Home sweet dome.
The Twins returned to the Baggie Dome and had little trouble with Washington, winning the final game Thursday, 9-3 over one of the worst teams in the major leagues. Minnesota's now 37-36, finally getting over the .500 hump.
It all starts with the starters, and Glen Perkins had a decent outing, allowing three runs in eight innings to improve to 3-2 and an ERA of 4.39.
But the real story of this series is that the Twins offense finally woke up, including Michael Cuddyer, who had been in a slump. Cuddyer was two for two with a double, a triple, two runs and two RBIs to lift his average to .251. Jason Kubel was two for four with two runs and an RBI, and raised his average to .263.
Joe Mauer had two hits and is now hitting .335 and rookie Brian Buscher was two for three with a run and two RBIs. Good job. Let's see you do it against a good team.
Oddly, the Twins had five extra-base hits but no homers. The team hit three doubles and two triples.
Twins fans might remember ex-Twinkie Christian Guzman, the Nationals' shortstop and leadoff man. He's not doing too badly -- he's hitting .318. If only his teammates could match that.
The schedule gets really interesting now. The Twins play the Diamondbacks at home while the Chicago White Sox take the long trek to Wrigley Field. Who knows, maybe the Cubs could do the Twins a favor.
For the moment, the Twins are just four games behind the White Sox. The Washington-Minnesota game was the only early tilt.
