Sunday, May 15, 2011

Sunday, May 15th

Twins Talk

Blue Jays 9 Twins 3 11 innings


  • For those of you that are expecting me to go negative about the Twins you are wrong because times like this test a true fan's meddle. All us Twins fans have been spoiled the last 10 years with 6 division titles in those 10 years. Most small to mid-market teams have peaks and valley's and right now the Twins are going through one of their valleys. Even though they likely won't return to postseason play for the 7th time in 10 years they can still have a decent season. Trust me it will get better as their is no chance they will continue to play like this. As they continue to get healthier and more confident they will win more and more. The problem is they have dug themselves such a hole it is probably too much to dig themselves out of. I will continue to watch and cheer for the Twins no matter how bad it gets and I encourage everyone to stay positive as it will get better.

  • Yesterday at Target Field the Twins lost their 7th game in a row this time in heartbreaking fashion to the Blue Jays. After leaving eleven guys on in the first ten innings the Twins bullpen imploded and gave up six runs on only four hits along with four walks to blow the game. Glen Perkins was the tough luck loser as he started the debacle and gave up a leadoff hit to Corey Patterson before departing. He got the loss thanks to Jim Hoey giving up a two run homerun to Jose Bautista. In a more positive thing Nick Blackburn got the start and was awesome once again. Blackburn went 7.2 innings and only gave up two earned runs on just five hits along with two walks and a career high eight strikeouts. Blackburn had a 3-2 lead going into the eighth inning before giving up a swinging bunt single to Yunel Escobar then something unfortunate happened. Corey Patterson hit a drive to right center that Denard Span even though he gave it all he had couldn't quite get to as it went off the tip of his glove for an rbi triple. With the three runs allowed Blackburn lowered his era on the year to 3.70. Matt Capps then came on and pitched 1.1 perfect innings with two strikeouts to lower his era to 3.93. Glen Perkins then came on and pitched a scoreless innings with a walk and a strikeout before giving up the hit and moving his record to 0-1 and upped his era to an unbelievable 0.92. Jim Hoey then came in and was awful as he did not get an out while giving up three runs of his own on only one hit along with walking two to increase his era to 9.72. Jose Mijares then came in and was worse yet as he faced four batters and gave up two hits and walked the other two along with giving up two runs to raise his era to 5.40. Alex Burnett got the last three outs to lower his era to 7.00.

  • Offensively they had thirteen hits, but were only able to push three runs across and that was the biggest reason they lost. When you leave 12 guys on base you are not going to win very many games. The Twins were led by Michael Cuddyer who went 3-5 at the plate with his fourth homerun of the year and his sixth rbi to raise his average to .248. Justin Morneau went 2-5 with his ninth double. Danny Valencia went 2-4 at the plate along with a costly error in the first inning. Denard Span and Trevor Plouffe also contributed two hits for the Twins.

  • Today, the Twins finish their series with the Blue Jays as Brian Duensing gets the start and will be opposed by Brandon Morrow of the Blue Jays.

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