Nomo took another No-No into the seventh inning when Tori Hunter hit a low liner to right field that Darren Lewis had in his glove but couldn't hold onto. It wasn't an easy catch, but it's one we've come accustomed to DLew making. With the No-No broken and Hideo's pitch count over 100 the 7th inning would be his last, finishing up the nigh with a great 7IP 1H 0ER 5BB and 8K.

Oh, and another note to mention about Nomo. Thru his 5 starts thus far, including the shellacking in New York, he's only given up a total of 11 hits. ELEVEN! The guys on baseball tonight mentioned it last night and said that 26 pitchers have given up 11 hits in a game so far this year never mind over five. DAMN!

Onto relieve Nomo in the eighth in a tight 1-0 game (at the time) Jimy went to Derrick Lowe to finish it up. Obviously it's easy to say after the fact (heck it's redundant) but when Lowe came in I wasn't worried, I knew he was going to put it together, and boy did he ever. With the exception of one hit (and the Twins are a very good hitting team) Lowe was perfect. His pitches were diving and not one ball got off the ground, every out was either a groundball or a whiff. He even had to battle thru an 8-10 pitch at bat against a hot David Ortiz who kept spoiling every pitch with a foul tip. But Lowe hung tough and eventually got the groundout.

It was only one appearance, but judging from the big arm pump we got from Derick after the third out of the ninth, he could be getting himself back on track.

As for the offense, we did bang out 8 hits and had more than a few opportunities to make the lead a bit more comfortable, but the two runs were enough, this time. Bad night to be a hitter anyway, it was cold and raw, a pitchers best friend.

I'll be there again tonight to open the series with the Royals. Mac Suzuki, who I consider the Royals ace, pitched a gem last night so we won't be seeing him this series. Tonight we get Frank Castillo vs Blake Stein, this is a game where the offense should put a few runs together.

paul@redsox2000.com