Nick Blackburn pitched his little arm off, allowing just 2 runs over 7 innings. He gave up 6 hits but didn’t walk anybody and struck out 5, and 67 of his 88 pitches thrown were strikes. I didn’t watch the game but I’m guessing he could’ve gone out for the 8th and probably would’ve fared well. Juan Rincon and Dennys Reyes combined for a hitless inning (although Rincon walked 2) and Joe Nathan picked up his 13th save in as many tries, although his defense helped him out. Carlos Gomez had a pretty nice running catch to end the game and crashed into the wall at nearly full speed. Gomez had one hit on the night and also scored a run.

Delmon Young may have finally turned the corner. After admitting that he’s a notoriously slow starter and that he usually picks up his game around May 15th, he nearly doubled his extra base hits last night (had 3 coming into the game [2 doubles, 1 triple] and picked up 2 doubles) and scored 2 of the team’s 4 runs. He also had a single and his batting average is at .276 for the year.

Justin Morneau was the only other Twin with more than 1 hit, and both of his were singles. He didn’t score and didn’t drive anybody in but he did walk once and his batting average is at .307.

Adam Everett was hitless (I know, I need to update that counter) but had two sacrifice flies that each scored a run, giving him 6 RBI on the year.

Blackburn also got his first ever ML hit, an infield single.

Joe Mauer and Mike Lamb were the other Twins to get RBIs, each of them had one apiece and each of them also now have 16 RBI for the season.

Jason Kubel was the only pinch-hitter used and he flied out to center in his only at-bat.

Matt Tolbert was placed on the DL after he tore a ligament in his thumb. The injury happened on the last play of Thursday’s game when he dove head-first into first base. Maybe Nick Punto can get a clue? 2B Howie Clark got called up in his place and Clark should be available to play tonight. Clark is batting .284 in 116 AB this year for AAA Rochester. He had 7 doubles, 3 triples, a homer, and 9 walks compared to 10 strikeouts. He has 294 career ML at-bats, most of them coming with the Blue Jays in multiple seasons. My guess is that Everett will start at short every game until Punto gets back and Brendan Harris should still be starting at second, but between Clark and Alexi Casilla, the team should be set with middle infielders. Casilla could play short if absolutely necessary and I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point in the next couple series, Harris or Clark are tried out at third. And technically it wouldn’t be “trying out” Harris at third because he’s played there before, just not for any significant period of time.

The Twins got swept yesterday afternoon, falling in 11 innings to the under-.500 Canadian team. It wasn’t televised but I happened to catch a new program, and unfortunately the name currently escapes me, but it’s the 30-minute, condensed version of the game. I don’t know why they would’ve taken footage if the game wasn’t televised (maybe specifically for this show?) but it was pretty cool to see just one pitch per at-bat. If I didn’t watch it, I would not have known that Jason Kubel was thrown out at home because he ran right through Scotty Ullger’s stop sign at third base. Brendan Harris also got thrown out at home, but I missed that part of the quick recap so I’m not sure if it was his own doing or not.

Glen Perkins pitched pretty good actually, allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings. All the hits he gave up were singles. He did walk 2 but struck out a career-high of 6. Matt Guerrier, Dennys Reyes, and Joe Nathan combined for 4 innings of scoreless relief, striking out a combined 5 and walking none. As much as I want to like Jesse Crain, he hasn’t done enough for me this season. Although in his defense, he probably has an excuse. He gave up a double on the very first pitch he threw but then recorded two outs in a row. He intentionally walked their 1B who was 0-for-3 on the day. Ok, I guess the loss can be pinned to Crain because he walked (not intentionally) the next batter to load the bases. A pinch-hit, soft liner passed a diving Matt Tolbert is all it took.

Speaking of Tolbert, he was hitless in the leadoff spot, although he walked and ended up scoring. He also had a throwing error but it didn’t contribute to any runs being scored. The reason he led off is because shortly before the game started, Carlos Gomez became ill and threw up and apparently just didn’t feel good. Craig Monroe played CF instead and got his 7th double of the year in 4 trips to the plate. He also made a pretty snazzy diving catch and Gomez would get an AB as a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning.

Justin Morneau got his 6th double of the year and also had a single with an RBI and a walk. He’s now batting .302 on the year.

Kubel finished with two singles and a walk, batting in the third spot.

Interleague play starts today with the Twins traveling to Colorado and the bandbox that is Coors Field. I’m most excited to see Livan Hernandez hit. Seriously, it isn’t out of the question for him to hit a homer before Joe Mauer or Delmon Young do, which is really sad to say. Tonight’s game starts at 8:05 and Nick Blackburn pitches. Saturday’s game starts at 7:05 with Livan on the mound and Sunday is an afternoon game (2:05 start) when Kevin Slowey looks for his first win of the season.

I’m sure that Delmon and/or Michael Cuddyer will get a game off so that Kubel or Monroe can play. But with all the hitters pinch-hitting for pitchers, Cuddy and DYoung will get their shot at some point.

Boof Bonser gave up a grand slam in the very first inning and ended with 5 runs given up through 6 innings, bringing his season ERA to 5.37. He walked 3 and struck out 3, but surprisingly only gave up 5 hits. He’s now 2-5 on the year.

The Twins weren’t done as Justin Morneau hit a 2-run homer, his seventh of the year, in the bottom of the first. Jason Kubel added an RBI double to put us down 4-3. We tied it up in the third with an RBI groundout, but Boof gave up another run in the 4th.

Jesse Crain gave up an unearned run, I’m assuming due to his throwing error (I couldn’t watch the entire game), and it proved to be the dagger. Kubel added another RBI double in the bottom of that inning, but nothing else could be done and the final was 6-5.

Matt Tolbert and Delmon Young each had two hits, all singles, but Tolbert scored 2 runs and Delmon never touched home.

Morneau’s homer and one of Kubel’s doubles came with 2 outs.

Alexi Casilla actually started at short, and didn’t come in as a replacement like I predicted. He played and that’s what counts. He didn’t get a hit but didn’t make any defensive errors, either.

Today’s game starts at noon with Glen Perkins making his second start of the year. I’m excited to see what he can do.

Kevin Slowey wasn’t awful and frankly, he pitched well enough for the Twins to stay in it. He lasted 5 and 2/3 innings, gave up 5 hits, but 3 of the 5 went for extra bases (two doubles and a homer.) They tallied 3 runs off him but he also struck out 5, including the side in the first inning.

There was a humorous situation in the second inning when a linedrive was hit sharply to Brendan Harris who took his eye off it and let the ball bounce out of his glove and onto the ground, without holding onto it for an extended period of time. Alertly, he threw the ball to second for the force out there but then Adam Everett threw it to first for the second out on the play, because the batter (former Twin Shannon Stewart) gave up on the play and was on his way to the dugout when Everett was in possession of the ball.

Bert Blyleven, as an announcer, sometimes kills me. When Slowey gave up a homer Bert’s reaction was “…not a bad pitch right there, but it’s one that lefties like” … if you throw it where the batter likes it, doesn’t that mean it is a bad pitch? I should enroll in Announcer’s School so I can learn what he really meant.

Jason Kubel, 0 for his last 15 and benched during the second half of the Boston series, pinch-hit for Everett last night and on the first pitch he saw, crushed his 5th homer of the year. I really hope that gets him back into the swing of things and he forces Gardy to play him every day (although I must admit, Craig Monroe has been decent thus far.)

Boof Bonser throws against Toronto’s ace tonight. I predict that Kubel will start and that Alexi Casilla will be a late-inning sub for either Everett or Harris.

There’s some cause for concern watching a game on ESPN. In the very first inning you could hear a cuss word, once used on-air by our own Bert Blyleven, from a Red Sock after he struck out. Later on one of the announcers gave us some insight on whether or not to steal when you’re up by 5 runs: “When you’ve got ‘em on the ropes, you go for the jugular don’t you?” Is ESPN owned by the mafia? Turns out, the Twins needed to go for the jugular.

Mother’s Day and the pink commemorative bats used to celebrate it turned into Craig Monroe’s Day. Monroe started it off in the 2nd inning with a 3-run homer, his third of the year, putting the Twins on the board with a 3-0 lead. 3 batters later, Adam Everett hit a 2-run homer that barely cleared the left field wall, giving the team a 5-0 lead. He’s hitting exactly .200 so it was definitely a surprise to see. Monroe would add a solo homer in the 7th that proved to be vital; the team won by just one run.

Justin Morneau went 3-for-3 with 2 runs scored. All three of his hits were singles.

Carlos Gomez only got one hit in 5 trips to the plate but he made the most of it, stealing his 16th base of the season.

Nick Blackburn was a little shaky, to say the least. After the Twins get him a 5 run lead, he responds by plunking the first two batters he faced. He got out of that inning with only one run coming into score, but it was a pretty dangerous situation. In total he gave up 4 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings. Blackburn is kind of like Livan Hernandez (tonight’s starter) in that they both give up more hits than innings pitched, generally. 7 of Nick’s 9 hits allowed were singles though, with a double and a triple thrown in there too. Matt Guerrier gave up a 2-run bomb in relief. Dennys Reyes pitched a scoreless inning and is the only reliever to not have allowed a run this year.

Joe Nathan is thankful he had a 3-run lead going into the 9th. He allowed 3 hits and 2 runs and the tying run was just 90 feet away with 2 outs, but Manny Ramirez grounded out to end the threat and the game. Nathan needed 26 pitches to finish the inning, that’s the most he’s thrown this year in a game. His ERA went up to 1.93 but after a few more scoreless outings it should drop into the 1.50 range.

As I said, Hernandez tries for his 6th win tonight against the Sox. It’s on ESPN again and would really be a boost to the team if they can pull out another win. That would give them 3 wins in the series to Boston’s 1, with two of the three on national television.

It’s funny how baseball works. Gavin Floyd, the Chicago pitcher that was 1 out away from no-hitting us (thanks again, Joe Mauer!), gave up 5 runs on 9 hits in 3 and 2/3 innings last night. He walked 2 and struck out none, whereas he walked 3 but struck out 4 against us. Oh well, the past is the past.

When the Twins first traded for Carlos Gomez and defended him by saying he could single-handedly change a ball game with just his speed, I don’t think even they could’ve expected his night last night. Because of a rain delay I didn’t watch much, but when I woke up to see that he had 4 hits in 6 at-bats, even I couldn’t have predicted the damage he did. A lead off homer in the first in which the successive run around the bases took all of 10 seconds, probably. He ran like he had a mission, maybe fearful he would get in trouble for showboating if he took his time jogging around them instead. He hustled to third on a triple in the 5th inning, got a double and advanced to third on an error after that, and hit an infield single to the shortstop in the 9th to finish things off. So basically his triple would’ve been a double and single would’ve been an out had it been anyone but Gomez. Here’s a link to a video, I can’t embed it right onto my blog so you have to check out ESPN to see it.

I woke up to see the final score of 13-1 and knowing Gomez had the lead off home run I figured “ok, I bet Justin Morneau or Michael Cuddyer jacked one out.” Morneau had 2 singles and no RBI while Cuddy had a single and a double and drove in Gomez in the 9th. In fact, nobody else had a home run; Nick Punto had a double and a triple and drove in 5 (wow!), Mike Redmond hit his second double of the year en route to driving in 3 runs, but the rest of the team’s 16 hits were singles.

Brendan Harris was the only hitless Twin, although he had 2 walks and he did score once.

The best part of the game, to me, is that Livan Hernandez was finally let loose. He pitched all 9 innings, giving up 9 hits but just 1 run (a solo homer in the 9th). He walked 1 and struck out 3, improving to 5-1 with a 3.83 ERA. It took him 121 pitches to finish the game, even though he threw just 49 through 5 innings. Even greater is that there are no complaints from him about being overworked. He says he feels really good this year, and frankly I think they should send him out there for 100-115 pitches every game. I was under the impression that he was acquired to give the bullpen a rest due to our young and inconsistent starting staff, so why not let him do his job?

Jason Kubel and Joe Mauer both didn’t play, Mauer because today’s game starts at 1:05 and they want him to play in it fully rested. Kubel was 0-for-2 with the team’s only RBI in the nearly no-hit game and gets benched the next day. I don’t understand why but I’m not going to get too upset because he’s played way more than I expected him to so far this year. And he’s playing below expectations, honestly. I know he’ll pick it up but when he does, hopefully Craig Monroe will be playing in left to give Delmon Young a break or anywhere else so that there’s a spot open for Kubes. By the way, I got my jersey. It was $165 but worth it in my opinion. I might take a picture of it and put it up here. It was funny because the first day I wore it to school, my friend wore his Pat Neshek jersey and Pat is #17 while Kubel is #16, so we went in order when we stood next to each other. Ok maybe it isn’t that funny but just kind of cool especially since I honestly didn’t even know Neshek’s number was 17.

And a fun fact: the Twins and Mets currently have the same record.

Heh, just kidding. But seriously, if it weren’t for him, the Twins very well might’ve been no-hit last night. With 1 out in the 9th inning he hit a double and that was it. It’s funny because we had actually scored a run before the hit happened; the strike zone was smaller than the patches of snow in Minnesota (get it? ‘cuz there shouldn’t be any.) making walks abundant (3 by each starting pitcher.) But with the help of an error, Jason Kubel hit a sac fly to score Joe Mauer for the team’s only run. Mauer also threw out two batters although it appeared they were running for a hit-and-run play in which the batter failed to execute the hit part of that play. Hmm, Mauer had the team’s only run and only hit, plus created two outs with his arm…someone should assemble a team full of Joe Mauers and see what happens.

Nick Blackburn pitched a quality game, allowing 3 earned runs (4 total) in 6 innings. He gave up 6 hits and struck out just 1.

Jesse Crain and Bobby Korecky both pitched after Nick and they gave up 3 runs combined (2 earned) on 5 hits and a walk. Korecky struck out a batter and Crain did not.

Livan Hernandez pitches tonight at 7:11 against Mark Buehrle, someone who threw a no-hitter for the White Sox last year.

Francisco Liriano pitched last night and while he wasn’t dominant, he certainly showed improvement from his most recent outings. He went 5 innings (it still seems to be his maximum right now, because of pitch counts though, not coaching) and walked 4 but only allowed 2 hits and also struck out 4. He gave up an earned run and he threw 48 strikes out of 87 total pitches. I’d say he’s on a start-by-start basis. Until he gets his control, well, under control, he should stay in Rochester. I was about to say “really, there isn’t any place for him up here” until I realized that Scott Baker might need DL time and Kevin Slowey is making just his second start this year in a couple days and who knows how he’ll pitch. Glen Perkins has done well at AAA and so has Kevin Mulvey, and by “done well” I don’t mean I’m dyslexic and ordering a steak. They’ve played like they’re too good for AAA.

For the first time in 60 years, the Tigers scored 6 or more runs in the first inning and still lost the game, thanks to the Twins. It certainly seems like a bigger accomplishment now.

Nick Blackburn pitches tonight in Chicago vs. the White Sox. I really just hope our 5-0 homestand still has some confidence in the players and they can carry it over to these next divisional games. Michael Cuddyer has been hitting really well since coming back, and I predict he will have the best series out of anyone. Will I be right?

In the 4-1 win, Scott Baker injured his groin and could only pitch 3 innings. He was doing incredibly well up to that point, having allowed just 1 hit while throwing 43 pitches. Brian Bass came in and pitched 4 scoreless innings to get his first ML win. It’s ironic that I was at his first game ever (second game of the season) and also at his first win. I wonder if he’ll pay me to start showing up regularly. The game was kind of a close one until Craig Monroe jacked his second homer of the year in the 7th inning, a two-run shot against his former team to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. Pat Neshek gave up a solo homer and could only record two outs before Jesse Crain came in and ended the inning with a fly ball out. Joe Nathan got to pitch, which was the only positive of Neshek’s homer allowed, and recorded his 10th save in as many tries. He did walk one but struck out 2. Baker is getting an MRI today and we’ll know if he needs time on the DL or not. Regardless, it’s been announced that Kevin Slowey will be done rehabbing and will start for us on Thursday against the White Sox.

Game 3 was much more interesting. Boof Bonser gave up 6 hits in the first inning alone, and mix that with a throwing error by Joe Mauer and a strikeout that went between Mauer’s legs and to the backstop and all of a sudden Bonser’s pitch count was at 45 and 6 runs were in, and it was just the first inning. He ended up striking out the side in the first and Bert, the ever-positive announcer, made sure to mention it when all was said and done. What’s more crazy is that he ended up pitching 6 innings, allowing just 2 hits after the first inning. In fact, he needed just 54 pitches to get from the 2nd inning to the end of the 6th. He could’ve pitched 10 or 11 solid innings with that great ratio for pitches/inning. He didn’t walk anybody and struck out 5 and most importantly didn’t get hung with an L.

Kenny “The Gambler” Rogers had a no-hitter going into the fourth inning before Mauer was able to hit the ball sharply to right and, with some hustle, slid safely into second for his 8th double of the year. Mauer would come up big in the 7th with a 2-run single, giving the Twins a 7-6 lead that would hold for the rest of the game. The lineup basically chipped away at the Tigers lead with everyone except Michael Cuddyer collecting a hit. Nick Punto got his first double of the year, a linedrive into right field that scored Delmon Young and Monroe. Matt Tolbert, playing 3B for the first time this year, got his 4th double, and Brendan Harris got his 6th two-bagger of the year. The key thing is that 5 of the team’s 7 runs scored with 2 outs in the inning.

Scott Ullger is now 3-0 as a manager. Hmm, maybe he knows something Ron Gardenhire doesn’t. After a 5-0 homestand, the team has an off day today and then travels to Chicago for a 3-game series before coming home again.

It was a pretty sweet game but the third and final game of the series is at 1:10 today so I’m going to wait until that game is done and then I’ll have a double-game post for everyone.