A Much Better Record

More points in favor of awarding Carlos Silva the Bright Spot in a Dismal Season Award--found this tidbit in the Star Tribune:

KANSAS CITY, MO. -- Even on a night when Carlos Silva wasn't at his best, he still showed precision control Tuesday and moved closer to a 101-year-old pitching record.

Silva gave up four runs but didn't walk a batter in 6 2/3 innings of the Twins' 7-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals. For the season, Silva has given up just eight walks in 180 1/3 innings.

In the department of walks per nine innings, Silva's number is 0.40. The American League record in that category is 0.69, set by Cy Young in 1904.

'It's not like I don't want to walk anybody, so I'm just going to throw the ball right to the middle,' Silva said. That might have been a message for the hitters. But Silva hasn't issued an unintentional walk in his past 50 innings.

'Walks will kill you, and we talk about that a lot,' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. 'Our pitchers believe in that. Silva really believes in it, obviously.'

Can he do it?