Bottomless

Twins 9, Red Sox 2

I don't think the Twins hit the ball a heckuva lot better in this game. They just got a bunch of bleeders to squeak through. A team should get its share of those, though, so it was nice to see. It was also nice to see the other team commit a litany of blunders, for once. And Trevor Plouffe enjoyed an auspicious 2011 debut, 2-4 with a BB and a HR in his 1st AB. Of course, Jim Hoey also enjoyed an auspicious 2011 debut, and look how that's turning out. Still, the SS bar hasn't been set particularly high, so he doesn't have to do too much to be a an improvement.

Unless Francisco Liriano gets his act together, Scott Baker has assumed the mantle of Twins' Ace. He allowed 2 HR, but they were solo HR, and those won't kill you, right Bert? The overall line of 8 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K was excellent, especially against a stacked offense in a hitter's park. Another quiet IP from Joe Nathan to end the game.

Twins 0, Red Sox 4

I was thrilled when the rains came after the 2nd inning. The Twins were only down 1-0, but Clay Buchholz looked like he had good stuff, so the longer the delay, the better. The Twins had just activated Kevin Slowey, and so were in perfect position drop him in for the 3rd and have him take the game into the late innings (which he did). The Sox, meanwhile, had endured this very situation just 3 days earlier, had that game go into extra innings, got a short start the following afternoon, then put 2 relievers on the DL. The fresh reliever they called up on Friday was burned in the 1st game of this series. They had perhaps 6 relievers available, but they would have to cover 7 IP, leaving many of them unavailable for the remainder of the series.

Unfortunately, Terry Francona did something that almost never happens these days: he put his starter back in after a 2+ hour rain delay. Buchholz gave the Sox 3 more IP, and was perhaps even better than he had been at the start. 4 Sox relievers finished the game with an inning apiece, none throwing more than 18 pitches. Only Michael Cuddyer had a good day at the plate.

Twins 5, Red Sox 9

The Twins put up a crooked number in the 1st inning for, what, the 2nd time all season? And you just knew they were going to have to keep tacking on. But 5 R represents a herculean effort for this lineup, so I suppose we shouldn't complain too much about the offense.

Carl Pavano got knocked around - eventually. Though he gave up a big inning in the 3rd, most of the balls in play were unfielded grounders, including the 2-R single he allowed to Adrian Gonzalez that slipped under his own glove. There were DPs unturned. 3 errors in this game leading to 2 unearned runs. With better defense, it's closer. However, Pavano and Jose Mijares were legitimately cuffed all over the field in the later innings - liners right and left. No Ks for Pavano in 5 IP. He's got some adjustments to make. Another good IP from Nathan, though.

Twins 1, Red Sox 2 (11 innings)

This game, had the Twins won, could have salvaged the series and the road trip. Nick Blackburn pitched as well as he can, allowing 0 HR and striking out 5 in 6.1 IP. Glen Perkins and Jose Mijares followed with 3.2 IP of scoreless relief. But the Twins' limp bench did them in again, as Matt Tolbert, Ben Revere and Rene Rivera combined to go 0-15 with 2 GIDP and 5 K, including 0-5 with 2 K with RISP. If they go 1-5 instead, we're probably talking about a win, here. This is the 3rd loss of the season that I'll pin on the non-depth.

Friday night's victory was the Twins' 1st at Fenway park since the final weekend of 2007, so there's some consolation there. Even good Twins teams haven't fared well in Boston. But there's still no sign of them snapping out of the team-wide funk that has them once again at the bottom of the standings. I wish had something more hopeful to say, but...

Walking Shoes

Twins 2, Red Sox 3

Twins 2, Red Sox 6

I'm going to talk about these games together since they were so similar. The only glaring difference between them was the starting pitching performances from the Twins. Scott Baker made a crucial mistake to David Ortiz - after seeing him swing through 3 high fastballs on the inner half between his first 2 PA, I don't understand why he got a pitch down and away to drive - and had some trouble getting the last out of the 6th, but it was still a QS with only 1 BB and 1 XBH allowed.

Francisco Liriano had his first bad game of the season. He failed to complete at least 6 IP for the first time, and walked 3. It's not so bad to allow 5 H in 4.2 IP, but when 3 of them are 2B and 2 are HR, that's not so good, either. Those were the first HR Liriano has given up this season. Even so, he struck out 6, and his peripherals for the season as a whole are all right where I'd like them to be. Like Carl Pavano, he's had 6 QS in 8 tries, and that's really all you can ask of a major league SP. And Liriano's bad game wasn't nearly as bad as Pavano's.

What was painfully similar about the two games of this series was the effort put forward by the Twins' offense. Credit is certainly due to Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, a pair of top-notch young SP who have each pitched no-hitters already in their brief big league careers. But the Twins couldn't have made things easier for them.

When I mentioned this series in my last post, I noted that the Sox' staff had been beaten up in the Yankees series, and that it would therefore be a good tactic for the Twins to try to get into their beleaguered bullpen as early as possible. The Twins should bring their walking shoes, I said. Well, if they brought them, they didn't put them on. The Twins, entering the series tied for the most walks in the AL, facing a pair of starters who came into the game with over 4 BB/9, proceeded to draw exactly 1 BB in 17 innings against them.

Now, it isn't easy to make a good pitcher who's having a good night throw a lot of pitches. But the Yankees manage to do it just about every time out against the Red Sox. What I saw against Buchholz from the Twins was a lot of take the first pitch but hack at the second pitch. If that 2nd pitch isn't in the zone, you just helped Buchholz out. That doesn't happen if the game plan is for everybody to take 2 strikes. With the pattern I saw from Buchholz, rarely throwing consecutive pitches over the plate, the Twins may still have struggled against him, but nearly every PA would have resulted in a deep count, and he would have reached the 100 pitch mark well before the last pitch of the 8th inning.

In fact, as poorly as things went for the Twins, Buchholz was still at about 70 pitches through 4.2 IP. That's not a taxing pitch count, but it's not too bad, especially considering that Buchholz was abetted by a line-out DP, a bad pickoff call at 1B, and a terrible called K of Justin Morneau in which strikes 2 and 3 were both substantially off the plate. However, from the time Brendan Harris grounded out on the first pitch to end the 5th to Denard Span's leadoff IF single in the 9th that "chased" him, Buchholz only had to throw 30 pitches to get 10 outs. In 6 of those 11 PA the Twins put the ball in play on either the 1st or 2nd pitch. That's no way to run up a pitch count and get to the bullpen.

With Lester on Thursday it was even worse. He didn't walk a soul, and started the 9th inning with his pitch count at 84. Joe Mauer and Orlando Hudson each grounded out on the 1st pitch twice. Yes, Lester had great stuff. But the Twins didn't give him an opportunity to make a mistake. They were far too eager to swing early and hit his pitch.

Again, what galls me about this offensive (lack of) performance is that it was exactly the opposite of what the Twins should have been attempting to achieve given the context of what had just happened to the Sox in the Bronx. The Twins don't have the discipline to sacrifice AB early and throughout the game for the larger purpose of grinding down a pitcher. That's something they'll have to learn to do if they ever hope to abuse the Red Sox the way the Yankees do.

Notes:

• Jeff Manship came on in relief of Liriano in the 5th inning. A SP with the Red Wings, he was called up to face all of 5 batters before being sent back to Rochester after the game. Wouldn't that have been an ideal situation in which to give Rob Delaney his first MLB cameo? A short stint out of the 'pen - just what he's used to in AAA - in a low-leverage situation. Again, I wonder, what has that guy got to do to get a little respect around here?
• Manship's spot will be taken by Trevor Plouffe, who will get to play SS this weekend while JJ Hardy continues to recover from his wrist injury. This is what the Twins should have done last week rather than bring up Matt Tolbert. Congratulations to Plouffe, who has been hitting very well at Rochester since last July. It's nice to see somebody with some upside get a look.

The Great Outdoors

Twins 5, Red Sox 2

What a beautiful way to begin the Target Field era: mild spring weather, solid pitching, and a bunch of 2-out RBI hits. Carl Pavano has been stellar in his first 2 starts of the season, completing at least 6 IP in each with a 10/1 K/BB ratio and keeping the ball in the yard. Matt Guerrier continues to get quick outs. Jon Rauch is 5/5 in converting saves.

Not much has fallen in for Denard Span in the first 8 games of the season, but he can still draw walks and run around once he gets on base. Joe Mauer had 3 hits on the day, and Jason Kubel hit the first official Target Field HR.

Delmon Young probably should have caught David Ortiz' drive to the wall in the 4th inning. It's tough on an OF when you turn one way and then the wind pushes the ball back over your other shoulder. That and lack of familiarity with the rather wide warning track cost the Twins an out there. I'm not sure the 2009 version of Young even gets to that ball, though.

Twins 3, Red Sox 6

Kevin Slowey disappointed me again, though he managed to keep the Twins in the game. He couldn't get on the same page with Mauer, and ended up throwing 98 pitches through just 5 IP while walking 4. That's an unbelievably high number for him. Despite his fine spring, he doesn't quite look comfortable out there yet.

Still, the game was within reach until Jeremy Hermida cleared the bases with a 2-out liner to the gap in left-center in the 8th. Jesse Crain missed his spot - the pitch was down, but it was supposed to be on the outer part of the plate. Span's dive was futile, but exactly the all-out effort necessitated by the situation - that was the game. It's unfortunate that the double to Adrian Beltre was so perfectly placed down the 3B line. It was a crisp 2-hopper - just the speed to start a DP - but not where Punto could knock it down and just fair.

I was most impressed by how unfazed the Twins' offense was by the sudden 4-run deficit. Michael Cuddyer homered leading off the 8th. Jason Kubel lined out to the warning track on the next pitch. Then Young doubled off the wall in RF. With a slightly different defensive alignment from the Sox' OF, the Twins could have easily begun that inning with 3 ringing XBH, bringing the tying run to the plate with shocking quickness. It's an explosive, relentless lineup.

Twins 8, Red Sox 0

I am heavily invested in Francisco Liriano's success this season. As Nick Punto said, "That's our wild card. I feel like we'll be as strong as he is." Precisely. So his poor 3/5 K/BB ratio in his first start made me uncomfortable. Today was a little more friggin' like it. Liriano settled down after getting into jams in the 1st and 2nd, finishing with 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB and 8 K. It'll take another outing like that to wash away the K/BB stain of his first game, but it's an awfully good feeling to see him put together a performance like that against one of the top teams in the league.

It took awhile, but the offense eventually figured out Tim Wakefield, smacking doubles all over the field and eventually touching him for 5 ER in 5.1 IP. Punto wound up 3 for 4 with 2 2B, raising his line to .269/.286/.423. Span doubled twice and has a .340 OBP despite only batting .189 so far.

I'm perplexed again by 3B coach Scott Ulger. Punto is really fast. Span lined a ball into the RF corner that went all the way to the wall. The Sox have to make 2 perfect throws totaling over 300 feet in order to throw out Punto at the plate. But Ulger had him throw on the breaks late, nearly catching Span between 2nd and 3rd. Span got back and Punto came home anyway, but I wonder why they don't stay aggressive there, particularly with the score already 5-0 in the 6th inning.

Other notes:

• Alex Burnett finished the game on Wednesday, then was sent to Rochester to make room for Ron Mahay (Joe Nathan was placed on the 60-day DL to clear a spot on the 40-man roster), who finished Thursday's game. As a true LOOGY, Mahay should take a little pressure off Jose Mijares (who should be developing into a complete inning setup man) and Brian Duensing (who should mainly be used in long relief).
• Span drew 5 BB in the series, including 4 on Wednesday.
• Young also drew a walk in the series before smacking a couple of doubles the other way. He's started out .346/.379/.654 with 2 BB and just 3 K in his first 29 PA.
• Kubel played LF on Thursday and made a nice diving catch behind Liriano.
• Through 10 games, the worst OPS of the Twins' 3-7 hitters is Cuddyer's .878.
• The Twins have committed just 1 error so far.
• In 2009, the Twins didn't reach 4 games over .500 for the first time until September 19th. This year, they first hit that mark on April 10th.

Drop Off

Red Sox 6, Twins 5

I was disappointed that the Twins' offense didn't have a better showing against Brad Penny. Part of that was because, unlike the other time they faced him in April, his fastball had some movement and he was throwing his breaking stuff for strikes. The other part had to do with the Twins' lineup. With Denard Span still recovering from the flu, Joe Crede with a swollen hand after being HBP yesterday and Joe Mauer just getting a day off, the lineup began with Carlos Gomez and Matt Tolbert in front of Justin Morneau. Span's OBP is .100 points higher than Gomez' and Mauer's OBP is literally double Tolbert's. Not surprisingly, the table wasn't set. Span's absence also forced Delmon Young into the lineup - he went 0-4 with 3 K for the second straight game. I guess I'll be charitable and write that off to him losing his timing after being out for a week and a half. Anyway, this was not the lineup that has been putting up so many runs this month.

And yet, they still managed to knock Penny out after 5.1 IP and score 5 R in the game. The last 2 came on Mauer's 2-out, PH HR off of Jonathan Papelbon. In just 23 games and 81 AB, Mauer already has 11 HR, 25 R, and 31 RBI while hitting .444/.530/.914. I don't think he needs to get another hit this week in order to win the AL Player of the Month award. Mike Redmond, in 2/3 the AB, has 0 HR, 2 R and 3 RBI while hitting .259/.322/.315. Obviously, Redmond wasn't going to be anywhere near as good as Mauer this year, but that's as drastic a drop off in production as we'll see from any starter to his backup.

Francisco Liriano got hit around a bit, but he pitched better than his line indicates. The big positive I'll take away from that outing was the 7 K and 0 BB in 4 IP. Remember, it was when he started limiting his walks last year at AAA when things started to take off for him. As for the 11 H, almost half of them were grounders that found their way through. In his 4 IP, Liriano didn't have a single ground ball turned into an out - that's unusually bad luck. And we can point the finger again to the lineup, where Brian Buscher was manning the hot corner instead of Crede. In the 3 run 3rd inning, there were 3 sharply hit balls that got by Buscher - one that went right through him, one just out of reach to his right, one just to his left. It's not difficult to imagine Crede at least knocking down all of those balls, 2 of which went for 2B and the other an RBI single. Maybe Liriano could have hung around a little longer with the Twins' best defense on the field.

All of this brings into stark relief something that might be easy to overlook when the Twins are scoring 5.3 R/G: there are actually only 6 productive hitters in the Twins' lineup (Span, Mauer, Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Crede). None of the other 7 position players has an OPS over .650. Nick Punto and Carlos Gomez at least contribute with above-average fielding, but it's a pretty weak team on the whole. That just goes to show what an incredible level of production we're seeing from the top 6. If they cool off at some point - and they almost certainly will - somebody else had better step up or it's going to be a long summer.

Minor League Notes

Danny Valencia drew 3 BB yesterday to raise his season line to .339/.432/.597 with a 26/20 K/BB ratio in 124 AB. He's hit .305/.367/.521 in 433 PA at AA, and has clearly improved from '08 to '09. Send him to Rochester already.

April Showers

Red Sox 10, Twins 1
This was vintage Scott Baker. 2006 vintage. Not a good year.

I'll cut him a break on the first inning hits - they weren't so much well hit as well placed. The rest were richly deserved, as Baker consistently missed badly with his fastball, walking the backup catcher in front of a bomb from SS Nick Green, then hanging pitch after pitch in the 3rd, resulting in only 2 runs thanks to Michael Cuddyer's diving catch of Jason Bay's liner before Mike Lowell's HR. Baker looks totally uncomfortable on the mound - he walked off the field dejectedly after every inning. But I guess this was a little better than his first start - he allowed 1 fewer HR and got 2 more outs. Baby steps.

The Twins have never done much against Tim Wakefield, and he was tough again today, inducing a ton of popups. The offense was able to get a few guys into scoring position, but they couldn't string any hits together.

I was struck by how the quirky dimensions of Fenway Park played well for the Sox today. Had this game been played at the Metrodome, Denard Span's 7th-inning double would have been a HR, Kevin Youkilis' first-inning HR would have been a double (if not a foul ball), and David Ortiz' 7th-inning double would have been an out.

We got another look at waiver-wire pickup Juan Morillo in a mop-up situation, and the results were ugly. After the afore-mentioned double to Ortiz, he walked 3 straight batters, forcing in a run, and left without retiring a batter. His fastball was consistently in the high 90s, for all the good it did him. R.A. Dickey came on and surrendered an RBI single, a SF, and a bloop ground-rule double. Mercifully, the umps called for the tarp and the game ended before the inning could get any worse.

Red Sox 7, Twins 3
Of the two games, this was the matchup I liked. Brad Penny came into the game with an ERA of 11.00, and Francisco Liriano was coming off of a QS vs. the Blue Jays.

It was obvious that Liriano had electric stuff. He struck out 4 of the first 6 hitters, allowing only a BB to JD Drew. His first pitch to Jason Varitek was a slider that hit him in the back foot. After Liriano had made a string of All-Star players look silly, Jeff Bailey, just recalled from AAA, was able to time an outside fastball and lift it just over the monster in LF for a 3-run HR. Are you kidding me? The other 3 H Liriano allowed were all doubles. The one hit by Dustin Pedroia that set up the 3rd inning rally was a ridiculous piece of hitting as he went down and got a shin high pitch off the inside part of the plate and somehow kept it fair down the LF line.

Liriano was his own worst enemy in this game. As great as his stuff was, he couldn't control it, resulting in 4 BB and a HBP. 4 of those 5 hitters wound up scoring. Liriano will be very tough to score against once he tightens up his control.

It should be noted that the bullpen did a terrific job tonight. Matt Guerrier, Luis Ayala and the newly recalled Jose Mijares combined to allow 1 H in 4 scoreless innings with 3 K. Mijares threw nothing but strikes.

On the offensive side of things, the box score doesn't come close to telling the story. Penny's stuff was awful - he couldn't get his curveball over and there was no movement on his fastball. From the first batter, the Twins smacked line drives all over the field. Had this game been played in a different park, or in different weather conditions, they might have hit 5 HR: Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, Cuddyer and Delmon Young (twice) hit drives to the warning track or beyond in deepest CF. In the top of the 4th, Morneau led off with a laser HR into the seats beyond the bullpen. Two pitches later, Kubel hit a nearly identical drive just a few feet to the left that missed the stands for a ground-rule double. After Brian Buscher reached on an error, Delmon Young hit the deepest ball of all, which CF Jacoby Ellsbury was able to haul in with a leaping catch at the wall about 420 feet from home plate. In addition to the 6 H they collected, the Twins hit 7 other balls off Penny well enough to get hits. There were 4 IF liners in the game, 2 of which were in Pedroia's glove so quickly that the men on 1st were helpless to avoid being doubled off. Not our night.

Mauer's Rehab or The Rake's Progress
Joe Mauer caught 6 innings of an extended spring training game today, going 3-4 with a double and a SF and throwing out an attempted base stealer. The other day I suggested that the Twins should think about accelerating their timetable if Mauer went 8-16 with 4 BB and had shown he could catch at least 6 innings by the end of play on Thursday. He's 6-11 with 3 BB so far. Think he can go 2-5 tomorrow? Me too. Doesn't look like he needs another week to get his timing down.

Let's think this through. Mauer will likely DH on Thursday, setting himself up for 7 innings of catching Friday, DH duty Saturday, 8 innings Sunday, DH Monday, 9 innings Tuesday and as many innings as he can handle Wednesday before next Thursday's off day. Why can't he follow that schedule with the Twins? This weekend's series is in Cleveland, which means that Mauer could meet his 7-inning catching quota and still hit in the top of the 8th before being replaced by a lesser player. On Sunday, that gets him every inning but the 9th, and his usage would be normal for the Tampa series at the Metrodome.

What if he aggravates the injury? Well, what if he aggravates it in Fort Myers? Is there something that could happen to him in Cleveland that couldn't happen to him in Florida? Take the gamble. If he gets hurt again, say he would've been hurt anyway and put him back on the DL. If he doesn't get hurt, the Twins get to play 5 or 6 extra games with Mauer in the lineup. Through tonight's game, Mike Redmond and Jose Morales are hitting .231/.298/.288 and still haven't thrown out a base stealer. Mauer could almost top that OBP without taking the bat off his shoulder. This is a tight division race - every game counts. Don't waste a week of Mauer's production on the Florida State League.

Minor League Notes
Another good night for Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama, who combined to strike out 5 in the final 3.1 innings of New Britain's win tonight. Delaney now has 10.2 IP under his belt and has allowed only 9 H, 0 BB and 15 K. Slama has thrown 6.2 IP, allowing 4 H and 2 BB with 12 K. If they keep this up, they need to be in Rochester by June.

The Mayor's Cup is Lost!

Red Sox 9, Twins 4
Sox win Mayor's Cup 3-1

For the 3rd straight year, the Twins have fallen short in their quest for the Mayor's Cup. While players may show a brave face to the media, saying that their main goal in spring training is to "get in shape" or "work on their stuff," we all know that losing out on this hardware has to hurt. These little setbacks build character. At least, that's what I've been telling myself since game #163 last fall.

It's funny how similar today's game was to the Twins' last appearance at City of Palms park, when the score was 9-5 and it was Scott Baker who was touched for a couple of home runs. The real culprit today, even more than the long ball, was poor control by the pitchers. Any time you see more runs than hits in the box score, you know something was off when the defense was on the field. Twins pitchers combined for 8 BB and 2 HBP today, and 5 of those guys scored. Blech.

(My fantasy league this year is scoring IP, ERA, K, BB and HR allowed. Needless to say, Liriano had an atrocious day by those standards, only scoring well with 5 K in his 3 IP.)

Not much happened on the offensive side either (no walks for the Twins today), but that's been the exception for most of this week. Matt Tolbert is starting to look like quite a bruiser (surely the wind has helped him this spring). Delmon Young's 0-4 day including a couple of loud fly ball outs. I wish I could say the same about Denard Span's 0-4.

The Twins worked out a trade with the Yankees this morning, sending Class A pitcher Charles Nolte to NY in order to keep the rights to Jason Jones, who now heads to the Red Wings' rotation. Nolte had a 2.05 ERA in 44 relief appearances for A- Beloit last year, posting a 75/35 K/BB ratio in 70.1 IP. Most impressively, he allowed only 1 HR all season thanks to a really good sinker. He was only a 27th round pick, starting his age 23 season at A+, so I suppose he wasn't too important to the Twins' long-term plans. Then again, a guy who gave up less than a hit per IP, struck out more than a batter per IP, and got grounders almost 5 times as often as he gave up flies could have had some utility as at least a situational righty out of the 'pen. (He would be very useful in my fantasy league, especially to compliment a low-BB, high-HR guy like Kevin Slowey).

With Jones secured a place in AAA, and RA Dickey signed to a minor league contract, and Philip Humber out of options, it seems pretty clear that Humber has a place on the 25-man roster. His outing today was encouraging. Like most of the Twins pitchers, he allowed a walk that came around to score, but he struck out 3 batters in 2 IP, including Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell. His pattern reminded of Glen Perkins when he's effective: back and forth between the fastball and the slow stuff. There's potential there, as with Perkins, if Humber can command the fastball and at least one of his off-speed pitches.

Draft day is tomorrow - I'm ready to dominate!

Enough Already

Red Sox 18, Twins 5

We're working our way into a nice routine over here. Baby sleeps on Daddy's chest, Daddy watches the game on the laptop, Mommy takes a nap. Everybody wins!

Oh, except the Twins. They most certainly did not win.

Only the Red Sox win at Fenway Park, so I don't want to get too upset about Wednesday's outcome. The Twins had an opportunity to win the first 2 games of the series, and were in the last game until the 7th. They're playing very well, and they're quite close to being able to outplay the best in the league, but they're not quite there yet. Today's fiasco was the result of the very things I've been harping on for weeks, so there's no need to expound too much:

Livan Hernandez is the weak link in the rotation.

Boof Bonser or Brian Bass (or neither), but not both.

Denard Span belongs in the leadoff spot.

You can't give a good team extra outs.

It's amazing how frequently Boof is the victim of bizarre defensive miscues. On Wednesday, 2 of the 4 H he allowed were fly balls that Jason Kubel should have caught in RF. His (typically) ugly line might have looked quite different had those plays been made. However, part of being a good pitcher is picking up your defense, and Boof has shown no ability to do that all year.

In a way, I'm glad this sweep happened. It should wake the organization out of its winning-streak induced fog and remind them that they have yet to assemble the best possible team. When you're on a streak, you tend to skip shaving, wear the same undershirt, maintain every behavior that's been working. Above all, you don't change anything. That attitude will be fatal to 2nd half success. Now that the streak is over, I hope the Twins will finally take this opportunity to make the last few changes they need to be 3-4 games better than the White Sox after the All-Star break.

Pining for Neshek

Red Sox 1, Twins 0
Red Sox 6, Twins 5

I haven't been sleeping so much the last few days, but we're hoping for better tonight, so I'll be brief.

My folks were in town from Stillwater for the birth of the baby, so I put the game on for them Monday night on MLB.TV. A very good game, just as tough to lose as the Sabathia game last month. However, I really felt like the guys swung the bats well enough to beat Matsuzaka. With 2 outs in the 6th inning, Justin Morneau began a 10-batter stretch that went like this: double off the wall in CF, liner to RF, HBP (I felt bad that Delmon didn't get credit for a walk - it was a 3-1 pitch that hit him, and I was so impressed that he came up there taking!), liner to first, triple off the wall in RF, liner to third, diving catch in LF, bunt single, single, walk. Had the Red Sox defenders been positioned just a tiny bit differently, that could have been another big crooked number.

I was surprised to see Brian Bass out there to start the 8th. I know he's been very effective recently, but he's still no better than the 6th-best guy in the 'pen. Tie game late at Fenway, I'd want them to beat our best guy.

Tuesday night looked to be well in hand, but ended very similarly to the loss to the Tigers last week. At 85 pitches, they certainly could have stuck with Nick Blackburn a bit longer, but I understand Gardy wanting to trust his bullpen the way they've pitched over the last several weeks. Unfortunately, Matt Guerrier got knocked around pretty good (although the hit by Dustin Pedroia was ri-freakin'-diculous - that ball was about ankle high, 6 inches off the plate. When you're hot...), and the Twins were done in by an 8th inning rally for the second straight night.

I haven't had a lot of reason to miss Pat Neshek lately, but I certainly have the last 2 nights. I wish Jesse Crain would step up and take over that role - I've never quite been convinced that Guerrier was suited for it. If neither one of them can consistently hold leads in the 8th, the Twins might think about trading for a dominant setup man as the trade deadline approaches.

Denard Span continues to impress, having fantastic ABs vs. LHP as well as RHP, and now he's even starting to make highlight-reel catches every night. Did you see how quickly he got to Pedroia's single to right-center in the 8th, turning his hips toward the plate and falling down with the effort he put behind the throw? Zzzzzip! Right to the cutoff man, and the speedy Jacoby Ellsbury was held at 3rd. There's no way Span's going back to Rochester.

Like Magic

Twins 7, Red Sox 3

Looking at the scoreboard, one might think that the Twins really beat up the Red Sox tonight, that Livan Hernandez recovered from a shaky first inning to baffle them the rest of the way.

Not exactly.

True, he gave up all 3 runs on 4 hits in the 1st, then scattered 6 hits and a walk over the remaining 5 IP, earning yet another quality start. But in the 2nd and 3rd innings, sandwiched around the 2 hits and a walk he actually gave up, were 4 balls absolutely scorched right at people: Morneau made a diving stop on Sean Casey, Dustin Pedroia's liner landed right in Livan's glove, Manny Ramirez hit a liner to deep CF that got to Gomez in about 2 seconds, and Varitek ended the 3rd with a liner to deep left. Boston swung the bats well enough to have 4 more hits off Livan, and heaven knows how many more runs would have resulted.

But, at the end of the day, he's tied for he AL lead in wins at 6-1, and his 3.90 ERA looks pretty nice.

Anybody want him?

Juan Rincon did a nice job in relief, allowing just a walk in 2 IP. He was aided by the very special catch Cuddyer made in right field - Pedroia's liner bounced off Micheal's glove, the top of his head, the bill of his cap, and back into his glove. (Pedroia had to be shaking his head after this game.)

I loved the offensive approach vs. Clay Buchholz. He's been struggling with his control, and the Twins decided not to be too aggressive with him. Sure enough, he rewarded their patience with 5 BB in 4.1 IP. Another fine game for Craig Monroe (2 RBI 2B and 2 BB) despite a K - we may never get to see Jason Kubel again. Delmon Young had 2 H and 2 RBI (despite a K). Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer went 5/10 with 2 BB and 5 R.

Wins like this are exciting, and very encouraging, but I'm not sure winning is sustainable with the overall quality of play of the Twins right now. Livan is very hittable, the offense doesn't hit a lot of XBH, doesn't walk enough, strikes out too much (especially Monroe, Young, Harris and Gomez). I hope this is apparent to Bill Smith, and that he intends to use some of the organization's resources to upgrade various positions as the season moves along.

Span vs. Gomez

Gomez went 1 for 4, and his hit was just like the one from Friday - knee-high on the outside corner, driven into RF. Love it. 2 more K, though, giving him 37 on the season, 4th in the AL. The company he keeps in the top 10 are all swing for the fences guys like Jim Thome, Richie Sexson, and Jack Cust. Since his magical Cycle night in Chicago, he's reached base 6 times in 23 PA (.261 OBP) and struck out 8 times.

Meanwhile, every night I check the Red Wings box score, and every night, Denard Span has gotten on base at least once. Last night, he had his best night of the year, going 3-5 with a 2B and HR. That raised his line to .324/.425/.419, an .844 OPS. If the team really prefers Gomez for 2008, then they need to start shopping Span - with those numbers, he should be worth a decent IF prospect.

The Power of Pink

Twins 7, Red Sox 6
Red Sox 5, Twins 2
Twins 9, Red Sox 8

It was a bit of a hectic weekend for me. My parents came to visit for Mother's Day, so I spent most of my time with them. Though they are Twins fans as well, we didn't get a chance to watch/listen to any of this weekend's games after about the 6th inning on Friday. Looking up what I've been able to about the games, I'm very pleased that the Twins will have a chance to win this series against arguably the best team in the AL. At worst, it'll be a split, and that would be fine, too.

It was too bad that Boof got lit up on Friday, especially because his defense let him down a bit. Because Mauer lost track of Kevin Youkilis' swinging third strike in the dirt, the Sox were able to score 2 runs they didn't deserve in the second (2nd straight game Boof has had an inning extended on a wild pitch K). In the 5th, the leadoff single deflected off Boof's leg was played with far too little urgency by Harris, I thought. Delmon Young took a terrible route to Mike Lowell's 2-run double - he might have had an opportunity to catch it.

Too bad that Perkins' debut was diminished by the back-to-back HR leading off the 7th, turning a sterling start (6 IP, 1 ER) into merely Quality. Blackburn had what has lately turned into a pretty typical game, allowing 4 R on 9 H in 6 IP. He hurt himself by hitting 2 straight batters to leadoff the 3rd inning. His defense hurt him with a throwing error on the 2nd half of a potentially inning-ending DP in the 4th. Lots of baserunners, but his line could have been better in spite of them.

The bullpen pitched well on Friday, but got touched for 2 R in 3 IP on Saturday and 4 R in 3 IP on Sunday. Only Dennys Reyes escaped unscathed - even Joe Nathan got dinged for 2 R. Still, as their 5+ runs/game in the series proves, the Sox are going to get their hits and runs - they lead the league in BA, OBP and SLG by a healthy margin, and they're 3rd in SB to top it off.

The key to this weekend's wins was that the Twins scored plenty of runs themselves. Mike Lamb, Adam Everett and Craig Monroe all (finally) contributed key hits. I'm not sure what Jason Kubel was doing in the lineup on Friday vs. LHP Lester. He came into the game 4-24 vs. lefties. Between Lester and reliever Okajima, that line is now 4-28. If he's not careful, Kubel is going to play himself right out of the lineup.

Perhaps most satisfying was the performance from Carlos Gomez. He reached base in every game, delivered what I consider to be his most impressive hit of the season (a line-drive RBI single to right on a pitch knee-high on the outside corner - that's right, go with it!), and extended the Twins' improbable comeback against elite closer John Papelbon in the most improbable way - he laid off 3 straight pitches out of the zone after falling behind 1-2. He then stole second to get himself into position to score the winning run. He drew his 5th walk of the year the following night.

I'll be watching closely to see whether Gomez has made a real change in his approach. If he thinks about his ABs the way Denard Span does, his superior tools should easily lead him to better results. Through the weekend, by the way, Span was hitting .304/.415/.348, 13 BB/15 K, 11/13 SB, hopefully raising his trade value if nothing else.

New Additions

Pat Neshek will have to go to the DL, and Nick Punto will be joining him. Neshek is likely done for the year, a huge blow to the depth of the bullpen. Bobby Korecky will likely stick around in the bullpen, at least until Scott Baker is ready to come back. In place of Punto the Twins recalled Alexi Casilla. While his BA has not been impressive at Rochester (.219), his OBP has been excellent (.350), especially considering how few hits he has. He has 18 BB/18 K through 32 games. He's got pretty good speed and a strong arm, so his ability should be adequate to replace Punto.