose (and I say that after Sundays outing by Mays.) On Sunday as the Twins went for the sweep they were up against C.C. Sabathia, a pitcher who has said he hates the Twins and there is no other team he would rather beat. It was his first start of the season after being on the DL and he ended up pitching 6 innings giving up 1 run and 5 hits. A good first outing of the year, one the Indians have to be happy about. The highlight for the Twins came with Joe Mays, pitching 7 innings giving up 1 run, a home run and walking none. It is hard to remember what Joe Mays of 2001 was like, but I would like to think this was him, old Joe Mays is back. If that is the case, the Twins will be a hard team to beat. Despite the Twins losing the Sunday manatee they have been playing good baseball, not great baseball but good ball. The team is making too many errors yet, on Saturday the error was followed by a home run, making it 2-0. On Sunday a Cuddyer error extended the inning and lead to the bases to fill up and Travis Hafner to be hit by a pitch to bring home the winning run. Another week against the AL Central lies ahead as the Twins have a pair of two game series against the White Sox and Royals and a weekend match up in Detroit. Good play this week will be rewarded, if not right now, it will in August and September. Around the majors This weekend was opening weekend in Washington D.C. that started with George Bush throwing out the first pitch and the Nationals sweeping the Diamondbacks. With the sweep the Nationals stay on top of the NL East, which is currently a surprise around the majors. Just up I-95 in Baltimore the Orioles took care of business too, making it a good weekend for everyone in baseball. The Baltimore Orioles swept the New York Yankees in a three game series, also at the top of the NL East, and making the Yankees tied for last place with the Devil Rays. Most people will believe that the Yankees cant and wont stay in last place for long, but it is possible that a team will fall flat and not recover from a bad start. Winning Aprils make for a winning season, very few can come back from a losing April and make for a winning season. It is possible that the Yankees will not make post season play. One thing I would really like to see is the Baltimore Orioles in post season play this year. |