Domination

Nine innings. Five hits. No walks. Three strikeouts. One run. Seventy-four pitches.

That, by the way, is the fewest on the official record--pitch counts have only been uniformly tracked since 2000--for a nine-inning complete game.

This 4-1 gem was thrown by our very own Carlos Silva Friday night against the Milwaukee Brewers, who must have received a scouting report that said "Throws strikes. Swing early and often." He kept throwing his sinker over the plate, and the Brewers kept knocking it at the Twins fielders. I suspect he didn't have his best stuff out there, either, as more than half of the balls put in play were hit in the air, and he's almost exclusively a ground-ball pitcher when he's at the top of his game. That only makes Friday's feat more impressive.

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Nine innings. Seven hits. No walks. Four strikeouts. No runs. One hundred and ten pitches.

This is the game Milwaukee lefty Doug Davis pitched against the Twins Saturday night while cruising to a 6-0 win. Lew Ford hit two doubles for the Twins, the other five hits were singles. Meanwhile, Radke was doomed by a 2-run homer and a 2-run error, while Jesse Crain lost his perfect ERA, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk without retiring a batter. On the bright side, JC Romero came into the game with runners in scoring position and didn't let them score. I was, and remain, pleasantly stunned.

Speaking of that error, it not only served to usher in two unearned runs and put the Twins in a demoralizing 4-0 hole, it also catapulted Cuddyer into the league lead for errors at third. The only other AL third baseman with 8 errors, Detroit's Brandon Inge, has played 43 more innings. People keep reminding me that Koskie wasn't so hot with the glove when he first got to the majors, and that is certainly true, but I'll take this opportunity to remind them that Koskie in his worst season compiled 15 errors. Let's all take a moment to do the math and realize how ridiculous this is becoming.

I'm glad Cuddy's finally hitting (and am hopeful, though not quite convinced, that it's not just one of his sporadic hot streaks), but he has got to do something about his fielding. More drills, different drills, something. Anything. This club is not the kind of offensive powerhouse that can carry no-glove players on the assumption that we'll knock in enough runs to make up for any gaffes in the field. The Twins require, at a minimum, basic competence.

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Miscellany:

• Santana pitches this afternoon, with something to prove after an unfortunate display of human frailty on Tuesday.
• Jason Bartlett went 2-for-5 in his first game at AAA Rochester.
• Justin Morneau has five home runs in the month of May.
• Kyle Lohse has a May ERA of 2.77, over 3 starts.
• Two "everyday" players have not committed an error since 2004: outfielders Shannon Stewart and Jacque Jones.