Nightly Notes: Game #95

I'd like to say that getting swept by the Tigers at home doesn't hurt the Twins playoff chances, but that would be a lie. While the last three days didn't end the Twins season, it made things a whole lot more difficult. Once again, I didn't get a chance to watch the game, so I'm not going to comment in depth. I still wanted to say a few things, though. Here are tonight's notes:

1.) Scott Baker continued the Twins streak of solid pitching performances, although this one wasn't quite up to the level that previous starters have set since the break. He went 6.1 innings and gave up just 3 runs (which is fine), but he gave up 10 hits on the day and walked a batter. All in all a good performance, but there was certainly room for improvement.

2.) Anytime Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer are out of the lineup, the Twins probably aren't going to win the ballgame. Now, just imagine next year without Torii Hunter in the lineup ever, and you might see why I'm pushing so strongly for the Twins to re-sign him.

3.) The best thing about the game was probably Jason Kubel's 3-for-4 performance, which included his 8th homerun of the year. He's still hitting just .248 on the season, but he's had a fair number of games this season where he's been very good -- hopefully he can start stringing some of them together.

4.) Tough luck loss for Joe Nathan -- but stretching him to two innings is inherently risky, and tonight it didn't work. I wouldn't worry about it too much -- especially because the offense could have prevented it by scoring some more runs.

5.) The next three days will be huge for the Twins, with a tough series against the Angels on tap. John Lackey is first up tomorrow, and that's going to be a tough ballgame. If the Twins lose the series, it's probably time to shift them fully into the "seller" column.