The last few innings were crazy on Thursday. Let’s start with the seventh, when Silva allowed two runners on, Dennys Reyes comes in to face Ichiro but gives up a seeing-eye single to load the bases.

Jesse Crain time, right? No, here comes Matt Guerrier.

“We’re trying to get Jesse in the right situations,” Gardy said. “We don’t want to bring him in with all the bases loaded right now. He hasn’t pitched in a while. We’re looking for the right situations to get him in.”

Guerrier strikes out Adrian Beltre with a well-placed breaking ball and gets Jose Virdo to line out to Justin Morneau to end the inning.

Guerrier usually is a long man and is not used to put out fires. But he’s thrown 9.1 scoreless innings.

“I feel comfortbale coming in with guys on base,” he said. “ You know what you have to do, just keep from blowing up, really. You always want to pitch in those situation. Whatever. Whenever they call on me. You realize that at any point in the game they can put you in. It could be the first through the ninth. It’s kind of fun that way. Every day you have a chance to pitch.”
Joe Nathan didn’t throw the ball that bad in the ninth. He did lose Betancourt after getting ahead 1-2 but he got a ground ball from Jose Lopez that couldn’t be turned into a double play.

Ichiro gets ahead 3-0 and hacks at a fastball (I still can’t believe it) and pops out.

Beltre grounds one that Jason Bartlett dives to get, but can’t get the ball out of his glove for the force. Then comes the 9-4-2 to end the game.

“We got them out,” Gardy said. “(Cuddy) had the sound mind to pick up the ball and hit the cutoff man. We came out pretty fotunate there at the end.”

 Some notes and observations:

 

Carlos Silva is 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA in his career against Seattle.

Ichiro is batting .342 against the Twins in his career.

The Twins are 18-11 against Seattle since the start of the 2004 season.

Boy, you could tell the range in the outfield is different from Torii in center and Shannon Stewart in left. At least Stew could run down balls.

Nick Punto told me after the game he’s playing on Thursday.

The bottom of the order has got to keep the ball out of the air more often. I know it’s easier said that done, but someone like Bartlett can leg out a few hits just by hitting the ball on the ground and making the defense execute to throw you out.

 

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Torii Hunter is not expected to play tonight because of his left shoulder bruise. Hunter wanted to try to get the shoulder game ready, but Gardy nixed it. 

“He’s sore,’’ Gardenhire said, “He is not going to play.’’

Hunter injured his left wrist and shoulder Tuesday while attempting a tumbling catch of a sinking fly by Raul Ibanez in the sixth. He came out of the game an inning later and wanted to play Wednesday but was held out. Jason Tyner played center field on Wednesday while batting second.

Gardenhire knows Hunter wanted to be a game-time decision but made it an afternoon decision.

“Players always believe they can play through anything,’’ Gardenhire said. “And you sometimes have to say, `hey, this is the right thing to do.’ They look at one day at a time. I do that, but I also have to look down the road. Losing him for an extended period of time is not a good option.’’

Since it was a topic of debate here today, here’s Joe Mauer’s reasoning for attempting to bunt for a hit on Tuesday.

Mauer felt he made he right decision in the fifth inning Tuesday when he noticed third baseman Adrian Beltre playing back with two on and no outs and dropped a bunt toward third base.
Mauer was thrown out on a close play as the runners moved to second and third. The Twins ended up getting a grand slam  by Torii Hunter during a five-run inning.
But the debate was on. Shouldn’t Mauer try to drive in the runs? Or does taking what the defense gives you a better statement of how the Twins play?
“It’s a situation where it’s there,’’ Mauer said. “It’s a (close) game, nobody out. I think our chances are pretty good. They were giving me a hit right there and I just didn’t execute.
“At that moment in the game you calculate it and go from there.’’

Lineups:

Twins: 1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Tyner, CF. 3. Mauer, DH. 4. Cuddyer, RF. 5. Morneau, 1B. 6. Redmond, C. 7. Kubel, LF. 8. L-Rod, 3B. 9. Bartlett, SS. Pitching: Silva

Seattle: 1. Ichiro, CF. 2. Adrian Beltre, 3B. 3. Vidro, DH. 4. Ibanez, LF. 5. Sexson, 1B. 6. Broussard, RF. 7. Johjima, C. 8. Betancourt, SS. 9. Lopez, 2B. Pitching: King Felix.

 

Sorry the lineups are late. West Coast deadlines mean I have to get an early story and notebook in, so I can’t get may hands on a lineup soon.

 

 

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