Game Notes and Recap 4/4/2007 Twins 7- Orioles 2

I think I'm obligated to be a Ramon Ortiz fan if for no other reason than he has ears that stick out almost as much as mine.

Oh yeah, those are the real deal.

Ramon Ortiz's first game for the Twins was a gem. Coming into the game there were a lot of skeptical fans who were concerned that Ortiz was a disaster waiting to happen. Well, for at least one game, disaster has been averted. Ortiz pitched his way through seven very good innings allowing just 5 hits and one walk and for the most pat was never really in trouble. He did give up two runs in the sixth when Brandon Roberts led off the innings with a triple and Melvin Mora, who hit a home run last night, doubled bringing in Roberts. Mora would later score on a ground out to Punto on a play where it appeared Punto lost track of the situation, throwing to first for the second out when he probably could have run down Mora. But that was all Baltimore could put together as Ortiz got through the seventh inning finishing with 4 strikeouts on 97 total pitches, 56 strikes, 41 balls. Overall it looked like Ortiz relied on his fastball which was hitting 90-92 and his slider which was very effective tonight. After Ortiz, Matt Guerrier came on to pitch the eighth and ninth striking out two while allowing only one single by Miguel Tejada getting through them both in only 25 pitches.

At the plate the Twins took advantage of a second straight day of wildness by Baltimore pitchers walking a total of six times, all in the first three innings. Of the six people batters who walked, four scored. Driving in runs for the Twins tonight were Cuddyer, White, and Castillo each with two RBI's. Jason Kubel also had his first RBI of the season on a RBI double in the 5th. The Twins also managed to put up 11 hits, 3 by Cuddyer, 2 by Mauer and Castillo (both infield hits giving him5 on the season). Also contributing base hots were Tyner, White, Hunter, and Kubel. Justin Morneau had a tough night going 0-4 with two strikeouts. However he did launch a bomb down the right field line that went just foul, his second near miss in as many nights, if he keeps hitting like that he could be even better than last year.

In the field, the Orioles helped the Twins cause by committing two errors, a third error was ruled a hit to Luis Castillo's, and Miguel Tejada's benefit. It wasn't a great night in the field for the Twins either as Jason Bartlett committed his second error of the season when he threw wildly to first trying to get Chris Gomez. Its the second time Bartlett has tried to rush plays he had plenty of time on, each resulting in an error. Hopefully Gardy will sit him down and tell him to just relax and let his talent do the work. A second Twins error was called a hit when Torii Hunter (no its not a typo) dropped a fly ball in the 8th. He had to make a long run on the play, but so did Jay Gibbons in the 3rd when he dropped Castillo's foul pop. I don't get why one was called an error and the other wasn't. Must be the gold-glove effect.

All in all another solid game for the Twins and a big test passed with flying colors by Ramon Ortiz. If he can give us 10 more games like that this year we'll be in great shape.

- Rondell White failed to draw a walk tonight going 1-4 with a strikeout.

- After stealing five bases last night the twins didn't run once even though they had plenty of opportunities, especially in the early innings.

- Nick Punto went 0-3 but showed signs of improvement at the plate finally being more patient and drawing two walks and putting the ball in play when he didn't walk.

- Castillo now has 5 infield hits this season. At this rate he'll surpass last seasons high mark of 41 by Ichiro by the end of May.

- Michael Cuddyer must have hurt himself after a foul tip, being replaced by Tyner in ight in the 5th inning. Before that he had gone 3-3, hopefully getting some of the annoyed Twins fans off his back for at least a game or two.

- Joe Nathan had his baby and got the day off. Congrats Joey, however you can't save 162 games now. Just think about that, the most you can end up with is 161. Pathetic.

- The Twins faced a total of 10 3-ball counts tonight, walking 6 times and singling and doubling once each.

- Despite being down in every game the Orioles showed Mauer's arm some real respect and didn't try to steal even once.

- Joe Mauer is now looking Ted Williams square in the eye and has only 53 games to go to tie the record.

- The Twins are well on their way to the first perfect season ever at 3-0 and in the same place they'll remain all season, 1st.