What a tough way to close out the 2008 season as the Minnesota Twins fell to the Chicago White Sox 1-0 on Tuesday night as the two teams played a one game playoff to see who would advance to the ALDS. Nick Blackburn gave up a solo home run to Jim Thome in the seventh inning and the Twins had no answer as they only had two hits in the game.

You can’t blame Blackburn for this loss as he pitched very well. He lasted 6 1/3 innings and only gave up four hits and the one run which was the solo shot off the bat of Thome. The offense should have been able to score atleast one or two runs off of Danks but they were only able to get two hits as they struggled during the blackout in Chicago.

The one shot that the Twins had to score came in the fifth inning. Michael Cuddyer attempted to tag from third base on a short fly ball to center field but he was tagged out by A.J. Pierzynski to end the inning. Cuddyer tried to knock the ball loose as he rolled through Pierzynski but he held onto the ball to record the out.

It just wasn’t meant to be for the Twins in 2008 I guess. Now we will have a long off season that is for sure.

Twins Blog

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!

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 tie up the three game series with the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night with a 8-5 victory.  It was a one run game heading in to the ninth inning but the Twins were able to score two insurance runs in the ninth and win the game 8-5.

Justin Morneau led the Twins with two doubles and three rbi in the game.  Jason Kubel hit his eighth home run of the season in the game as well as he went deep for a two run homer in the third inning.  Alexi Casilla, Michael Cuddyer, and Mike Lamb all finished the game with one rbi as well.

Nick Blackburn earned the win for the Twins and is now 5-4 on the season.  Blackburn pitched six innings and allowed seven hits and two runs.  Boof Bonser gave up two runs and Dennys Reyes gave up a run in the seventh inning but after that the Twins bullpen settled down and didn’t allow a run the rest of the game.  Jesse Crain got the last out in the seventh inning and then pitched a scoreless eighth inning before turning things over to Joe Nathan who recorded his 17th save of the season in the ninth inning.

Twins Blog

The Minnesota Twins were nearly no-hit by the Gavin Floyd and the Chicago White Sox but Joe Mauer came to the rescue for the Twins in the ninth inning.  Mauer doubled to deep left center field to break up the no hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out.

The Twins did get one run earlier in the game when Jason Kubel hit a sacrafice fly to to center that scored Mauer.

Nick Blackburn pitched six inning and allowed six hits and four runs.  Three of the four runs were earned.  Jesse Crain pitched one inning and allowed two runs.  Bobby Korecky pitched one inning and also gave up a earned run.

It was just a bad pitching and hitting performance by the entire Twins lineup.  They can pretty much only do better tomorrow against the White Sox.

Twins Blog

The Minnesota Twins moved within 1.5 games of the Chicago White Sox in the standings after beating them on Wednesday afternoon by the score of 4-3.  The Twins swept the short two game series against the White Sox to pick up two full games in the standings!

Nick Blackburn tossed seven innings of eight hit ball to pick up the win for the Twins.  Blackburn only let three runs cross the plate, one of those being a solo home run to Carlos Quentin.  Joe Nathan picked up another save which was his ninth of the season.

Carlos Gomez, Brendan Harris, Justin Morneau, and Michael Cuddyer all finished the game with one RBI each.  Jason Kubel did have a bad day at the plate however as he went 0-4 and left six runners on base.

The Twins will now have have an off day on Thursday and start a series with the Detroit Tigers on Friday.

Twins Blog

The Minnesota Tigers had the Detroit Tigers right where they wanted them heading into into the 8th inning.  That was things completely turned around and the Tigers scored six runs in the inning on their way to a 11-9 victory over the Twins.

Pat Neshek took the loss for the Twins as he allowed two earned runs in his one inning of action.  Matt Guerrier who was pitching in relief of starting pitcher Nick Blackburn allowed four earned runs in 1.1 innings of action.  Blackburn pitched 5.2 innings to start the game and also allowed four earned runs.  Overall, the Twins pitching stuff sucked it up all night long.  There is no reason that the Twins shouldn’t have won after scoring nine runs themselves.

The middle of the order did all the damage for the Twins.  Justin Morneau, Delmon Young, Jason Kubel, and Brendan Harris all contributed with two RBI each.  Mike Lamb contributed with one RBI.

Twins Blog

The Minnesota Twins controlled the game against the Chicago White Sox for most of the day, all except for the 7th inning when the White Sox put up five runs and took the lead for good giving the Twins there fifth lose of the season.

Mike Lamb had two RBI, while Joe Mauer and Delmon Young each had one RBI.

Nick Blackburn started the game for the Twins but only lasted five innings as he gave up seven hits and two earned runs.  Matt Guerrier took the loss as he allowed two earned runs, and Pat Neshek allowed three earned runs.  You have to have better performances out of the bullpen if you want to compete, the Twins will have to work on that.

Twins Blog