FORT MYERS — Some sights and sounds from Hammond Stadium:

(*) Jon Lester and fellow LHP Michael Tejera have combined to allow seven walks in three innings for the Red Sox. It’s been a case of decent pitch selection for the Twins, but mostly it seems like those two couldn’t find the plate with GPS.

(*) LF Delmon Young has his first outfield assist, after throwing out Alex Cora at second base to end the second inning. Young also took the first six pitches he saw for balls (drawing a first-inning walk to load the bases) before ripping a run-scoring single in the second.

(*) Carlos Gomez singled to lead off the first inning and stole second base on the next pitch. He got a great jump and was safe by several feet. All impressive. And you read all about his arm last night.

But sitting here now, I’m having a hard time getting past the huge swings and misses he’s had in his second two plate appearances — a sacrifice fly, and a grounder to third. Seriously, his swing is so big, it’s almost cartoonish.

Anyway, he seems like the definition of raw talent. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.

(*) Jonathan Papelbon is on to face the Twins’ 2-3-4 (Mauer, Young, Morneau) in the fourth inning. … Morneau grounded into his second inning-ending double play of the game but stung the ball this time.

(*) I wondered how tough the New York papers would be on Johan Santana after he gave up three first-inning runs to the Cardinals on Friday in his spring debut. Here’s the New York Post’s headline, “JO’ NO!”

(*) Brian Duensing was pulled from the game after being struck on the left foot/ankle area with a comebacker. Duensing was getting close to his pitch limit anyway after tossing 1 1/3 innings. Carmen Cali entered with the bases loaded and walked the first two batters he faced. Ugh.

(*) Jason Pridie replaced Gomez in center field for the fifth inning and has looked good running back on two fly balls. Pridie bounced back to the pitcher in his first at-bat.

(*) Dusty Brown led off the eighth inning with a home run off Kevin Mulvey, tying the score 6-6. Then, Brandon Moss hit a run-scoring single, putting Boston back in front.

Now that the Twins have blown a 6-3 lead, this seems an appropriate time to mention the starting pitcher they’ll be facing in that B-game Monday on the other side of town: Josh Beckett.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.