A Classic Pitchers' Duel

Wow. Unbelievable. Amazing. These are the types of words that must be used to describe last night's baseball game between Minnesota and Chicago. I suppose AP's recap covers the same details I do.

A scoreless game through 7.5 innings, Jacque Jones had the Twins only hit of the game leading off the bottom of the eighth, a 423-foot homerun. Joe Nathan came in to close the game for Johan Santana and save the 1-0 win. For as good as the pitchers' stats are, the defense must be given credit for a number of game saving plays. Shannon Stewart, Lew Ford, and Jermaine Dye prevented runs by making catches as they crashed into the outfield wall.

Minnesota had just 25 at bats but 4 baserunners--1 hit, 2 walks, 1 on by error in 8 innings of batting--1 of which was erased in a double play. Chicago had 30 at bats and 5 baserunners--3 hits, 2 walks. That's a total of 59 batters faced; the minimum is 52 when the home team wins (51 outs plus one runner safely scoring).