Nightly Notes: Game #22

Finally! It seems like it's been forever since the Twins last won a ballgame, but the monkey is off the teams back as they head into Detroit for a three game set against the Tigers. Unfortunately, the Twins would need to sweep the Tigers just to get to .500 against the AL Central for the year, and a sweep in Detroit is unlikely. Here are today's notes:

1.) Boof has done it again. Despite having some solid numbers (0 runs and just 3 hits allowed in 5 innings of work), his pitch count was a major issue today as he needed 108 pitches to get through those 5 innings. Part of that was his 8 strikeouts, which generally take a lot of pitches. However, his eight walks didn't help matters. If Bonser is going to become a legitimate threat as a Major League pitcher, he needs to get a grip on his control, and he needs to figure out how to polish off hitters more efficiently. Strikeouts are great, but not if it takes 8 or 9 pitches to get them. At least Bonser broke the string of consecutive games with a homerun allowed, which had become a bit embarrassing for him, I'm sure.

2.) Really, there's no way to complain about the bullpen work on display in this game. The Royals helped the Twins out a bit today with some really, really poor baserunning, but it's still nice when you can get 6 shutout innings from the 'pen with just 2 hits and 3 walks allowed.

3.) Torii Hunter doesn't appear to have been hurt too badly when he was hit in the mouth, needing a couple of stitches but nothing more severe. Clearly, though, you have to expect that he'll miss a couple of days as he recovers, and this leaves the Twins even more short-handed than they had been. If Luis Castillo isn't healthy enough to return this weekend against the Tigers, the Twins should seriously consider putting him on the DL retroactive to the last game he played in order to get another body on the team that Gardy could play around with late. Heck, call up Denard Span and use him as a pinch runner for a week until Castillo could be activated. The alternative, of course, would be to send Glen Perkins down, stick with 11 pitchers, and add someone to the team that way.

4.) Some of the final procedural steps to getting the Twins ballpark situation completed are being taken care of today. Like I said before, the problems that have caused some delays to this process moving forward aren't significant enough to scuttle the deal.

5.) The Tigers have shifted their rotation so that the Twins will face both Nate Robertson and Mike Maroth this weekend in Detroit. Considering how great the Twins have made opposing lefties look this year, you can only call this a smart move. Hopefully the bats will get hot anyway. May is going to be a very tough month for the Twins, so they need to turn things around in a hurry, or there are going to be some problems.

6.) I've seen a few mock drafts now that have Brady Quinn falling to the the Vikings in Saturday's draft. So, despite the fact that I rarely comment on this blog on things other than the Twins, I ask you, my gentle readers, this question in all seriousness: Should I be excited about the possibility of Quinn in purple, or should I be mortified? Right now, I'm on the fence . . .