Ben Zobrist Topic Page

Joe Nathan blew his first save of the season by giving up a leadoff home run to Ben Zobrist in the ninth inning. Gleeman suggested that perhaps Nathan isn't getting enough work. It's hard to disagree. Nathan has pitched just 7.0 innings all season. The only player that's been on the active roster all season and pitched fewer innings is Craig Breslow. Nathan is the highest paid member of the bullpen, and should be used more often.

Although Francisco Liriano couldn't get his first save of the season, he had his best outing of the season, allowing 2 runs through 6.2 innings.

Thursday night's game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays was a low scoring affair that didn't feature many highlights until the ninth inning. Carlos Silva looked like his old self again. He gave up a lot of hits, but they were scattered and he left a lot of runners on base. He nearly gave up a homerun in the third inning, but it was caught by Jason Kubel right against the wall. Other than that he got a good mix of ground balls and managed to go 6 2/3 innings without allowing a run.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will come to the Metrodome for a four game series beginning on Thursday. They've lost 4 of their last five games, but are coming off a 6-5 victory against the Rangers on Wednesday night. They split their opening series with the Yankees last week. The D-rays are known as the perennial cellar-dwellers of the AL Eeast, but they might be starting to build up a better team (though they're not there yet).