Luis Rodgriguez Topic Page

Since the 1-0 loss to Kansas City last Thursday, the Twins offense has shown strong signs of improvement. Most notably, they're getting hits from guys in the middle of the lineup like Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer. Tuesday night, Justin Morneau joined in the fun while contributing 2 homers and 6 RBIs to the Twins 15-5 trouncing of the the Texas Rangers. A little more than a month ago the Twins scored more runs in a game than they did in all of 2005 with 13 runs against Toronto. Tonight, they even surpassed that.

The Twins set out to prove that they are capable of beating the Detroit Tigers, and they did just that -- barely. The Twins scored 2 runs right away in the first inning off starter, Jeremy Bonderman. Luis Castillo started off the rally by beating out the throw on a chopper up the middle. Joe Mauer then reached on a walk and Torii Hunter came through with a double down the 3rd baseline. The hit scored Mauer and Castillo and Hunter made it to 3rd on a Craig Monroe Error. It was quite dissapointing that the Twins couldn't score with Hunter on 3rd and no outs. Michael Cuddyer lined out to 3rd, Justin Morneau walked and Batista grounded out to end the inning.

Making the lineup card for Saturday night's game wasn't an easy task for Ron Gardenhire. Shannon Stewart is still away with his wife who just gave birth to their first child. Luis Castillo is still hobbled with the knee injury from Thursday's game, and Ruben Sierra is a bit sore from fouling a ball off the ankle. All this meant Rondell White, the usual DH was playing in Left field, Luis Rodgriguez was playing at second, Joe Mauer was the DH, and Mike Redmond was behind the plate.

The Twins pitching struggles continued today against the Cleveland Indians. Every time the Twins put some runs on the board, Cleveland would answer in the bottom of the inning with runs of their own.