Carlos Gomez missed Alexi Casilla while Casilla was exiled to Class AAA Rochester after an abysmal start. They are close friends, similar in age, both from the Dominican Republic, both married. Gomez, 23, and his wife have a baby boy, while Casilla, 24, and his wife have a baby on the way.

Last year, Gomez and Casilla fed off each other’s energy and helped push the Twins through the season’s dog days. With both slumping this year, that spark has been absent.

But on Tuesday night, the Dominican Duo had a flashback to 2008. Gomez made his spectacular catch to end the third inning, crashing into the right-center field wall with his cleats to steal extra bases from Victor Martinez.

“Incredible,” Twins pitcher Kevin Slowey called it, knowing it saved at least one run.

Gomez, the No. 8 hitter, came up that inning and struck out. But Casilla followed with a double down the third base line. He was batting right-handed against Cleveland lefty David Huff. The count was 2-0, and Casilla might have swung at Ball 3, but the result was positive, especially considering Casilla came in batting .103 against lefties.

Denard Span’s run-scoring single made it 1-0. Then he stole second base and advanced to third on an error. Joe Mauer singled, making it 2-0.

Gomez finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, lowering his average to .214. But Casilla also drew a leadoff walk to start the seventh inning against lefthander Tony Sipp.

Afterward, Gomez talked about what it’s playing in a lineup with Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer carrying so much of the load.

“Denard, me and Casilla — all we need to do is try to get on base and try to play good defense,” Gomez said. “I know I do nothing with the bat today, but I make a good catch. If I don’t do well with the bat, I can do better with the glove and this helps my team. When you’ve got Mauer and Morneau in the lineup, it makes a big difference. I know they’re going to make some runs if I don’t get on base.”

The Twins should view this as a good sign. They’re going to need Gomez and Casilla to show their peskier side tonight against reigning Cy Young winner Cliff Lee.

Often, Gomez looks like his own worst enemy at the plate because he’s trying to do too much. But the Twins don’t need him to be Superman. Especially when they have the M&M Boys patrolling the ballpark in capes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 10:38 am 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.