And so it begins…

The Minnesota Twins kick off Spring Training tonight at 6:00 CDT and to the satisfaction of many, including myself, it will also be televised on the MLB network.  Glen Perkins will be on the mound and here’s a look at the good guys’ lineup:

1. Alexi Casilla, 2B  2. Nick Punto, SS  3. Justin Morneau, 1B  4. Michael Cuddyer, RF  5. Jason Kubel, DH  6. Delmon Young, LF  7. Brian Buscher, 3B  8. Mike Redmond, C  9. Jason Pridie, CF

They’ll have the pleasure of facing knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in their first game.  Not the best way to get your timing down as a hitter.

Aside from Perkins, we should see Joe Nathan, Jesse Crain, Ben Julienal, and Bobby Keppel pitch as well.

Third baseman Joe Crede will make his Spring Training debut on Friday as he eases in.  The much hyped acquisition has said he likes to take as many swings as possible during the spring, so hopefully once he gets started we’ll get to see exactly what we’ve got. 

Stay tuned for more after the matchup.

Go Twins!

The Minnesota Twins came from behind with three runs in the eighth inning to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-5 as the two teams finished up a three game series. The Twins snapped their four game losing streak and avoided the three game sweep with the victory. It is now time to go on a winning streak and overtake the White Sox for the division lead!

Jason Kubel had a rbi double to get the scoring starting in the eighth inning and then pitch hitter Brian Buscher added a two run single to finish out the scoring. Delmon Young had a rbi sac fly for the first run of the game in the second inning and Denard Span had a two run ground-rule double in the fourth inning. Good balanced scoring for the Twins as they kept the pressure on the Mariners pitching staff.

Glen Perkins pitched seven innings and allowed four runs as he started for the Twins on the mound. Perkins improved to an awesome 12-3 on the season with the victory. Matt Guerrier, Eddie Guardado, and Joe Nathan all seen action out of the bullpen. Guardado was charged with one run in the eighth inning but Nathan made the one run lead hold up for his 36th save of the season.

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And we’re done with the Yankees! It was a pretty bad series and thats putting it nicely, but hey, we didn’t get shut out! Thats one positive to take away from this game. But there wasn’t much else.

Glen Perkins got the start tonight and as with all the other starters, he kept it close until late then self destructed. He gave up 5 ER in 6 IP. Once again it was mental errors that gave the Twins their 4th straight loss. Coupled with the White Sox come from behind victory, the Twins are now 2.5 games out.

We just passed the 100 game mark and if we would have done better with this series, it would be easy to say things were looking up. But I’m sure the Twins can pull off something. Remember the Boston series right before the break? The Twins dropped all 3 to Boston but came back in the Detroit series to take 3/4.

Thats it for me, had to work late so I’m pretty tired. Lets turn this thing around though next series, 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 Minnesota Twins lost a tough 5-4 game to the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.  The Twins bullpen gave up two runs in the seventh and eigth innings as the Tigers came from behind to pull out the victory.  The Twins attempted a comeback in the ninth inning as they had two runners on with one out but they were unable to score the tying run.

Matt Guerrier took the the loss for the Twins as he gave up three hits and two runs.  Starting pitcher Glen Perkins pitched six innings and gave up seven hits and two runs.  Perkins gave up one home run but struck out seven batters over his six innings of action.  Jesse Crain was charged with one run in the game as well.

Joe Mauer led the Twins with two rbi in the game and now has 34 rbi on the season.  Denard Span had the other rbi for the Twins as he had a rbi double in the sixth inning.0

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The Minnesota Twins scored multiple times in four out of five innings as they thrashed the San Diego Padres 9-3.  Four different Twins players had two rbi in the game as it was a very balanced scoring attack in the game.

Carlos Gomez, Joe Mauer, Brendan Harris, and Craig Monroe all had two rbi in the game.  Harris’s and Monroe’s two rbi’s both came via two run home runs.  Gomez had a two run single while Mauer had a two run double.  Not to be left out, Alexi Casilla also had a rbi single in the game for the Twins.

Glen Perkins threw the first five innings of the game to pick up the victory and is now 4-2 on the season.  Perkins gave up six hits and three runs but did a good job of limiting the Padres to only three runs as he gave up the six hits and walked two batters.

Brian Bass pitched two innings before Craig Breslow and Boof Bonser each pitched a inning to finish up the game.  All three relief pitchers did a wonderful job and did their job exactly like they were supposed too.

Scott Baker will try to get a win for the Twins on Thursday afternoon as the Twins look to sweep the home team Padres.  Twins Blog

The Minnesota Twins completed a three game sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 9-3 victory on Thursday night.  The game was never really in doubt for the Twins as they took the lead in the third inning and never looked back.  Great series for the Twins!

Michael Cuddyer and Brian Buscher both had two rbi in the game to lead the Twins at the plate.  Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer, and Jason Kubel all helped out with one rbi as well.  It was great to see the Twins have such good production as they scored nine runs without hitting one home run in the game.  That is how you manufacture runs!

On the mound, Glen Perkins tossed eight inning to pick up the victory and improve his record to 3-2.  Perkins gave up ten hits but only three runs scored off those ten hits.  Craig Breslow was called on to come in and finish off the Nationals in the ninth inning and that was exactly what he did without any problems.

The Twins will now take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three game series over the weekend.

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The Minnesota Twins had a 5-2 lead after five innings but were then outscored 5-0 the remaining four innings as they lost to the Chicago White Sox by the score of 7-5.  It was definaly not the way they wanted to finish up their four game series as they were swept by the White Sox.

Starting Twins pitcher Glen Perkins received a no decision as he threw 5 1/3 innings.  Perkins gave up five hits, three runs, and one home run in the game.  Jesse Crain gave up one run while recording the final two outs of the sixth inning and then in the seventh inning, Matt Guerrier gave up four hits and three runs while on recording one out.  Brian Bass pitched the final 1 2/3 innings of the game without giving up a run.  Too bad Crain and Guerrier couldn’t have pitched like Bass.

Michael Cuddyer had a two run double and a rbi single in the game as he led the Twins at the plate with three rbi.  Cuddyer is now up to 29 rbi on the season.  Jason Kubel had the other two runs for the Twins has he had a two run double in the fourth inning.

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The Minnesot Twins pounded on the Texas Rangers Tuesday night as the Twins beat the Rangers 11-4.  The Twins had 13 hits but they scored 11 runs with great production up and down the lineup.  Eleven runs were scored and not one of them came via the home run which is even more impressive.

Alexi Casilla, Delmon Young, and Mike Lamb all had two rbi each in the game to lead the way for the Twins.  Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, and Adam Everett all had one rbi in the game.  Now that is what I call production up and down the lineup!

Glen Perkins improved his record to 1-1 on the season as he pitched 6 1/3 innings to pick up the win.  Perkins allowed six hits and three runs (two were earned) in his six plus innings of action.  Brian Bass then came in and tossed 2 2/3 innings while giving up one run.

The Twins are in second place of the Central Division as they are 1.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox.   Let’s see if the Twins can make a nice run at the top position during the rest of the week.  Twins Blog