Up.  Down.  Up.  Down.  When does this ride end?  I’ll be honest.  My stomach is starting to get a little queasy.  I loved the positivity that was coming out of the Twins camp over the last week.  That was until we ran directly into the Oakland A’s and Anaheim Angels. 

After winning the first game of the Oakland series, we somehow managed to go cold.  Ice cold.  Billy Beane would be very proud of his squad.  They had the clutch hits, ran the bases well and gave our low-budget small market team a lesson that could have easily been included in the book Moneyball.  The A’s were doing all the little things right.  Meanwhile our squad could not hit the ball to save its life in the final two games of the series.  During those last two games the Twins 3-4-5 batters were a combined 1-11.  In the last game of the series the Twins left an amazing 11 runners on base. 

Last night’s game was not looking any better.  I had some hopes that Boof would come out and shut down the Angels of Anaheim…or was it Los Angeles Angels….  I can never remember.  Either way, I had hoped that Boof would get us back to our winning ways.  That did not happen.  From the first inning it was very obvious that Boof was not in a groove.  He had little control and he could not get his curveball and slider over for strikes.  That is his strikeout pitch and without it he’s very hittable.  Boof left the game in the 5^th inning after he scattered three hits in a row.  Several relievers and innings later, a game that was at one time manageable was now a complete blowout.  Final score:  Angels 16 Twins 3.

For whatever reason the Angels have our number….  Stupid Rally Monkey! Tonight is another game.  Let’s hope that Scott “one more bad start and I’m replaced by Garza” Baker can put the team on his back.Anything could happen.  After all this rollercoaster of a season has to turn upwards sometime.