Archive for June, 2011

During the last offseason, many fans, pundits, and bloggers felt that the Twins’ biggest weakness was the lack of a true ace pitcher. But Cliff Lee commanded huge sums of money that the Twins could not afford, and the Royals refused to trade Zach Greinke within the division, so the Twins had to hope an ace would emerge from their existing roster. Carl Pavano, winner of 17 games in 2011, got some recognition, but the leading candidate by far was Francisco Liriano. Midway through the 2011 season, another Twins pitcher has passed Liriano and is making a strong case for ace status. [...]

The Twins were playing with the moxie of a championship boxer. After nearly being KO’ed in the first two months of the season, they rallied through Mid-June throwing jabs and haymakers at their opponents and winning 15 out of 18 games. Last Monday they threw a devastating upper-cut in the 1st inning against Madison Bumgarner, scoring 8 runs in the first and cruising to yet another victory, their 8th straight…and then the other side called a time-out. The Giants were shouting “where am I coach?” and while the trainers swabbed the wounds of the reigning world champions, the coach steadied [...]

After Prince Fielder belted a 3-2 fastball for a 2-run double to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 4-3 lead that they would hang on to for the win, Jose Mijares and Joe Mauer exchanged a little “he said – she said” about that pitch.  Whatever the case may be, Mauer calling the wrong pitch, Mijares leaving the pitch too over the plate or trusting his catcher too much, the end result was another Twins loss, their 3rd straight.

The Minnesota Twins announced today that first baseman Justin Morneau, who has been  on the Disabled List since June 9 with a wrist injury, will miss an additional six weeks. Morneau is scheduled to have surgery next week to repair a pinched nerve in his neck. It is the latest in a long list of disappointing injuries to the team’s most consistent slugger. Morneau missed the second half of 2010 with a concussion, and though he returned to the Opening Day lineup this year, he has not played anywhere near his peak abilities. The 2006 AL MVP was leading the league [...]

Father’s Day may have come and gone, but something still remains about it. It’s not that special of a Holiday if you consider how massive others tend to be; I’m looking directly at you Christmas, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. But despite it’s low key mentality, Father’s Day holds something special. So does baseball. Think back to your earliest sports memory. No matter how cliched it is, it’s most likely a memory of you and your father tossing the baseball in the back yard. Baseball is a game of history, it lives within itself as much as any sport [...]

Does winning feel great or what? More than anything I think it’s great to have that hope again, that this team can pull off some sort of miracle this season by fighting back to win the AL Central again…is it possible? I think the answer to that question is ‘yes’, but it deserves a better look than that. I think it’s worth looking ahead (and behind) to find out what our beloved Twins will have to do to put themselves in contention come September. 1.) Get Healthy. Writing that sentence reminds that the Twins still have at least 6 key [...]

Tonight the Twins open up a three game set against the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants. Minnesota hopes to continue a surprising streak that has seen them win seven in a row, and 14 of 16, to climb out of last place in the AL Central. San Francisco is slumping, having lost four in a row, including a sweep at the hands of their Bay Area rival Oakland Athletics. Special thanks to the writers at Frisco Fastball for their help with this preview. Minnesota Twins 2011 Record: , 31-39, 4th in the AL Central (7.5 GB) 263 Runs [...]

 Francisco Liriano threw seven stolid innings and the Minnesota Twins strung together key hits from weak-hitting players to defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 on Sunday. It was an exciting ending to a three game sweep over the Friars, and the seventh Minnesota victory in a row. More importantly, that victory combined with a 5-4 Kansas City loss against in-state rival St. Louis to boost the Twins out of the American League Central Division’s basement. To be sure, they still have  a foot on the steps, with only a single game keeping them ahead of the Royals for the worst record in [...]

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Twins were wrapping up a truly awful opening month of the season. In April they were a putrid 9-17 which was good for an uninspired 0.346 winning percentage. There were plenty of reasons for their slow start, and whichever one you picked (thanks to the 16 of you who voted by the way) you were right. After all when a team smothers defectiveness across all phases of the game, there are always multiple causative factors involved. One thing the Twins weren’t lacking was talent, so the fanbase – by and large – [...]

What week it has been for the Minnesota Twins!  Since losing last Friday evening to the Texas Rangers the Twins are 4-0 after taking the weekend set from the Rangers to win a series against the AL West leading Rangers and then sweeping the Chicago White Sox in a rain shortened 2 game series.  The Twins’ pitchers have continued to pitch deep into games and the bullpen has responded by preserving late game leads.  Alexi Casilla has continued to stay hot, Michael Cuddyer continues to hit the ball deep (5 HRs in June), and Tsuyoshi Nishioka returned to the line [...]