Nightly Notes: Game #147

Halfway to first place! With the White Sox double-rain out today, the Twins have a chance to move into a first place tie by winning both halves of the doubleheader today. Here are some notes on game #1:

1.) Didn't the end of this thing feel like a spring training game? When they scrolled around to show Pridie taking over in left, Tolbert at second, Jorgenson behind the plate, and (thankfully!) Mijares making his big league debut on the mound, I flashed back to March. When that happens in September, something has either gone very right or very wrong -- and obviously tonight it was the former.

2.) Speaking of Mijares, it was about time to get him in a game. There have been several opportunities, including at least one that was absolutely designed for a big league debut, but Gardy so far has avoided the move. Obviously, striking out Kevin Millar was a great start for Mijares, and I hope it's a sign of things to come -- but let's not get too worked up about it. The Orioles aren't that good, for one thing. Secondly, they probably have only very limited scouting available on Mijares, so the hitters Jose faced were pretty much out there guessing. I certainly liked what I saw, though, and am starting to get on the Mijares bandwagon.

3.) Great to see Michael Cuddyer come off the DL today, even if his return AB wasn't anything to write home about. Simply having him available as a bat off the bench could be huge for the next couple of weeks. I have no idea when his foot will be strong enough to let him play in the field, but Carlos Gomez will undoubtedly see less playing time if that happens. I think Denard Span has pretty definitively settled the argument about which of the two deserves to play every day.

4.) I can't state enough how much I like Gary Thorne, who was one of the Orioles two announcers tonight. Still, he was absolutely brutal tonight once the TV crew came on the air (the first part of the game was televised and I believe had the radio feed for audio -- I had the game muted while I was watching college football). First, he misprounced pretty much every name that could be mispronounced (Denard "Spawn", Jason "PRID-ee -- as opposed to "PRIDE-ee", the always popular Nick "PUN-toe" rather than "POON-toe"). He also was completely oblivious to Michael Cuddyer pinch hitting for Alexi Casilla, even referring to Casilla as having ground out while the camera was very clearly showing Cuddyer. There were a few more things that I've since forgotten, but trust me -- this was not a banner night for one of my favorite announcers.

5.) Justin Morneau for MVP? Yeah, I could see it . . .

I'll be back later with a few more notes on Game 2. Hopefully, we'll be talking about the first place Twins at that point!