The matchups for the series against the Twins, starting Monday night at 7:05, are Carlos Silva v. Cabrera, Brad Radke v. Bedard and Johan Santana v. Ponson.
Facing a guy like Santana is always weird. It's a treat to see him, but he scares the hell out of you because he's just that good. It was like that with Pedro, too.
The Twins may be the most ignored team in the AL right now. With the O's and White Sox off to their hot starts, the Red Sox starting to pick up steam and the Yankees still fumbling about, Minnesota hasn't gotten the attention they usually do. The White Sox thing particularly plays in there. But they're still playing good ball, and are still a good team. I'm interested to see how we match up with them. With Mauer and Morneau both healthy, starting and hitting, they have a better lineup than they have yet had in their recent winning seasons.
We'll get to see how we fare with the other AL surprise team when we go to Chicago starting Thursday. This is the toughest six-game stretch of May for the O's. And don't forget that interleague play is coming up! You remember our rivals, the Phillies?
What did we get out of the Royals series? Not much, 'cause it's the Royals. Let's be honest. Winning a series is always key. Sweeps aren't easy, if they were it wouldn't be so cool when you get one. And with four errors and walking in what turned out to be the winning run, the O's probably deserved to lose. Hell of an effort by the lineup, though. Geronimo!
Sosa may be back Monday from his foot ordeal, which would be nice. I'm just glad this weekend is over and that I'll be able to just sit down and watch the game tomorrow night. God bless the game of baseball.