Well, other than a nine-pitch first inning Johan’s performance wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was more or less in keeping with the way he usually starts the season. Kind of a strange pitch selection in the early innings –Santana just kept pounding away with the fastball, and didn’t go to the change-up until the Orioles started teeing off on the heater. I suspect he recognized in the bullpen that he didn’t have good command of the change, and when he finally started mixing it in he was missing with it much of the time.
Still, he was just good enough to keep his Dome streak alive: dating back to 8/1/05 Santana hasn’t lost at home, and in the 24 starts since his last home loss he is 17-0, 2.08 (169.0 ip, 39 er) with 182 strikeouts
The key inning, of course, was the fifth; after the Twins scratched back to tie the game on a Jeff Cirillo single punched through the right side of the infield, Johan came out and worked only his second 1-2-3 inning of the game (thanks in large part to Rondell White’s splendid diving catch of Melvin Mora’s hooking drive down the left field line). The Twins then came back and scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning to put it away.
Morneau had a very good, and very curious, game: an opposite field home run and two singles against a hard-throwing lefty; both times he had to run rather than trot, he was gunned down on the base paths –at home (in a play that included a collision with catcher Paul Bako) and at second– by Baltimore right fielder Nick Markakis, who trivia junkies should note was a member of the Greek national team at the 2004 Olympics.
Check out Morneau’s career numbers against Oriole starter Erik Bedard: 8-14 (.871 BA) with two homers and eight RBIs. Fourteen of his last 35 home runs have come against lefties.
The bullpen was, as usual, splendid: Three scoreless innings (Reyes, Crain, Rincon, and Nathan) with one hit and a couple walks.
After Michael Cuddyer’s at bat in the fourth (a single), Bedard had thrown 46 pitches, and 17 of them had been to Cuddyer.
Morneau and Hunter’s back-to-back shots in the second represented the first time in club history the Twins have had back-to-back home runs on opening day.
Ceremonial first pitch: Brad Radke
National Anthem: Paris Bennett, some American Idol finalist with Minnesota ties. Better, I say, than another (to me) anonymous warbler in a cowboy hat and tight jeans.
They always seem to trot out the bald eagle and the giant flag for opening night, and Radke and his family led “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch.
As expected there were also lots of fine video tributes to Herb Carneal, and a pre-game teaser on the anniversary of the 1987 championship team.
The Cremation Society of Minnesota had a group in attendance, and Sid Hartman read the paper and indulged in his customary ice cream.
Finally, the game clocked in at two hours and 56 minutes, which is about a half hour too long for a cranky old dog like me. It was a long-ass day, but bear with me; I should be rounding into mid-season form in a few weeks.
Tomorrow: Boof vs. Oriole right hander Daniel Cabrera (6′ 9″, 269, according to the Baltimore media guide). Advantage: Boof.
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