Twins lose 2 of 3 in first ever series at Coors Field

I really thought the sweep of the Twins by the Blue Jays would be a wake up call to this team. They came out Friday night and played a pretty solid game to snap the losing streak and lost in extras on Saturday. Sunday's game was a complete and utter disaster. The Twins played like a team with no heart. Dropping pop ups, committing errors all over the field, failing to get runners over, this is not Twins baseball. The Twins have always built there success over the past 6 years around decent pitching, excellent defense, aggressive base running and timely hitting. Right now the Twins are doing none of that. Something will have to change for the Twins and soon. Losing 5 of 6 like this can quickly put you out of the race in what will be a competitive American League Central. I don't have much else to say today. Another bad team coming into the Metrodome tonite as the Rangers come into town. Twins are in desperate need of a win here tonite. Boof will be on the hill tonite so lets hope he can get through the first inning with out allowing 4 or more runs.

Makes my Stomach Turn!

Theres no better way to start a home stand than taking 3 of 4 from the World champs. There is no better way to end one by losing 3 in a row to the Blue Jays. Meanwhile division rival Cleveland was completed a sweep of the A's to strengthen their lead on the AL central. The Jays somehow brought out all of the Twin's flaws in this series and exposed them for what they are.

Lets face it, the Twins are a mediocre team as far as talent wise. Most people picked them to finish 4th in the division or even last. So we should be happy that they made to the 1st quarter mark at .500 and in second place. But I think a lot of Twins fans keep thinking what could have been.

But since the Twins have hit the 1st quarter mark, I will go through my 1st quarter review.

1st quarter review

3 good things.

1. Livan Hernandez
This is turning out to be a great signing for the Twins so far. He has put up a 6-1 record with one complete game. The Twins have also one 8 of his starts. So he has come in and been a rotation ace and hopefully a losing streak stopper.
2. Carlos Gomez
I know he isn't putting up stellar numbers or anything, but I really like this kid. His speed alone makes him such a weapon. If only he could raise that OBP and get on base more to do more damage. His fielding needs some work too, but I think he could be a star in a couple years. Plus he has given the Twins something to feel good about after losing Santana.
3. Nathan
I can't say enough good things about Joe Nathan. Re-signing him was the best move by Bill Smith so far. He is very important to the teams success. In 12 save opportunities he has 12 saves and no losses. If for some reason the season falls apart, he is valuable trade bait as well.

3 disappointments

1. Liriano
This has to be the most disappointing thin for the Twins season by far. Such high hopes for this guy and it appears his confidence is gone. Just think 2 years ago we were looking at 2 plus years with Liriano and Santana topping the rotation. Liriano gets hurt and everything changes. I really feel for the guy and I hope he can bounce back sometime down the road, but the rotation will not be the same without him.
2. The Delmon Young Trade
Well I have to say this trade is a failure so far. Delmon Young may turn out to be a hall of famer some day but for now the Rays seem to have gotten the better deal. Bartlett is still a below average hitter but I think Garza is going to be a big part of their rotation. and will be missed by the Twins. The worst thing is that young has no HRs and only 4 extra base hits. He was supposed to provide some power and replace Hunters production. The Twins took a gamble and lost a good young starter and haven't seen any rewards yet.
3. Fundamentals
It seems the Twins aren't playing like the Twins of old. Poor fielding, slow double play turns, misjudging fly balls, throwing errors and horrible base running. These mistakes have been going on all year and were especially present in the Jays series. This is not Twins baseball, the Twins used to be the highlight of web gems every night now they are a laughing stock.

Bottom Line
OK so I am not satisfied with .500 at this point because I know it could have been better. I would like to see a few things happen in the next quarter.
1. Young's production go way up.
2. Tolbert becomes an everyday second baseman.
3. Gomez draws more walks.

Those are just a few things that could help the team but they need a lot of work. Next up is the Rockies in Colorado. The defending N.L. champs have struggled this year to a 15-26 record and have lost 5 in a row. Lets hope the Twins streak is the one that ends tonight as Blackburn 3-2 (3.93) takes on Jimenez 1-4 (5.53).

Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes Twins lost second in a row to Jays.

After getting all Twins fans excited by taking 3 of 4 from the Red Sox, the Twins have now disappointed us by losing the first two to the last place Toronto Blue Jays. Uncharacteristically fielding blunders have been a big part of the losses. I won't go into detail, but slow double play turns, misjudged balls off the wall have led to extra base runners and extra runs. Last night Crain had caught Rolen trying to steal 3rd in the 8th, in stead of running at him, he fired the ball to 3rd where Mike Lamb couldn't get it and the ball sailed into right and Rolen scored an important insurance run. If that play doesn't happen Kubel's double in the 8th ties it. By the way Kubel is a guy I would like to see get more at bats. He has about 30 less at bats than Delmon Young and has produced 5 more home runs and 9 more RBI, young has 4 extra base hits and Kubel has 10. I know Young is a fighter and wants to play every day, but I just think you need to send a message to him. He was brought her for power and offensive production, his average is going up but his power is not. Singles are great but when you have Lamb and Everett hitting behind you they wont do much good.

Boof Bonser once again struggled in the first giving up a grand slam to Matt Stairs (who has been very hot lately). The Twins found themselves in a 4-0 hole early. Boof managed to only give up one more run during the next 5 innings but he has got to settle down in the first so the Twins aren't in such a hole.

Well the bad news is the loss dropped the Twins out of first place, so the week and half run is over for the time being. Perkins will be on the mound today for his second career start against Dustin MocGowan as the Jays go for the sweep. Hopefully the Twins can get a fire in them and get a big win today to avoid this sweep. The Twins need momentum for the weekend series in Colorado against the Rockies.

What? Yes that's right the Twins play the Rockies this weekend? I don't get it either, why are they not playing the Brewers? Why are the St. Louis Cardinals playing Tampa Bay? Why are the White Sox playing the Giants? The Yankees are playing the Mets, so why not all the other rivalry series at the same time? I don't get it at all. Either way, I think it will be the first time for the Twins in Coors field. Preview of this series to come.

Timely hitting leads to series win over Sox

Timely hitting. Its such an important factor in baseball. Getting those big hits with runners on base. This is what the Twins will have to do this season in order to compete and this is what they did last night. Monreau, Monroe and Young all had big hits with runners on to provide the Twins with seven runs in the game. The Twins have now averages 6.4 runs per game in May compared to 3 or so in April. The win gives the Twins win number 20 and Livan Hernandez win number 6 on the season.
The adventure continues tonite as the Twins start a 3 game set against the Blue Jays. The Jays have had good pitching as of late so lets hope the Twins can keep up their offensive momentum and get another series win.

Offense comes alive, Nathan barely holds off Sox in ninth for the win

What a game, what a finish! In yesterdays post I mentioned that the offense would have to come alive to get wins against this Red Sox team and sunday night it did. Monroe hit 2 bombs and even Adam Everett hit one. The Twins had scored enough runs to be ahead of the Sox 9-6 entering the ninth. Then came the drama. J.D. Drew had just doubled in a run and the Sox had 2nd and 3rd with one out. Crisp hit one off Nathan onto the turf, Nathan alertly got Drew trying for third and only one run scored and now there was two outs. Manny pinch hit for the Sox and grounded out to Everett to finally put this one in the books. Whew! Nathan had his 12th save of the season.

The win kept the Twins in first for at least one more day and clinchedy at least a split in the 4 game series with the Red Sox. I was very happy with the Twins ability to score runs early and finally get some home runs on the board as well. What worries me is the bullpen. With Nehshek out the road to Nathan is not looking very good. Nick Blackburn put up a decent showing allowing 4 runs in 6.

Tonite 6:10 Clay Bucholz 2-2 at Livan Hernandez 5-1

Livan is coming off his perfect game last week. The Red Sox have very good hitters so hopefully Livan can change speeds and get them to produce lot of ground outs. Once again the Twins will need a lot of offense to win. Lineup changes inlcude Redmond at catcher Mauer at DH, Monroe in left, Harris at 2nd and Casilla at short. Twins loooking for win number 20 and a series win over the Sox.

Solo shots spoil Perkins Debut

Glen Perkins shined for 6 innings in his major league starting debut, giving up just one solo home run to Kevin Youkilus in the 2nd inning. The Twins held a 2 run lead heading into the 7th. Perkins came out to start the 7th and gave up back to back jacks to the Red Sox number 8 and 9 hitters, Crisp and Lowrie. The Twins would not score again for the rest of the game and end up losing 5-2. Tough loss as it would have been nice to see Perkins get a win in his first start.

Perkins was pitching well but it may have been a mistake to send him out there to start inning number seven. Six innings and only 1 run is great for a first start and seven may have been pushing it. Sending out Rincon/Reyes to get to Nathan might have been a better idea. Either way the Twins still did not provide the offense to beat the powerful Sox. The left the bases loaded in second and only got one run. Carlos Gomez did a great job by drawing a walk. Cuddyer also hit into a double play in the 5th to kill a Twins rally. The Twins will have to find a way to get their offense going if the hope to take one of the two remaining games in the series.

Tonite 7:05 ESPN Red Sox vs. Twins

Tim Wakefield 3-1 vs Nick Blackburn 2-2.

Old Veteran vs the young rookie in Blackburn. Twins will need to get into a groove offensively and score more than 2 runs to win this one. Should be interesting to watch how the Twins perform on the national stage in another battle of first place teams.

Lamb's big hit gives Twins big win

After losing 2 of 3 to the White Sox, the Twins now seemed in trouble as they faced 3 games against a very good Red Sox team. After giving up two separte leads in the game, the Twins had a big chance in the 8th inning as Everett doubled off the wall and Delmon Young attempted to score from first. If safe he would have tied the game but a great throw by Pedroia got him and the Red Sox held on to a 6-5 lead. Then came the bottom of the 9th. The twins looked over matched as their 7,8,9 hitters were comming to the plate against on of the game's best closers. Delmon Young singled and was sacraficed to third by Tolbert. Everett popped out and Young stole thrid as Gomez walked and proceeded to steal second on the first pitch. Lamb was caught in an 1-2 hole before he hit a beauty to left scoring Young and Gomez for the win.

This was a big win for the Twins. They beat one of the better teams in baseball and remain in first place and over .500 for at least on more day. Who knows how they will fare in the next 3 games of the series but at least there wont be a sweep.

Tonite's game will feature Matsuzaka against Glen Perkins. Perkins will be making his first start of the season. Matsuzaka ia 5-0 with a 2.43 era. Good luck Twins!