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Seeing Pink

By Shawn Medeiros | May 12th, 2008

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J.D. Drew and Coco Crisp helped charge a ninth inning rally by scoring two runs in the frame, but the Boston Red Sox fell short to the Minnesota Twins losing the game 9-8 on Mother’s Day.

Pink Bats are the norm on Mother’s Day and the Twins’ Craig Monroe put them to good use belting two homeruns (3, 4) to drive in four RBI’s against the Boston pitching staff in the eventual win.

Goat of the Game: Tim Wakefield

Wake gave up two homeruns, one to Monroe and the other to Adam Everett, and allowed seven runs (6 ER) on seven hits in only 2 2/3 innings pitched. Not the kind of night we all were expecting from Wakefield tonight.

Preview of Next Game: Buchholz vs Hernandez

Livan Hernandez is 5-1 on the season with a 3.83 ERA so far this season. Boston’s pitching has somewhat struggled so far in this series, so the goal for this game for Buchholz is to eat up innings and have a quality start. We know the offense is there as they have scored 19 runs in three games played against the Twins in this series (1-2 record).

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 12:10 am and is filed under Craig Monroe, Boston Red Sox / Shawn Medeiros, Livan Hernandez, Minnesota Twins, Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz, J.D. Drew, Coco Crisp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Seeing Pink”

Leslie Monteiro says:

May 12th, 2008 at 2:43 am

I am glad this series is over tonight.

As a Twins fan, it’s been tough to breathe. This Red Sox team is so relentless, and that’s why they will win a championship this season. Their hitters are something to admire, and they showed that last night by making Twins pitchers and getting those hits. I wish the Twins had that type of discipline and performance.

I thought the Twins would blow this game. You had to feel good about Boston’s chances.

This has been a good weekend series like I expected.

As a Twins fan, I am just glad it’s going to be over.

This series took a lot out of me.
Evan Brunell says:

May 12th, 2008 at 7:33 am

Time for Livan Hernandez to regress to the mean.
gerry says:

May 12th, 2008 at 9:54 am

And for Clay to meet or exceed expectations. That would be a nice combination.

Aren’t these contributions by Cash, Cora, Crisp, Lowrie amazing? Gives the big boppers and the pitchers a chance to breathe. Has Cash gotten new contact lenses, private hitting lessons from Coach M., or what?

Leslie is right. This team is a piece of work, and lost despite 15 hits and 8 runs, taking it to the 9th inning. Don’t we wish we got Nathan when he was available; and with Neshek on the DL, aren’t the Twins glad they had the foresight to re-sign him?
Leslie Monteiro says:

May 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Livan has impressed the heck out of me, Evan. He really has. Twins fans were waiting for him to be Ramon Ortiz. Last year, Ramon started off well, which included a win against the Yankees at the Dome. Then, he just lost it altogether. There was a thought that it would happen to Livan. So far so good. He did a good job of shutting down Detroit and Chicago. He struggled against Tampa Bay and Texas, but really he has a stablizing force in the Twins’ young rotation, which is sorely needed. You need a starter that can go deep in games. The Twins young starters have been good, but their problem right now is they don’t have the arm strength to go six or more innings. You saw a little of that with Nick Blackburn last night even though he did okay to pitched six full innings. Glen Perkins looked good Saturday night and he may have stayed too long, but I just wondered if he was tired in the end. Most good teams have starters that go at least seven, and the Twins don’t have that now as the rotation is work in force. That’s one of the reasons why Livan was signed, and so far, Livan has done just that. If he can shut down that tenacious lineup from the Red Sox, that would be impressive. If not, it does not take away the job he has done so far.

When everyone is producing for the Red Sox, gerry. You have to wonder how they do it. The Red Sox seem to do such a good job of coaching their hitters to do things right, and they execute so well. As a Twins fan, I am jealous. I wish the Twins hitters would do the same. I think the talent is there, but it takes more than that. Good coaching can come a long way.

Don’t the Red Sox have a closer and a setup guy already? Where would Nathan fit in? Seventh inning? Closers are so good at their role. I am not sure if they would fare well as a setup guy or a seventh inning when they are used to what they do. With or without Pat Neshek, the Twins had to sign Joe Nathan period. Nathan is the best closer in Twins history, and he is a lock to get it done. Sure last night was tough, but great closers find a way to get it done, and as much as Joe scared me last night, he found a way, and that’s what good closers do. His performance last night is why I love him and why I am proud that is he is the Twins closer. With due respect to Neshek, I am not sure if he would have gotten it done if he closed it last night. Neshek can be streaky. Sure he is good, but when he goes bad, he goes bad as he showed against Chicago in the White Sox home opener and then against Detroit at Comerica Park. Plus, I don’t trust him or any Twins reliever to closer. It will be interesting how the Twins do at setup guy. Guerrier gets a first crack of it to be the setup guy. He did okay last night. I hope he gets it because I want not part of Jesse Crain at setup. He is better off as a situational reliever though now he will be used often at the seventh inning.