FanNation

OK, one of the two sweeps was against the Nats. But a win is a win and a sweep is a sweep. Better three wins then three loses. The other sweep though, beauty. Can't discount the drubbing they laid on the first place D'Backs. Anyway, six wins at home and back in the race at 40-36 and 1.5 games out of first (thank you, Cubbies). Before moving on, in the headlines...Nick Punto will be reactivated and back in the line up next week, sending Matt Macri back down to AAA. Macri had been doing well with 11 hits and a homerun in 30 AB's. Don't unpack your bags, Matt, you may be called back faster then Punto's BA can plummet to .150.

The RS/RA line for the week 40/12. Nice. The defense was a bit shakey, committing 5 errors leading to 3 unearned runs. The starting rotation had a good week, even Hernandez (sorry about last week's rant Livan). Every starter went at least six or seven innings and none gave up more then three runs. The game scores were: Hernandez 64, Slowey 56, Perkins 51, Baker 60, Blackburn 70, and Hernandez 55. The bullpen had a great week too, along with some much needed rest. The week's work only included 13 IP. In those innings they allowed 6 hits and 3 walks, 1 earned run, zero home runs and struck out 11. This pencils out to a WHIP of 0.69 and an ERA of 0.69.

The offense. The oh 'fer club. The only batter included this week was Carlos Gomez, again,with 0-4 games on Monday and Saturday. His offensive stats are still...well...eh... .269/.302/.379. Carlos, you're batting lead off. You have 12 walks on the season. Strike out all you want, just mix in a walk now and then. As promised last week, something POSITIVE! I'm way too lazy to count each player's total bases for the week, so I'll settle for a Silver Slugger Award, given to the player with the most total bases off of extra base hits. So this weeks award goes to...Brendon Harris with 11 total bases off of 4 doubles and 1 triple. Runner up goes to Justin Morneau with 6 total bases off of 1 home run and 1 double. Overall batting stats for the week were .316/.370/453 with 86 total bases.

The week ahead. The Twins play three on the road at San Diego and then return home for three against the Brewers. The series against the Padres should be a cake walk (HA! Bite me, karma! Another sweep! Guaranteed!), but the Brewers have a very respectable 41-34 record. The White Sox meanwhile are playing the slumping Dodgers in LA and then three more against those lovable Cubbies. Homerism aside, I'll give the edge this week to the Twins by a game. Who knows, maybe first place by the end of the week. Hell, since I've said it five times in the past already, maybe this time I'll be right.