Game 3 of 3: White Sox 2 vs. Twins 5 FINAL
Game Time: 2:29 Attendance: 29,089 Series Attendance: 118,386
WP: Santana (2-0); LP: Buehrle (1-1); SV: Nathan (2)
PROPS TO:
*Tony Stevens After 9/11/01 he joined the Marines and threw out the first pitch for the Twins, he most likely would be up at this level if he had stayed with the team. Thank you for your service to our country.
*Johan Santana 7 IP, 7H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 Ks. Santana started out slow, giving up another first inning run, followed by another one in the third, but after Hunter hit the home run Santana got in a grove, one that looked like the second half of last year. The change up was fooling the Sox and he was locking them up, getting 10 of his strike outs from the 4th inning on.
*Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan Rincon came in and nearly struck out the side in the 8th and Nathan, although he didnt have a 1-2-3 inning it was still a solid performance to get his second save.
*Juan Castro 3-2 with two runs scored and was sound defensively, Castro is filling in nicely for Bartlett, making it so he can come off the bench and we can have confidence in him, he also had a sac bunt.
*Torii Hunter His one hit a three run home run that gave the Twins the lead in the third, the first of the series. Also stole two bases in the 8th, stole second without a throw and stole third pretty easily.
*Pablo Ozuna Got the Sox started with a bunt single and scored the first run.
FLOPS TO:
*Mark Buehrle Pitched 7 innings, but gave up that big three run blast to Hunter and later another run, all 5 runs were earned.
*Torii Hunter in the 8th inning Popped up but Pierzynski didnt see the ball, Politte comes in to make the play but misses the ball, Hunter is 5 feet from home plate and only reaches because no one is at first base. He should have been standing on second base when that happened, stealing second doesnt make up for it either. Neither does stealing third.
*Mathew LeCroy Not sure what to do in the field at times, go for the ball or let someone else get it. An infield hit in the third, that ended up making for another run started when LeCroy let a ball through to Rivas, Uribe was safe on the play.
*Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye Combined with 0-6, 4 Ks and 2 BB, didnt come through for the Sox tonight, had their chances and didnt do it.