Twins Take Two From Tribe

08/01: Twins 4, Indians 1 (box)
08/02: Indians 5, Twins 1 (box)
08/03: Twins 6, Indians 2 (box)

When rolling out the threesome of Jeremy Sowers, Paul Byrd and Matt Ginter, I have to admit that I didn’t have too high of expectations for the weekend.  And though we dropped two of three, you have to at least be pleased with what we have seen from Sowers yet again.  If not for leaving eight men on base and only producing seven hits, Sowers’ six and two-thirds may have produced a win. 

A perfect game into the sixth, Sowers has allowed only 18 hits in his last four outings, lasting 24 and two-thirds innings.  The down side is that he has one win to show for it.

After a big mistake to Joe Mauer with a runner on, it was pretty much all she wrote.  Minnesota’s Nick Blackburn was a stud once again, and once things get to Joe Nathan in the ninth, you may as well pack the bags.

Thankfully, the bats came through for Paul Byrd who tossed seven innings of excellent baseball.  Can you believe that his ERA is 0.86 in his last three starts?  Perhaps a bit motivated by the trade deadline, but homers from Kelly Shoppach and David Dellucci made the evening that much easier.  Dellucci somehow managed to go 2-for-3 from the two-hole.  Shoppach continued his hot streak while Victor Martinez rehabilitates the good ol’ elbow. 

If only we could play Minnesota every night – at least for Shoppach’s sake.  He’s hitting over .400 against the Twinkies this season, driving in 10 runs. 

But the one to watch for the weekend was Minnesota’s Francisco Liriano.  After an attempted comeback from Tommy John surgery, Lirano was roughed up earlier in the season.  Proceeded to then tear up the minor leagues, the young gun returned on Sunday only to toss six innings of three-hit, scoreless ball.  Needless to say, that ERA will not likely be above seven for too much longer. 

Cliff Lee takes the hill tonight against Matt Garza and the Rays.  Garza is coming off of a complete game shutout, while Lee had a bit of a rough outing against Detroit.  Hopefully, the true Lee returns tonight as the Tribe was pretty successful during the last series with Tampa Bay. 

A little more on the Tribe later day… I know you just can’t handle the suspense.