The Twins beat the Braves pretty soundly, taking a lead National League style and then cementing it American League style, and presumably will celebrate Zurich Street Parade style. In the first inning, with Joe Mauer on base Michael Cuddyer hit a double to put them both in scoring position, and bringing American League MVP Justin Morneau to the plate. In piranha fashion, Morneau hit a ground ball to score Mauer and advance Cuddyer to third, and then the Twins did something bizarre. With two outs and at least 8 more innings to go, Torii Hunter laid down a sacrifice bunt to give Cuddyer a fighting chance to score on a squeeze play, and then when the pitcher couldn't field it cleanly Torii beat out the throw to first for a 2-out RBI bunt single. Later in the game, the Twins quit manufacturing runs and just beat the shit out of Braves pitcher Chuck James by going yard on him three times. It could have been three in a row, as Michael Cuddyer led off the 3rd inning with a double that fell just short of the wall in center field, followed by back-to-back home runs by Morneau and Hunter.
The Braves did eventually get things under control, but it didn't matter, because on the other side Carlos Silva was pitching a complete game shut-out. Just to be a dick about it, Carlos let the lead runner reach first in the first few innings, just to make it funnier when he was stranded and the Braves couldn't get on the scoreboard. According to many armchair pundits, Carlos Silva shouldn't have even been on the roster, since he had lost his form of a few years ago and was holding back Matt Garza, but tonight was the Silva of old, never overpowering anybody, getting into trouble occasionally but using the D behind him and forcing guys to hit into double plays to get himself back out of trouble... three double plays for the Twins tonight, including my favorite when the Braves had two runners on in the 7th, and a nervous crowd was dreading a Braves rally and agitating for the 7th Inning Stretch. Nick Punto intercepted a ground ball up the third base line, stepped on third to get the force-out, and still managed to throw out Francoeur at first to end the inning and start the singing. My other favorite defensive play was one that didn't happen, when a Braves batter got a base hit to right field, rounded first on a tear and glanced over to see Cuddyer fielding the ball, and about fell down in his rush to change direction and get back to first, now that the whole league has seen Cuddyer throw guys out at the plate from right field... not the arm to run on.
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