The Twins picked up 10 hits in the Tuesday's game, but 7 of them came from two batters—Mauer and Kubel. Let's start out with the postitives. In the 5th inning the Twins scored their first run. Jason Kubel singled and Joe Mauer doubled to drive him in. That was the only run until the 8th when Jason Kubel hit a solo homer.

Now to the negative—the stranded runners. In the first inning Mauer singled with 2 outs, Hunter doubled and Michael Cuddyer drew a walk to load up the bases. Justin Morneau grounded out to end the inning with no runs. In the third inning Joe Mauer doubled with 2 outs. Cuddyer struck out swinging to end the inning. In the fifth Mauer was left on 2nd base after hitting a double. In the 6th Rondell White struck out in a hit and run situation allowing Morneau to be thrown out at second to end the inning. In the 8th, after Kubel's solo shot, Mauer singled then stole second. Hunter struck out then Cuddyer singled. Terry Tiffee was then called on to pinch hit for White, our DH! and he grounded out to end the inning. Nick Punto then doubled in the 9th with 1 out and neither Castillo nor Kubel could make anything happen.

I did like the lineup in the game.

1. Castillo, 2B
2. Kubel, LF
3. Mauer, C
4. Hunter, CF
5. Cuddyer, RF
6. Morneau, 1B
7. White, DH
8. Batista, 3B
9. Castro, SS

The 7-8-9 hitters shouldn't be in the lineup—or even on the team, but I can't have everything. I did like seeing Castillo bat leadoff and I did like Kubel in the #2 spot. In fact just the other day I recommended it. We'll see if Gardy sticks with it.

Game Notes

• Liriano wasn't stunning, but he did pick up a quality start. He went 6 innings and gave up 7 hits, 2 walks and 3 earned runs. He threw only 91 pitches, but was starting to struggle in the 6th.
• Joe Mauer was 4-4 to raise his average to .368. The guy is amazing and it's an atrocity that he's nowhere to be found on the All-Star vote-leader list. Fan voting sucks.
• Kubel is coming along nicely. He hit his second homer of the road trip and had 3 hits total in the game. He also made a nice diving catch in left field late in the game.
• White was 0-3 in the game and as mentioned was pinch hit for by Tiffee. Sadly, it's time for White to go.
• Former Twin Eddie Guardado has really struggled this year. He was brought on in the 7th to face lefties Kubel and Mauer and gave up the Kubel homer and a Mauer single before getting pulled. It's sad to see a good guy like Everday Eddie struggle like he has.

I can start to sense changes coming, which is fantastic. Kubel is playing regularly and White and Castro are getting pinch-hit for. As the offense continues to do nothing, maybe Gardenhire will realize that Castro's "defense" isn't what this team needs.