Twins Notes: Livan Hernandez Goes Seven Innings in Opener

Livan Hernandez went seven innings and allowed just two runs in a start that surprised, among others, me. Has pitching coach Rick Anderson performed a miracle?

Hernandez has this pitch, a 59 MPH curveball that is such a surprise it actually fooled my eyes, and I was just watching on TV. His fastball tops out around 89 MPH, giving him an unusually high range of speed.

Gardenhire started Craig Monroe as the DH over Jason Kubel against the right-handed Jared Weaver. Let’s just say this wasn’t a high probability play.

Mauer hit in the No. 2 spot in the lineup. It’s a good thing.

Carlos Gomez had a heckuva night, scoring a couple of runs, getting a couple of hits and being a pest on the basepaths. I still have reservations about him but I know he’ll at least be entertaining.

I didn’t mind seeing Hunter in another uniform. Glad for him that he’s making money, but I simply won’t miss him.

The Twins outfield group of Gomez, Cuddyer, and Young should be fun to watch. They all have great arms and will make sport of players trying to stretch extra bases.

The Twins steal bases smartly. You need a 2:1 advantage when stealing bases for it to start working in your favor, and the Twins do better than this.

Watching Mike Lamb at third base is going to be so much better than watching Nick Punto for another season. I said it earlier: it’s a religious experience.

The Twins are projected to win somewhere between 74 and 78 wins depending on which system you use. The standard deviation on 162 fair coin flips is about six, which gives the Twins an outside chance of getting to .500 or better.

Personally, I think they have more than an outside chance.

Has Joe Vavra performed a miracle and turned Carlos Gomez into a major league quality hitter? Vavra is a talented coach and his presence is correlated to overall improvements in the Twins' offense.

Between Gomez, Everett, Monroe, and Tolbert he should have his hands full. But if these guys can collectively perform better than expected, well, the sky’s the limit.

When watching Pat Neshek battle Vladimir Guerrero in the eighth inning, I couldn’t help but think “This is why I watch baseball.”

Neshek, strike him out.

Nathan gets a save, Hernandez the win. Twins win, 2-3.