1-1 has never felt better.

After an abysmal start to the season and finding themselves down 5-3, two outs in the bottom of the ninth with no men on, those pesky ‘pirhanas’ found a wayspoiling Brandon Morrow’s first appearance in a closing role this season as the Twins defeated the Mariners 6-5 on Tuesday night.

Morrow easily navigated past the bats of Delmon Young and Joe Crede. Then, finding himself one out away from vicory, the strike zone seemed to shrink. Gomez got on board with a gutsy walk. Four pitches later Kubel was on board. Then Buscher in the same fashion. Then, Span knocked in Gomez with an infield hit you can only find in Minnesota. And finally, Alexi Casilla capped it off with a line drive to center field with yet another late inning clutch hit.

Hats off to the underappreciated play of the game: Carlos Gomez’s walk. For a guy who’s known best for his swing-and-hope plate approach seems to have worked on some plate discipline in the Winter and it paid off Tuesday night. Gomez’s walk sparked the ninth inning rally, though we were all looking for the Jason Kubel bomb, we finished off the Mariners in equally exciting fashion. (Side note – it was also Gomez who sparked our 5th inning rally leading off with a triple).

Who’s Hot? – Denard Span. Span’s been the ultimate lead-off hitter getting on base, making contact, and moving around the base paths with ease.

Who’s Not? – Jose Morales, Justin Morneau. Morales can’t get comfortable at the plate striking out several times last night. Its really a completely different lineup with Mauer out. Morneau needs to find his swing again, because zero production out of the 4-hole isn’t going to lead to many wins.

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In other news, Joe Mauer will be taking batting practices tonight with the Fort Myers Miracle. Mauer’s timetable for return seems to be around the late April / early May area.