Twins 7, White Sox 3

Johan Santana (15-5, 3.03 ERA) tossed a stellar 7 innings Sunday afternoon at the Metrodome, striking out five, walking no one and allowing six hits. He picked up his 15th win of the season, allowing one earned run in the third inning on a Tadahito Iguchi double after allowing a single by Pablo Ozuna.

Javier Vazquez, (11-7, 5.13 ERA) who lasted 7 innings, giving up 5 runs (4 earned) off 7 hits with two walks and four strikeouts got beat up pretty bad in the bottom of the third. After Jason Tyner reached on a fielding error by Paul Konerko, and a 1-out walk put runners on first and second, Mike Redmond (.333 AVG) singled on a liner to center, driving home Jason Tyner and Jason Bartlett (1 for 3). Nick Punto advanced to third on an overthrow, allowing Redmond to gain second base. Then Michael Cuddyer (2 for 4) singled to left, scoring Punto and moved Redmond to third. To top off the inning, The Canadian Crusher (2 for 3) and his mighty bat smashed a liner for extra bases to left, scoring Mike Redmond. Cuddy was thrown out at home on the play, but it proved to be a huge inning, anyway.

The Twins got one more in the fifth off a double by Cuddyer, before Juan Rincon nearly fell apart on the mound in the eighth, allowing a walk and two runs on two hits: a sacrifice fly to Jermaine Dye and a Joe Crede RBI single to center. Crede then advanced to second after the ball somehow got past Hunter. Dennys Reyes came in to take care of pinch-hitting Alex Cintron, who popped out to Morneau, ending the inning. Torii made up for the run-scoring error in the bottom of the eighth, crushing a two-run bomb to left field, bringing the game to what would be a final score of 7-3. Joe Nate (1.56 ERA) had a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout and two groundouts, and the Twins take the series 2-1.

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Next up, the Twins head on the road to Baltimore with Carlos Silva (8-10, 6.30 ERA) on the mound to take on Adam Loewen (3-4, 6.12 ERA) and the Orioles in a three game series starting Tuesday. The White Sox, who again lead the Twins in the Wild Card race by one game, will head to Detroit Monday for a four-game series at Comerica before the Twins come for a three day visit starting Friday. This should be an interesting week for the ALC!

GOOD NEWS!!!: Francisco Liriano has gotten some good news from his doc and trainers, being that his arm strength is at 100% and the inflammation in his shoulder looks to be 99.9% gone. (That .01% is killing me). He will start out Tuesday with some throwing exercises on a flat surface from 60 feet away to see how it feels. He may be back as soon as the beginning of September, but the Twins are hesitant to give a date, since the healing process varies from pitcher to pitcher. But Liriano is young and spry. I have a feeling he will be alright.