Nightly Notes: Game #72

Baseball's a funny game. The Twins lose one of the most important pieces of their offense, and what happens? They put up 11 runs on 17 hits in beating the Marlins 11-1. Here are the abbreviated notes:

1.) Carlos Silva once again has a sub-4.00 ERA, sneaking it down to 3.98 after going 7 innings and giving up 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 5. How is this guy 5-8? Yes, he's had a few bad starts this year (and when things go wrong, they really, really seem to go wrong). Still and all, he's been a positive force in the rotation, and who amongst us thought he would do that? I was in favor of his option being picked up, but I didn't expect him to pitch as well as he has. Incidentally, Ramon Ortiz got a chance to come in and pitch for a couple of innings, and low and behold he didn't mess it up, giving up 3 hits while picking up a K. Hey, it's a start.

2.) OK, the Jeff Cirillo thing is getting ridiculous (in a great way) -- almost immediately after I suggested that his signing was pretty much a bust, he started to pretty much have a multi-hit game every night. Last night he went 4-for-5, drove in 2 runs and scored one himself. He's taken his batting average from .207 to .284 since June 15 by going 12-for-20 in that span -- a .600 batting average. At this point, it's obvious that he needs to be in the lineup every day. For Nick Punto, that means one thing -- he has until Justin Morneau is healthy to prove that he belongs in the lineup regularly, or he's going to find himself on the bench. A lot.

3.) Jason Kubel has started to look a lot better of late as well, and his 3-for-4 performance last night brought his average up to .250 for the season. Granted, he did it on a day when the Marlins pitching was, shall we say, sub-standard. Nonetheless, he's looking more and more comfortable at the plate, and deserves a chance to play every day. When the alternative is Lew Ford, well . . . (yes, that's right, I found a way to bash Lew Ford even though he wasn't in the lineup today -- although he did come in at the end of the game. I'm a horrible person, I know.)

4.) The Twins have an excellent shot to win today, with Johan Santana on the mound and the Marlins countering with Byung-Hyun Kim. A 4-2 road trip would be very good for the Twins, especially considering that two of those wins would have come without the aid of Justin Morneau. Of course, it's always possible for the Twins offense to decide not to show up, so I assure you I'm not yet counting my chickens.