Bert Blyleven Topic Page

The Twins may be realistically be out of the playoff hunt, but Johan Santana demonstrated on Sunday why it pays to keep watching this team anyway. Johan struck out 17 Ranger batters through 8 innings on Sunday. Interesting notes about the event:

Johan Santana had his most successful start of 2007 and threw his first shutout since 2005 (and only 4th in his career) on Tuesday night against the Mets. The 9-0 victory was a nice turnaround from Monday night's 8-1 loss.

In 2005 Johan Santana started off the season with 3 straight victories. He was poised to do it again, but one bad inning and the lack of offensive support sent the Twins and Johan to a loss against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Twins could muster only 2 runs against the tough lefty, Scott Kazmir.

Johan Santana is always a great pitcher, but in big games he somehow manages to step it up a notch. He was virtually unhittable on Sunday against the Tigers as he led the Twins to a series victory over the flailing Tigers. Pitch count knocked Santana out of the game in the seventh. Before leaving he allowed just four baserunners and struck out 11.

It couldn't have been a good sign for the Twins that Bert Blyleven was cursing before the game even got underway. In a way, the Twins television booth has resembled what's gone on with the Twins over the last month or so—both are battered with injuries personell problems. Bert was away last week due to Ernesto, then Dick missed the weekend series due to his mother's funeral. Now Bert faces a two game suspension for his elicit language in the pre-game show on Sunday.