PLAYERS:
Gil Meche,
Nick Punto,
Orlando Cabrera,
Joe Mauer,
Carlos Gomez
TEAMS: Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers
TEAMS: Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers

Gil Meche was the big winner in his return from the disabled list Thursday as the Kansas City Royals crushed the Minnesota Twins' hopes and dreams of gaining any ground in the American League Central with a 5-4 victory.
Meche, who is notoriously pretty sucky, gave up four runs on seven hits over five innings in his first start since July 11th. At one point, pretty sure it was the sixth inning, the Twins were handed three walks and still managed not to score, thanks to Nick Punto not quite remembering how to bunt before spankin' new Twin Orlando Cabrera hit into an inning-ending double play. Yikes.
If every at bat could just belong to Joe Mauer, they'd probably go 162-0. Too bad that's not even possible. Man Muscles had a double, a homer and four RBIs in the game, bringing his batting average to .370 on the season, the best in the AL ahead of Ichiro Suzuki (.359).
Denarded Span is pretty awesome, too... but no one outside of Minnesota really gives a crap. Carlos Gomez (NASCAR) has so much potential bottled up that he's become an uncontrollable spaz. Meanwhile, Cabrera extended his career-high hitting streak to 22 games. That would be more badass if there were other people rounding the bases when he hits the ball into play.
The Twins will take on the horrible Cleveland Indians this weekend. Minnesota fans would normally be looking forward to this series, but are rather terrified after their last series against the Tribe, which they lost... right before they dropped another series to the Detroit Tigers. In fact, the Twins haven't won two in a row yet in August. Let's make that a goal for this weekend, guys.
[MLB] | [Root Zoo] | [MLB Wire]
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Before we get started, Gil Meche is making his return from the disabled list today, still in that phase where he's working his pitch count back up.
So, what do we think for Gil today? 115 pitches? 130?
Anyway, like we mentioned a few days ago, there were fewer than half as many responses to the call for "Why We Still Care" e-mails as last year.
read more
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