Arguably my most favorite team in sports opens up a huge 3 game series against arguably my most hated team in sports tomorrow night in Chicago. The two teams are deadlocked at 63-49 atop the AL Central. While these teams will still play each other six more times this year, this series is still vital, and will no doubt feel like late September at the ballpark. The Twins are 6-3 against Chicago this year, and look to improve upon that record in Chicago. Lets take a quick look at the matchups.
Tuesday Night - Baker vs Garcia
Wednesday Night - Perkins vs Danks
Thursday Night - Liriano vs Floyd
Obviously the most questionable matchup is Perkins' who is filling in for Slowey. I have a lot of confidence in Slowey right now, so it is too bad he is out. Liriano has been pitching well up until his last start. Apparently he had a little be of a "dead arm" during his last start, according to the manager. He got an extra day of rest from his last start, so he should be ready to go. Baker has pitched well of late too, going 8 strong innings against Tampa Bay last week, and winning his last 2 starts before that. All in all the Twins starters have been rolling pretty solid lately, I see no reason why that shouldn't continue.
The White Sox counter with Garcia tomorrow night. He has won two starts in a row, however they were against Seattle and most recently the Tigers. This isn't really impressive since Seattle is dead last in nearly every offensive statistical category in the league and the Tigers are on a losing streak that would make the Timberwolves envious. His two starts before that he was against two better teams in the A's and Twins, and he lost both, going only 1 1/3 innings against the A's and yielding 11 hits to the Twins. Dank's has a no decision and loss in his last two starts, and while the no decision was a good performance, I see no reason why he should pitch well against my Twins. Floyd has won three starts in a row, big deal, lets see you do against the L-Train.
Before the Twins went into Cleveland, I made a call to a close friend of mine that the Twins were going to take 2 of 3 in Cleveland and then roll into Chicago and bring out the brooms. While this call appears to be taking shape, it is difficult to sweep in the MLB, much less on the road. I think we'll lose one of the three games, but a series win would be huge for this team. They come home for a long home stand after this, and what better way to do it than on top of the division. Hopefully Morneau will be back for the home stand, but it looks like they are going to take as much time as he needs with this. He will not be traveling with the team to Chicago, so don't expect to see him pinch hit in big situations down there. Do expect Delmon Young to go yard twice in the series though. That's all I got. Go Twins.
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