Twins Rising

August 26 - MIN 8 @ CHW 7 -- 11 innings

Twins pitching:
Johan Santana: 7.0IP, 6H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 4SO, 2HR - ND
Juan Rincon: 0.1IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 1SO, 1HR - Hold
Dennys Reyes: 0.0IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 0SO, 0HR
Pat Neshek (pictured): 0.2IP, 0H, 0ER, 0R, 0BB, 1SO, 0HR - Hold
Joe Nathan: 1.0IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 0SO, 1HR - Blown Save
Willie Eyre: 2.0IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO, 0HR - Win

White Sox pitching:
Jose Contreras: 2.2IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 1SO, 0HR - ND
Brandon McCarthy: 5.1IP, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 4SO, 1HR
Bobby Jenks: 2.0IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 1SO, 0HR
Matt Thornton: 1.0IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0SO, 0HR - Loss

I expected more of a duel between these two starters. Neither one was especially sharp. But Santana managed to keep his composure despite an unusually low strikeout rate for him while Contreras couldn't make it through three innings. It seemed to me that the home plate umpire was extremely generous with the inside part of the strike zone early in this one. But he was calling his warped strike zone consistently for both teams so there were a lot of pitches pounding that inside part to back hitters away before coming back with something low and away. Eventually, that called strike zone morphed back to something normal by the end of 11 innings.

With this victory the Twins put a full game between themselves and Chicago in the AL Wild Card race. Which means they'll come out of this series at least half a game ahead. But Minnesota has also put themselves into the once seemingly unwinnable division race as Detroit has lost their last four in a row while the Twins have a four game streak working in their favor. That closes the gap on the top spot to just four games and that's less of a climb than what the Angels and Red Sox face in their respective divisions (both are 5.5 back).

Be sure to check out Pat Neshek's delivery if you get a chance. He's been an outstanding addition to that relief staff and that rapid side-arm is unreal. (And he blogs too).

(Win Probability Graph by Fangraphs)