Mayor's Cup Round 1

I'm watching the Twins/Red Sox game on MLB.TV tonight. Awesome that MLB.com let's you stream games - the NFL needs to do this! It's not quite working properly on my iBook (a little bit balky video), but at least I can see most of what's going on. I was particularly interested to see how some of the new Twins competing for spots look, and how some of the guys whose spots are secure would approach the game.

Span - made all the plays in CF, and had 2 good ABs: a solid, opposite-field single and a 6-pitch groundout. Laid off every ball.
Kubel - saw three pitches and made 2 outs. Not so good.
Cuddyer - saw 5 pitches and made 3 outs. Even less good.
Morneau - 1 for 2 with a nice, 2-strike, opposite-field single.
Young - 1 for 2 with a GIDP. Actually took the first pitch in both ABs!
Redmond - hard-hit GIDP, plus another groundout.
Buscher - nice 6-pitch AB that ended with a K on a high fastball. Really turned on an inside fastball in the 6th for a long HR. Made the plays at 3B.
Punto - saw 13 pitches in his 2 ABs. Flew deep into the LF corner, then beat out a grounder for an error - and didn't dive head-first into 1B! Also made a nice play up the middle for an out in the 1st.
Everett - didn't make much of an impression.
Gomez - nice job gunning out Pedroia at the plate, though Thurston was able to take 2nd on the throw. Had no chance to get the runner at the plate in the 6th, and again missed the cut and allowed Crisp to take 2nd. Saw 7 pitches and made 2 outs (would have been 3, but he is fast).
Pridie - flied to LF, then looked bad while striking out on 3 pitches in the 9th.
Jones - looked pretty bad in striking out with a runner on, then jammed himself and destroyed his bat on a foul pop in the 9th.

As for the pitchers:
Bonser - nice job. Very efficient.
Slowey - I thought he was on his way to a great night when he blew away Ortiz and Ramirez. He was one strike away, then missed his location to Lowell for a single. After a long battle with Youkilis, he opted to throw an off-speed pitch (where the fastballs had gotten the other guys), and Youk tagged it for a 2-run HR. After that, Slowey lost his aggressiveness in the zone, and fell behind the next 3 guys, giving up a 3-1 HR to Varitek, and walking the next 2 batters before being pulled in the middle of the inning. Pretty good stuff, but didn't handle adversity very well.
Bass - fell behind 5 of the 6 batters he faced, and the one he was ahead of lined a 2-strike single. Blecch.
Nathan - not very good command (1R on 2H and 1BB), but still struck out the side.
Humber - gave up an infield hit, but then got the DP grounder and struck out the last guy. Nice job.
Day - fell behind 4 of the 5 batters he faced (2BBs), but worked out of it (including 2Ks).
Gomez - quickly got the first 2 batters, then fell behind the next 3, yielding a walk, a single, and a 3-0, 3-run HR. Particularly disappointing considering that most of the damage was done to the lefty by lefties. Blecch.

Final score: Red Sox 8, Twins 3.

Not a very good game, all in all. I'd say the Twins looked like a team that's only been playing together for a week.