For the first time of his short major league career, John Danks got more than 2 runs of support when the Sox matched his run support for the season with a 4-run first inning. Not surprisingly, Danks took the 4-run lead and ran with it, cruising through 6 innings, no-hitting the Twins through 4. He got into a bit of trouble in the 7th, but more than anything, he was pulled just to be sure that he would get the win. He could have gotten out of the 7th, and even gone out for the 8th thanks to the way he was attacking the zone and getting ahead of hitters, keeping his pitch count down, but with the lead seemingly in hand and Danks still without a win Ozzie decided to play it safe.
I keep waiting for Danks to have an outing where he really struggles. Not that I'm rooting for him to struggle, it's just been his development pattern to struggle initially at each new level before figuring it out and dominating. His smooth transition to the big leagues has been a pleasant surprise for me.
- Another Sox rookie, Ryan Sweeney, who will apparently be demoted when Jim Thome returns in the near future, has done nothing to warrant that probable demotion. He trails only Erstad, Konerko, and Pierzynski on the team leaderboard in doubles despite the fact that he's only gotten a handful of at-bats over the last week plus. He's surprised even me (one of his biggest fans) while looking like he belongs, or at the very least can hold his own, at this level. He's working deep counts, taking aggressive swings in hitters counts, going with pitches away, and generally looking like a major league player. I really don't see the need to demote him when Thome returns. At this point, it's hard to argue that Rob Mackowiak brings anything more to the table than does Sweeney.
- It was good to see Uribe back in the lineup, taking a walk and driving the ball.
- I wonder how much champagne Torii Hunter had to send the Twins official scorer for continuing his hitting streak*.