Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays Series Opener Preview: Pavano (9-6, 3.30) vs. Litsch (0-3, 6.98)
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins hit the road to take on the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game series at Rogers Field.
It’s not going to be an easy series, but we could take it. It’s possible.
The Twins are coming off a rough-and-tumble stretch at home – most recently getting trounced by the Tampa Bay Rays (who took their four-game series against the Twins 3-1 – and by the way, I liked it better when they were the Devil Rays).
I’m not even going to talk about the last road trip. I’ve blocked it from my memory.
What have we got working for us? Well, stats – kind of. According to ESPN, Toronto leads the league in home runs with 120. That sounds scary. Fortunately, if you look at the rest of their stats, they aren’t nearly as impressive: their batting average is at .237 (28th overall), they’ve got 335 RBIs (16th overall), and they’ve hit the ball 665 times this year (that’s 27th overall).
The Twins, according to ESPN, are at a pitiful 17th place for homers (with 70 on the year), but we fare much better than Toronto in other areas: we’re batting .272, which is 6th place; we’ve got 361 RBIs on the year to slip past Toronto to 15th place; and we’ve hit the ball a whopping 759 times (7th place) – which only makes you realize how shoddy it is that we have 70 homers and 361 RBIs.
Tonight in particular, we also have Carl Pavano working for us. He’s currently the Twins’ ace pitcher, with an ERA of 3.30. Unfortunately, according to the Star Tribune, the last time he pitched poorly was in Toronto in May, when we split the series. But that was the old Pavano. This is the new Pavano: with a ‘stache.
Pitching tonight for Toronto is struggling Jesse Litsch, who is currently 0-3 with an ERA of 6.98. Maybe his name is really Nick Blackburn. Just kidding.
Anyway, if the Twins can’t shake Litsch up for a few runs, they may as well turn the bus around and head back home. I actually think we’ve got a good shot of at least splitting the series with Toronto, and if we continue to keep Michael Cuddyer in at third base, we’ve got a wicked line-up.
Jim Thome (my favorite baseball player ever in the entire world), according to the Star Tribune, is currently batting .400 over the last six games with four home runs and eight RBIs. Jason Kubel is right up there, tied with Thome for 10 home runs on the year, and of course, Morneau leads everyone everywhere. Throw in Delmon Young, Cuddyer, and stalwart Joe Mauer, and it’s looking good. Even Hardy has pulled himself together.
So, with Pavano in the driver’s seat tonight against Toronto, I predict we’ll win – as long as our bats don’t stall out.
It’s the second game of the series that worries me. But let’s take things one step at a time.
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