C.C. Sabathia Topic Page

The Twins were beat handily in the opening series of the ALDS by a few of the biggest names on the team. C.C. Sabathia pitched almost 7 strong innings. The Twins got to him for 8 hits, but Sabathia got the big outs when he needed them and didn't walk any Twins.

The Twins scored first with 2 runs in the 3rd inning, but the Yankees struck back immediately in the bottom of that inning with a 2-run home run from Derek Jeter. Jeter reached base in all 4 of his plate appearances, getting 2 hits and drawing 2 walks. Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui also had 2 RBI a piece.

I might just be caught up in the excitement of the moment, but it's hard for me to remember a Twins game since 1991 that's more exciting than what just took place in the Metrodome.

Winning the series against Cleveland was certainly not expected the way the Twins limped into Cleveland after being clobbered in Toronto. With C.C. Sabathia on the mound for Cleveland it seemed even less likely the Twins could win the rubber game of the series.

The Twins are 7-8 since the All-Star break and in their 7 wins they've outscored their opponent by an average of just 2 runs. In all wins they didn't allow the opponent to score more than five runs, so it's been pretty all pitching in those games.

In the series preview on Monday I said C.C. Sabathia was a bad match up for the Twins offense right now, and that certainly proved true on Wednesday night. The game started after a 30 minute rain delay, but the Twins' bats weren't ever able to get much going off of Sabathia. They managed just 1 run on 5 hits and a walk through eight innings and were defeated handily by a score of 7-1.

The Twins have ridded themselves of one problem in Sidney Ponson, but there are still many more. Joe Mauer is still out for at least another week and despite Sunday's breakout performance, the offense has struggled to produce runs as the Twins have lost 4 straight series. To make matters worse they'll take on the 21-14 Indians who are 11-3 at their combined homes (They played a series in Milwaukee).

The Twins will open up a short two game series against the Cleveland Indians on Monday night at the dome. The Twins will be fortunate enough to miss C.C. Sabathia by one day and they'll have Johan Santana going for them on Tuesday.

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.

Boof is starting to look more and more like a good option for the bottom half of the Twins rotation in 2007 (and the remainder of 2006). He came up with a big start in a big game against the Tigers. Through seven innings he allowed just 1 run as he threw about two-thirds of his pitches across the plate for strikes. The win moved the Twins to within three games of the Tigers and with Johan Santana on the hill Sunday it could very well be 2 games. The White Sox held off a late inning rally by the Indians to stay just a half game out.

The Twins dropped the final game of the series with the Blue Jays. The game recap can be seen in the scoreboard area.