Staff Switcheroo

1a. Could it be that our pitchers have switched bodies? Sat: Santana Gives up 6 runs in 5 innings, 2 of the Rs allowed in by Crain. Sun: Lohse and Guerrier combine for 8 scoreless innings, only to have Nathan threaten that by putting the winning run on deck. Rincon was warming up for a save.

1b. This is what's so frustrating about Lohse. Just as soon as you decide to give up on him being good, he has a great outing like Sunday.

1c. Despite his less than Cy stuff this year, Santana is still looking better than he did at this point last year, I think. Of course, this is right where he turned it on last year. The Strib reported that he's changed his mechanics a bit to avoid tipping pitches, and has lost a bit of control, so maybe he just needs to work through that, or go back to tipping his pitches and avoiding the walks.

1d. Rincon looked to be back to his dominant self on Saturday, 1 scoreless inning, 2K.

1e. The story of the game Sunday was Lohse and Shaggy G's 8.0 IP, 0 R and Luis R (2.0)'s 2R HR. So on page A1 of the Strib, the teaser headline is "Twins, Nathan salvage 5-2 victory over Brewers." Salvage?

2. Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik has to be the top trade of the offseason, both teams greatly benefitted. Milwaukee got their slugger and the ChiSox got a singles hitter/baserunner/speedthreat. Plus, with Interleague rivalries, they benefitted a team they wouldn't be playing, but that a divisional rival would play 6 times.

3. Interleague play is now over. The Twins are 8-10, but now Gardy has to stop overthinking double-switches etc and can go back to the AL managing he does better. Even if we have complaints on his regular managing, we all have to admit that managing the NL game is more of a challenge to him.

4. Despite losing 5 straight series, we haven't been swept in a 3-game series all season (2 2-game sweeps). We can't even lose consistently. If we were only going to win one in Milwaukee, I'm glad it was the last one. We can try to feel momentum-y if we can beat up on the Royals and Devil Rays.

5. KC's Zack Grienke the (potentially) Great pitches tonight. He made his debut against the Twins last May, and had a pretty good season for a 20-year old on a bad team (8-11, 3.75 ERA) . Maybe he's started drinking now that he's legal, because he's been struggling: He hasn't pitched through the 6th since May 15th (7 starts) and he's 1-4 with a 10.32 ERA over that stretch. (0-4 with a 3.09 ERA after a ND on May 15). So, he should own the Twins for a CG SO tonight.

6a. I watched a little of Fox's Saturday Game of the Week: Boston at Philly. First off, does anyone do baseball worse than Fox's national team? In about 15 seconds, McCarver went from saying Johnny Damon was going Hollywood to saying that Tom Cruise is crazy or something. And I'm so very glad that I missed Buck's call of Jeter's Very First Grand Slam Ever last weekend.

6b. Secondly, Johnny Damon got his Tom-Cruise-tainted triple off former Twin Aaron Fultz. The Phils were wearing their alternate cap, which has a blue bill and a blue star in the P. Similar to the Twins' Red TC. Last year, when the Twins still wore the red cap*, I thought Aaron was the only guy on the team that it looked good on. I love the Red TC cap, it's the one I wear, but it looks funny on just about all of the Twins. Yet a similar cap looks natural on all the Phillies. Why is that? Do the Twins have a bunch of players that look bad in red? Is it the navy bill instead of the lighter color the Phils have? Is it that the Twins unis have blue pinstripes and blue undershirts instead of red like the Phils? See how bad it looks on Shaggy G here.

* The red TC is still part of the official uniform, but I don't think it's been worn at all this year (unless during my Alaska trip). I assume that's because it doesn't look right on anyone, and which starting pitcher is going to want to wear it?

7. I saw Star Wars last night. What a joke. So very silly when it shouldn't have been. Like Martrix 2 &3, I will have to wipe my memory that these prequels ever existed.