| 21 April 2009
The Red Sox and Twins kick of a two-game series tonight... weather permitting.
Tim Wakefield will take the hill for the Sox and The Twins will counter with Scott Baker. Wake is going off of a complete game victory over the Athletics in which he pitched 7 no-hit inning before Kurt Suzuki singled to right field in the 8th. Wakefield is 13-5 with a 4.36 ERA in his career against the Twins and he was much better at home (7-4, 3.10) in 2008 than he was on the road (3-4, 5.14). That's good news for the Sox... if they get the game in.
Scott Baker is a young righty with lots of potential, but he struggled in his 2008 debut after returning from shoulder stiffness. The Blue Jays, beat him up for six runs over four innings and took him deep four times... But Baker only threw 61 pitches in the outing and 44 were for strikes. Minnesota pitchers have become known for their control and Baker is no exception (42 BB in 170+ IP in '08). He'll keep the ball in the strikezone and that could be trouble for Baker with the Sox currently in an offensive groove.
Notes: Lefties hit Baker well (.293 in 211 IP) so look for Ellsbury (6-game hitting streak), Drew (.368 in last 5 with 2 HR, 2 2B, 1 3B) and Ortiz (2-4 with a 2B, 3B in last game) to give Baker trouble... Kottaras is also a lefty and will be catching Wake tonight... The current Twins haven't seen much of Wakefield - Justin Morneau has the best line with a .417 (5 for 12) average against Wake... The speedy Carlos Gomez (33 SB in '08) could also cause trouble for Wake if he can reach base (142 Ks in '08)
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