After five straight spring training losses, the Minnesota Twins came away with a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday afternoon, thanks in part to home runs by Jim Thome and Brendan Harris.
After four days of rest, Thome went 2-for-2, hitting his first bomb of what is hopefully many in a Twins uniform. Meanwhile, Justin Morneau, who was also out of commission for four days with a sore back, did not do as well in his return, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Joe Mauer failed to show off those man muscles with an 0-for-3 day as well, bringing his spring batting average to .462. Not too shabby.
In true Twins comeback fashion, Luke Hughes drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
On the other side of the ball, Carl Pavano pitched five solid innings, striking out two with no walks and a hit to lower his spring ERA to 2.77. Over 13 innings, the right-hander has fanned eight batters and allowed four runs with just the one longball in all. That's good enough for me.
So, in your opinion, how indicative is spring training of what the regular season will bring for the Twins?
Also, anyone care to caption the above picture of Thome and Morneau?
P.S. I'm feeling much better, thank you... but no thanks to the beer and whiskey I consumed to celebrate not being Irish last night.
