Ugh, we just can’t seem to win in Yankee Stadium or against the Yankees for that matter. In Ron Gardenhire at the helm, the Twins have lost 18 out of 21 games. If the Twins make it to the playoffs, lets hope the Yankees aren’t also in it. In this game it was the same story as last game. One mistake by the Twins and the Yankees jump all over it and make them pay. It just seems to open up the floodgates. It also doesnt hurt that any of their players are capable of hitting the long ball at any point.

This game the floodgates opened in the 6th. Kevin Slowey was putting the Yankees away. Stakes to a 2-1 lead, he gave up a 2 run homer to Bobby Abreau and thats when it all started. After giving up 4ER, he was done for the night. He took the loss since the Twins could only muster a couple runs off Yankee starter Rasner.

A change in the lineup if anyone noticed, was Denard Span leading off while Carlos Gomez batted ninth. Since Gomez is in a mini funk, Gardenhire thought it was best and it did help a bit. Gomez put the Twins on the board with a double and scoring later on, while Span had 2 hits and reached base 3 times. It will probably be the same way until Michael Cuddyer comes back, then the Twins have some decisions to make.

Well thats it for me tonight, after a long day of work and a not so good outing by the Twins, I need a break, at least until tomorrow afternoon when they play again. Lets hope we can salvage a game out of this series, I’ll take whatever we can get. Till then, good night Twins fans!

Ouch, thats all i can say. I know we have bad luck against the Yankees. You can see that since 2002. For some reason they always find ways to win against us. Only thing I can say about this one is at least it wasnt 1-0, those hurt the most.

Nick Blackburn didnt look good at all. He only lasted 1 2/3 giving up 6 R (3 ER) and 7 hits. He gave up a 2 run HR to A-Rod in the first but Twins clawed back to tie it at 2 on some small ball but Blackburn ran into trouble in the 2nd. After loading the bases, Twins went into DP position, a sharp ground ball was hit at Alexi Casilla, he threw it home to Joe Mauer who misplayed it and the inning just took off from there. At one point the Yankees sent 7 straight batters to the plate. By the time the 2nd was over the Yankees had a 6-2 lead and they would never look back. Even after Blackburn left, the pen didnt do well at all. All of the relievers gave up at least 1 ER.  Since 2002, Twins are 3-17 at Yankee Stadium, maybe we’ll have better luck in the new one. One can only hope.

Only Twins that did have a good day were Alexi Casilla and Denard Span. Both had 3 hits apiece, and Span was just a HR short of the cycle!

Thats all from me, we’ll have better luck tomorrow. I would be happy with 1 out of 3 from Yankee Stadium. Another bit of good news is that the White Sox also lost today so Twins still are only .5 games out of first. Have a good night everyone, more from me tomorrow, GO TWINS!

So I’m back after taking the weekend off, busy weekend too, unfortunetely it was for work. But getting back into the thick of things, we’re playing the Yankees! If you’re like me on this one, the only team you hate more are the White Sox, Yankees take a close second and for apparent reasons too. A bit of historic rememberance to this series is it will be the last time the Twins play in Yankee Stadium. Unbeliveable huh? That place has so much historic tales its crazy. The House that Ruth Built. Decades from now, the new Yankee Satdium might be the House that A-Rod built. K, onto some baseball!

Tonight we have righty Nick Blackburn pitching against our old friend Sidney Ponson. Nick has been doing well along with all our young starting staff, probably the best story this season so far. A nice 7-5 record to boot and a great 3.65 ERA. He has been anything if not consistent. Ponson has simply owned the Twins in his careeer, he is 10-2 with a 2.42 ERA vs. them. He didn’t pitch so well when he was with them. Last time he faced us he was in a Rangers uni. They released him due to internal problems with him.

Twins are hoping to get back on the winning track after a dissapointing 1-0 loss to the Rangers yesterday. Scott Baker had a perfect game through 5 1/3 IP but gave up only one bad pitch and that resulted in a loss. Vicente Padilla went against him. If you remember he hit Justin Morneau earlier this season. After yesterday’s game he made it 15 scoreless innings agianst the Twins dating back to the last time he faced us when he shut us out again. But thw Twins did take 2/3 from the highest scoring offense in the AL, and outscored them 20-3.

My impact player last series would have to be Delmon Young. Before yesterday’s game he was 7-9 in the 2 games. He did say he does better in the second half and its showed so far. Lets hope he can keep this up and get us on top of the division. The Twins also gained a game on the White Sox and since they lost yesterday, are only still .5 games back. Now, i know we dont have good luck against the Yankees but the last series at the Dome we didn’t do so bad. We split and that was a lot considering the hearbreaker in the first 2 games. Lets keep it up! GO TWINS!

What a way to start off my first blog! The Twins shut out the Ranger 6-0 to start off the second half and continue their hot streak. Thats now 21 out of the last 28 games that they’ve won. Once again, the story tonight has been the starting rotation. As I mentioned, Glen Perkins got the call tonight and he was virtually untouchable. He pitched 6 strong scoreless innings, gave up 3 hits, 3 BBs, and recorded a strikeout. Better yet, he lowered his overall ERA to less than 4, its now down to 3.84. Three relievers combined to pitch the last 3 innings giving up no hits.

The offense wasn’t that bad either. Delmon Young had a great game, going 4-4 with an RBI and a stolen base. He started the offense in the 4th, getting an infield single to drive home Justin Morneau. Others that did well today, Brian Buscher and Jason Kubel each went 2-4 with 2 RBIs. Alexi Casilla pounded out 3 hits and 1 run scored.

Carlos Gomez continued to struggle at the plate, he went 0-5 today with a K. The Twins let him off a couple games before the All Star brek, hoping he’d break out of his funk. Tonight though he didn’t give them much confidence. I like the guy, don’t get me wrong but just witnessing his swings, one has to wonder if he needs to go back to AAA. Once Michael Cuddyer is healthy again, what will happen? Denard Span has been swinging a hot bat as of late so perhaps there will be some changes. Who knows. I just think that all pitchers have this guy figured out. Heres the sequence: low and away, low and away, low and away and hes gone. He needs to be more selective at the plate and not just swing at anything in, or out of the zone. But hey, we won, and keep pace with the White Sox. They need to start losing!

Thats it for me tonight, hope you enjoyed the recap and what you heard. And hey, feel free to send me some comments on the board. I’d love to know what i can improve on! Good night everyone, GO TWINS!

K folks, this is my first time doing this so take it easy on me, hope you like what you see…

The Twins finally get back into action as they start off the second half of the season. What a season so far. No one believed the Twins would be in the thick of a division race as it stands but here they are, halfway through the season trailing the White Sox by just 1.5 games. This is baseball at its best, its so unpredictable, thats what makes this game great! Onto the matchups, we have RH Kevin Millwood squaring off against our lefty, Glen Perkins. Perkins has been solid this year, with most of each start lowering his ERA down to 4.14. Hes 6-2 on the season, and has been a big reason as why the Twins have been doing so well so far. Him along with all the other younger arms have proven everyone wrong. What considered to be a big question mark to start off the season has actually turned into a plus for the Twins. And it only gets better people. Francisco Liriano has been stellar in his last 3 starts, going 3-0, with a 0.00 ERA in 20 IP. In that stretch hes given up 10 H, 24 Ks and 3 BBs. But I’ll talk more about him in another post. Believe me, I have speculation.

If I could find it, I would post the lineups but since the game is an hour away, doesnt look like I’ll have much. But it will probably be pretty much the same. Interesting to see how they will use Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau now that they’ve been used for the All Star Game, specially Morneau who saw a lot of action.

During each of the reviews I’ll try to point out someone thats been doing well or that doesn’t get a lot of recognition. I’ll start this one off with Craig Breslow. This guy gets NO recognition. Hes been doing very well since the Twins picked him up off waivers from the Indians. Everyone focuses on Dennys Reyes since he was our only lefty reliever but what about Craig? No wins on the season with the Twins yet but look at his stats. 2.18 ERA in the last 10 games, 8/4 Ks/BBs and only 2 runs on 3 hits. The guy does not get credit where its due but you know what, I just gave him it here. Keep it up Craig!

Thats it for the review, now enjoy the game everyone, GO TWINS!

The first game in a four game series against the Detroit Tigers was sure exciting if you were a Minnesota Twins fan.  The Twins rallied in the ninth inning when they were down two runs, and then won it in the 11th inning to take the first game in the four game series by the score of 7-6.

Justin Morneau had the game winning hit and rbi in the 11th inning when he hit a solo home run off of Freddy Dolsi.  Once again Morneau stepped up big time for the team!  Morneau finished the game going 5-5 with one rbi.

In the ninth inning when the Twins tied things up it was Denard Span rbi single and a rbi sac fly by Joe Mauer that scored both runs to tie the game at 6-6.  Carlos Gomez, Alexi Casilla, and Delmon Young also had one rbi each in the game.  Great output by the entire offense.

Matt Guerrier ended up getting the victory and is now 5-4 on the season.  Guerrier tossed the the 10th and 11th innings to pick up the victory.  Starting Twins pitcher Kevin Slowey only lasted 3 2/3 innings as he was pulled after giving up nine hits and six runs.  Slowey was lucky to get the no decision the way he threw the ball.

One plus in the game was how well the bullpen threw the ball.  After Slowey was taken out of the game, the bullpen locked down and did not allow another run in the game.  Craig Breslow, Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes, Joe Nathan, and Guerrier all did a great job on the mound out of the bullpen.

The Twins will look to go up 2-0 in the series on Friday.  Go get em!  Twins Blog 

The Minnesota Twins were destroyed in Boston on Wednesday afternoon by the score of 18-5.  The Twins gave up seven runs in the 7th inning as the Red Sox broke the game wide open.  It was just a bad series for the Twins as they were swept in all three games.

Five different Twins pitchers gave up atleast two runs each.  Starter Livan Hernandez was tagged for 11 hits and six runs in only 4 1/3 innings.  Boof Bonser then allowed four runs, Craig Breslow gave up two runs, Brian Bass was charged with five runs while Dennys Reyes gave up one run.

The Twins offense did have 14 hits in the game and scored five runs but there was just no way they were going to catch the Red sox.  Justin Morneau had a two run home run while Jason Kubel added a solo home run.  Joe Mauer and Nick Punto both chipped in with rbi singles as well.

The Twins will now go start a four game series against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.

Twins Blog

The Minnesota Twins gave up a three run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning and went on to lose to the Boston Red Sox by the score of 6-5.  It was a very dissapointing game for the Twins and their fans as they were really thinking about getting the big win against the might Red Sox.

Nick Blackburn pitched the first 6 2/3 innings of the game as he gave up six hits and two runs.  Blackburn was in line to get the victory as he pitched a very good game but the bullpen was not good and he had to take a no decision.  Dennys Reyes gave up one hit and a run in the top of the eighth inning and then Matt Guerrier gave up a two run shot to Manny Ramirez and a rbi single to Brandon Moss as he gave up three runs in the eighth.

Brendan Harris led the Twins at the plate with two rbi.  Harris had a two run triple in the fourth inning.  Delmon Young, Nick Punto, and Denard Span all chipped in with one rbi each.  Twins did try to rally in the ninth inning but where unable to get the tying run in from third base as Alexi Casilla grounded out to end the game.

The Twins will try to get a victory in Boston on Wednesday night now.  How do you think they will fare?

Twins Blog

The Minnesota Twins used a balanced offense on Wednesday afternoon as six different players recorded rbi’s in the game and th Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers 7-0.  With the victory, the Twins won another series as they took two out of three games from the Tigers.

Nick Blackburn was outstanding on the mound for the Twins as he pitched seven inning and only gave up three hits to pick up the win.  It was Blackburn’s best outing of the season and he improved his record to 7-4 on the year.

Jesse Crain pitched a scoreless ninth inning and then Boof Bonser pitched a scoreless ninth inning to finish up the game.

Joe Mauer went 2-3 with two rbi in the game to lead the Twins at the plate.  Mauer is now batting .327 with 36 rbi on the year.  Alexi Casilla, Jason Kubel, Delmon Young, Brian Buscher, and Nick Punto all chipped in with one rbi each as well.  It was a very good showing by the Twins offense as almost everyone had a rbi in the game.

The Twins will now be off on Thursday before starting a three game series with the Cleveland Indians on Friday.

Twins Blog

The MInnesota Twins were able to get a little bit of reventh on the Detroit Tigers as they beat the Tigers Tuesday evening by the score of 6-4.  At times in the game I was unsure if the Twins were going to be able to get the victory, but they showed what kind of team they really are and were able to pick up the win.

Scott Baker pickd up the victory and is now 5-2 on the season.  Baker tossed six innings and gave up seven hits and three runs.  It was a quality outing for Baker and that is all the Twins were asking out of him.  Brian Bass gave up on run as he pitched after Baker exited the game.  Joe Nathan recorded his 23rd save in the game as well.

The big hit for the Twins came off the bat of Craig Monroe who hit a three run home run in the fourth inning.  Mike Redmond was right behind Monroe as he finished the game with two rbi.  Alexi Casilla also chipped in with one rbi.

The Twins and Tigers will now play an afternoon game on Wednesday to see who win the three game series.  Twins Blog