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Game 1: Gil Meche, RHP (7-7, 3.76)
Royals (47-57) vs Scott Baker, RHP (4-4, 5.30)
Twins (53-51)


Scouting Report:
Royals: Meche's final line didn't show it, but he pitched admirably against the Yankees on Wednesday night. He allowed five runs in 7 1/3 innings vs. the high-octane Yanks. Through seven innings, he permitted just three runs. However, because of KC's depleted bullpen, Meche was sent back out for the eighth. On his 120th pitch, Meche threw a 3-2 cutter to Alex Rodriguez on the low-outside corner -- a perfect spot -- but A-Rod hit it over the wall for a two-run blast and his 499th career homer. Meche had worked 14 1/3 innings in his past two starts and has been a workhorse, tossing 239 pitches. Meche has pitched much better on the road, yielding one of the best road ERAs in the A.L. (2.97) versus a 4.35 at Kauffman Stadium. This will be his first start against the Twins this season. He is 5-1 with a 4.44 ERA against them lifetime.
Twins: Baker took the loss in his last outing despite a relatively solid performance. He allowed four runs on six hits over seven innings. One of those earned runs can’ be blamed on Baker because center fielder Torii Hunter lost sight of a fly ball off the bat of Toronto’ Aaron Hill, who eventually came around to score. Baker is 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA in three career starts against Kansas City.

Game 2: Jorge De La Rosa, LHP (8-10, 5.35)
Royals (47-57) vs Carlos Silva, RHP (8-11, 4.76)
Twins (53-51)

Scouting Report:
Royals: De La Rosa was terrific against the high-octane Yanks on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium. He threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings for one of his best starts of the season. De La Rosa worked in and out of several threats, but coaxed several huge outs with men in scoring position. De La Rosa has had an inconsistent season -- he started the year 4-3, lost six straight decisions, won three in a row, posted two poor starts and was excellent against the Yankees. On April 22, De La Rosa threw eight innings of one-run (no earned) ball against Minnesota, a start he called the greatest of his career after the game. Overall, De La Rosa is virtually the same pitcher at home (5.23) than he is on the road (5.49). He is 1-3 with a 4.74 ERA in six games (four starts) lifetime against the Twins.
Twins: Silva cruised through the first three frames against the Blue Jays in his last start. Unfortunately for the Twins, the wheels started to fall off in the bottom of the fourth inning. Toronto's John McDonald and Lyle Overbay each had RBI doubles to open the scoring for the Jays. Silva's troubles continued in the fifth when Toronto added 11 more runs, three of which were charged to Silva. The Minnesota right-hander finished the night with five earned runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings. Silva is 3-2 with a 4.18 ERA in nine career starts against Kansas City.

Game 3: Brian Bannister, RHP (7-6, 3.42)
Royals (47-57) vs Boof Bonser, RHP (5-7, 4.73)
Twins (53-51)

Scouting Report:
Royals: Bannister put together another terrific performance on Friday night against the Rangers. He threw seven shutout innings and won his second straight start. In those outings, he has permitted just one run in 14 1/3 innings. Bannister has been a workhorse in his rookie season, working at least six innings in every start but one since May 20. Bannister has been virtually the same at home (3.28) than on the road (3.55) this season. This is his first career appearance against the Twins.
Twins: It was a rough start for Bonser during his last outing in Cleveland. The right-hander gave up six runs, four earned, over just 2 2/3 innings. It was the shortest start by a Twins pitcher since Matt Garza pitched the same number of innings on Sept. 30, 2006. A struggle for command of his fastball on the night plus some defensive mistakes behind him didn't help his cause. Bonser will try to get back on track as he faces the Royals, a club he is 1-2 with a 3.96 ERA against in five career starts.

Game 4: Odalis Perez, LHP (6-9, 5.73)
Royals (47-57) vs Johan Santana, LHP (11-8, 2.92)
Twins (53-51)

Scouting Report:
Royals: Perez pitched very well against the Rangers in his last start. In his first career appearance vs. Texas, Perez tossed his first quality start since June 30 and allowed three runs in six innings. He didn't walk a batter for the first time this season and struck out four. In his past two starts, Perez has worked 13 innings -- tied for his season high for back-to-back outings. Perez has been slightly better on the road (5.27) than at home (6.14). Perez has faced the Twins twice this year and is 2-0 with seven runs allowed in 11 innings. Perez is 2-1 with a 6.84 ERA against the Twins in his career.
Twins: The Minnesota ace watched his streak of two rough starts come to an end with a stellar outing against the Indians, holding the club to just two runs over seven innings. He carried a no-hit attempt into the sixth inning before watching it end on a Grady Sizemore double to right field. The only blip on the night was a two-run homer that Santana gave up to Travis Hafner, but it appeared like the lefty was back to his usual second-half form. Next up for Santana will be a test against the Royals. Santana is 11-3 with a 3.63 ERA against Kansas City in 28 career appearances.

If We Hit The Boofin Ball and the Pitching can Throw the Boofin Ball before Johan Pitches, then i say why not, Twins Bring out the Brooms.

The Twins need to continue their good (lucky) play into this 4 game series with the royals, because the royals have been playing pretty good ball of late.

Based on pitcher's stats, game 3 should be the only one we have a chance at losing. That being said, if we score 5 or more, we win. If we don't hit the ball, we lose, simple as that.

4 runs in one inning, could this be the start of something big?

Ugly 2nd inning for KC. 2 errors, Cirillo was called safe at home without ever touching the plate.

00
04

That's too bad, the refs have never made a bad call against the Twins...

Detroit is playing against Haren and Cleveland is down 0-3 in the 7th at the moment. A good night followed by Boof hopefully making up for his last start and Santana pitching for the sweep.

HShockeywatcher wrote:That's too bad, the refs have never made a bad call against the Twins...

FYI, in baseball they're called umpires.

Had Castillo not been traded it would be 8-1 easy by now.

Neut, is some of the faith returning yet.

For the first time this year I see the Twins swinging at the first strike and are pounding it. I have faith in that!

Yeah, my bad.

8-1? Castildo wouldn't make that big of a difference, if any.

Irishmans Shanty wrote:36 A little turbulence, but brings her in for a nice landing.

Twins 5-3. Great job by Hi-Ho.

We need this deja vu all over again tomorrow.

I'd prefer a complete game win by Boof, but that may just be me.

Neutron 14 wrote:

Irishmans Shanty wrote:36 A little turbulence, but brings her in for a nice landing.

Twins 5-3. Great job by Hi-Ho.

We need this deja vu all over again tomorrow.

At the risk of inserting foot in mouth, I'd like to note that if the hometown team is able to pick up one more game on Cleveland (as they did tonight) over the next two days, we suddenly have a very interesting 4 game series starting on Friday.

HShockeywatcher wrote:I'd prefer a complete game win by Boof, but that may just be me.

One of the best bullpens in baseball, and some people are fixated on complete games and lengthening pitch counts. The relief pitchers need the work to stay sharp. With the starters doing well, I'd pull any of them after 7 just to get Neshek, Rincon, Guerrier, Reyes and Nathan some work. You'd have to have a no-hitter going to see a complete game right now.

Winning the series/getting a sweep vs Royals is "more important" than the CLE series, I think.

Sure, If we sweep the Indians, its a whole new race and right now. But that wont happen. We need to think "sweep the Ryals, split with Indians"

Why? Because its doable. The Twins match up real well vs Royals because the Royals cant hit either.

They dont match up head to head with CLE because CLE is a good hitting team and they cant get Travis Hafner out.

So lets pound on teams like the Royals and split with the Indians and see what happens.

packerboy wrote:Winning the series/getting a sweep vs Royals is "more important" than the CLE series, I think.

Sure, If we sweep the Indians, its a whole new race and right now. But that wont happen. We need to think "sweep the Ryals, split with Indians"

Why? Because its doable. The Twins match up real well vs Royals because the Royals cant hit either.

They dont match up head to head with CLE because CLE is a good hitting team and they cant get Travis Hafner out.

So lets pound on teams like the Royals and split with the Indians and see what happens.

There's definitely a "take care of business" aspect to this KC series - you're right in saying that if they don't get it done over the next two games, this weekend loses a little of the lustre it could have had.

But at the same time, if they do get it done, Friday becomes "the next biggest" series of the season. There is a lot of opportunity available over the next 6 days.

packerboy wrote:Winning the series/getting a sweep vs Royals is "more important" than the CLE series, I think.

Sure, If we sweep the Indians, its a whole new race and right now. But that wont happen. We need to think "sweep the Ryals, split with Indians"

Why? Because its doable. The Twins match up real well vs Royals because the Royals cant hit either.

They dont match up head to head with CLE because CLE is a good hitting team and they cant get Travis Hafner out.

So lets pound on teams like the Royals and split with the Indians and see what happens.

In Feb and March when tournaments from different sports are being contested, seeding always becomes a great discussion. Teams that don't get a good seed always say, "well, we got to beat the top team sometime so who cares when we see them." It's a great line and I'll use it myself to rally my own causes, but deep down give me the easiest route and hope the top dog stumbles along the way. In applying this to the Twins, they must sweep the Royals for reasons PB has already laid out, and as far as their contests with CLE and DET, just hold serve. A split with CLE would sit fine with me as I believe TEX and others can do some of our work for us.

CLE>MIN
TEX>CLE
MIN>TEX

This doesn't make sense but I think it's reality, therefore if MIN=CLE, they can close the gap.

Irishmans Shanty wrote: A split with CLE would sit fine with me as I believe TEX and others can do some of our work for us.

You think? They just unloaded a lot of offense and the glue that managed to secure any rare lead they did manage to get in the late innings. They're new closer has 6 career saves.

I think prior to yesterday, they might have been able to pitch in, but after the deal,s I don't think I'm going to hold me breath. The Twins are going to have to do some of their own dirty work for the next couple of months.

Hold serve Govs, hold serve and they can get right back into this.

I watched the 9th inning of CLE/TEX last night, Wilson landed the bird just fine.

It is an intereseting discussion. But usually these big series dont amount to that much. One team will win 2 of 3 and pick up a game or they split 4.

I wonder what the Twins record was last year vs DET and CHW. Ill bet right around .500.

Govs might be right that in order for them to catch up, they will have to sweep CLE but, I think, not yet.

packerboy wrote:It is an intereseting discussion. But usually these big series dont amount to that much. One team will win 2 of 3 and pick up a game or they split 4.

I wonder what the Twins record was last year vs DET and CHW. Ill bet right around .500.

Govs might be right that in order for them to catch up, they will have to sweep CLE but, I think, not yet.

I don't know that I'm calling for a sweep of the Indians, but winning 3 of 4 would net them 2 games in the standings, which would certainly be nice. I'm perfectly fine with Cleveland treading water, but the clock's ticking and the hometown club really needs to strike while the iron's hot (is that a Minnhock record for cliches in a sentence?!?!).

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings?date=20061001

Well Govs, that was quite the string of cliches. Congrats.

But click on this site which is the final standings and then punch in Aug 1.

It might be a little early to be saying its too late, if you will pardon me Yogi.

PS and BTW, Speaking of Yogi, are you guys watching "The Bronx is Burning" on ESPN? Its really pretty good.

packerboy wrote:Well Govs, that was quite the string of cliches. Congrats.

I'm beaming over that!

Anyhoo... yes, there's time and last year is a prime example of getting things done, but it's also about this time last year that they did start to move. Detroit started slipping and the Twins cashed in... currently Cleveland has lost 3 in row, they're 8-10 since the break and haven't won consecutive games. They're ripe for the pickin', and it's time to move.


GOVS' "CLICHE-O-METER":