Pirates-Twins Matchup Boils Down to Mauer, Morneau

KEEP THE M&M BOYS OFF THE BASEPATHS

Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were the best hitters in all of baseball last month.  The M&M boys combined to hit. 386 with 20 homers, 16 doubles, and 61 RBI in 30 games.  They finished two games under .500.  Yeh, they lost 16 games in spite of outscoring their opponents by 30 runs!  The month of June has been little better for the Twins.  They are coming off a .500 road trip which is significant, because the Twins are 11-21 on the road.  The Metrodome could spell doom for the Pirates who are not road warriors either at 13-21 unless the arms can do what very few other pitchers have been able to do this year.

Mauer and Morneau have carried the club throughout the first two and a half months.  They will need to continue that pace to keep the Twins in the hunt.

The Pirates will need to keep the offense rolling and pile up the runs, I forsee some inflated ERA’s after this series, especially with the bullpen ‘taxed’ as he mentioned.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE POOR HEALTH OF THE TWINS

The Twins’ lineup is currently riddled with injuries with Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span and Joe Crede all suffering various pain.

PIRATES STARTING PITCHING

Nothing new on this topic, it’s been terrific all season.  I see the Pirates pitchers will continue to do their job in this series IF they can contain the M&M’s.

GET TO THE STARTERS EARLY: 

Manager Ron Gardenhire passed over reliever Matt Guerrier on Sunday, who began the day leading the AL with 32 appearances, and went with Jesse Crain in the ninth.

“We needed innings,” Gardenhire said. “The bullpen is taxed.”

DEFENSE:

The Pirates defense has been among the league leaders all season.  The Metrodome is a tough park to play in, so my fingers will be crossed for our young players.

"We will not have a post up Wednesday morning at Rumbunter.   I apologize, but when I return Wednesday night I will get some action back up."