Kicking the Skid

The Twins snapped a nasty seven game skid tonight at home against the Kitchener Panthers – fittingly, more or less everything that went wrong for them during the streak went right tonight, and the players’ relief was quite apparent after the game when I did my interviews.

The final score was 7-3, so one could fairly call it a decisive win. They got a stellar outing from Luis Castillo – exact numbers in my game stories, which should likely be up early in the week – and Shane Cole came in to shut Kitchener down. Castillo, if memory serves, only walked two Panthers, and if memory serves further, starters walking south of five guys per game was a huge problem during the streak.

The Twins were stellar in the clutch tonight – several big hits with runners in scoring position; they busted it open with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, including an RBI double that Henry Duke absolutely crushed off the wall. Duke, by the way, went on to add a two run homer in the seventh to put things out of reach. George Mensah also had a bomb for the Twins in the bottom of the second; it answered the Panthers’ first inning solo shot and knotted the game at one.

Unlike games past, I spoke to a couple of players in addition to coach Calcagni afterwards. I talked to Duke, which seemed fitting after his big offensive night, and he provided some interesting and insightful thoughts on his hitting – apparently, he had been killing the ball of late, but right at the centre fielder, which led to several 0 for’s with a bunch of loud outs. He forced himself to make the adjustment and start hitting to the left and right side, and the results spoke for themselves.

I also chatted with Castillo, who seemed relaxed and relieved after the W. He told me his curveball wasn’t working properly – and it’s true, a lot of pitches stayed up, above the chest, that looked like they were meant to break downward – but that his cutter compensated. Whatever it was, it wound up working fabulously and Castillo’s effort tonight is a big reason why the Twins are looking to start a streak in the other direction rather than break out of what would be an eight game death spiral.

I really like talking to the players – they’re all very media-friendly – and the reason I haven’t been talking to them lately has a lot more to do with the fact that they usually disappear pretty quickly after the games than a lack of interest on my part. I will certainly be trying to make players’ comments a regular part of my coverage from here on out.

Everyone I talked to seemed very relieved to have picked up the win – not that anyone is ever unhappy after a win, but you could tell it was a big one for them. The manner in which they came out and pasted a team that had beaten them by a single run in a game they should won at the height of their losing streak goes a long way to confirm what I – and most other people – have been saying all along, which is that they are far better than their record AND more than capable of hanging with every team in the league. Frankly, I think they are a far better team than Kitchener and I think it would take a bad game on the Twins’ part to see them lose to the Panthers again.

Coach C told me that as a team they’re trying to be a bit more aggressive – especially when it comes to solid secondary leads – and I think that came through tonight. An impressive first to third caught my eye, as did a steal of home on a passed ball. Aggression is obviously a good addition to any team; with the Twins being really young, you’d think they’re predisposed to be a fast team and it will be interesting to see if adding that element to their game can put them over the top.

Guelph is up next – it’ll be a good test; as you may remember, the Twins were slaughtered in Guelph by a count of 9-0 during that skid. It was an awfully played game by the Twins, and Guelph was tied with Kitchener in the standings going into tonight’s action, so we’ll see how the Twins handle them tomorrow. Look for more post-game bloggage around this time tomorrow!