Dan Gaudin is the second coming of Tom Glavine…  Well, not really but last night it looked as if he would be a 300 game winner.  Gaudin had no problems finding his spots as he painted corners and used his slider to keep the Twins batters out of sync.  Once again the 2008 version of the Minnesota Twins looked off balance and were unable to hit anything that came there way.  For each well hit ball there were two at-bats where the hitter was flailing at Gaudin’s slider.  As a result the Twins grounded out 11 times including one double play in the first inning by Matt Tolbert. 

Boof Bonser once again lacked control of his pitches.  From the very start of the game he was struggling to get his fastball over the plate and as a result he ended up walking 4 batters while striking out just 2 in 6 innings pitched.  He now falls to a 1-4 record on the season and while he didn’t have his best game he certainly kept the game within reach despite two of his four walked batters scoring.

The goat of last nights game goes to Craig Monroe.  He struck out twice and failed to make something happen with two outs in the 7^th inning.  He came to the plate with 2 outs and runners on second and third.  He flied out weakly to the shortstop to end the rally.   

The Twins offense continues to sputter and the power that we all thought that they’d have remains to be seen.  Tonight the Twins will attempt to come away with the series when they send Francisco Liriano to the mound.  This will be Liriano’s 3^rd start and he will once again work to remove the rust that has plagued him so far.

It’s about time…  Last night Craig Monroe gave us a glimpse of what he has historically been able to do at the plate.  Monroe had a very good night with 3 RBI including a double and a homerun.  The season thus far has not been kind for Monroe.  Prior to yesterday’s game he was batting a paltry .222 with 3 doubles, 3 RBI and 10 strikeouts. 

After the game, Ron Gardenhire was asked about his decision to start Monroe in the lineup.  He stated that Monroe had a career batting average of .667 versus Joe Blanton.  While numbers can lie, sometimes batters pick up the ball batter against certain pitchers.  Gardy’s statistical gamble paid off last night with Monroe leading the Twins to victory. 

While Monroe seems to be heating up his bat after a slow start, the Twins have greatly improved this year while platooning Jason Kubel and Monroe at the DH spot.  They have combined to hit 4 homeruns and knock in 18 RBI while hitting .276 in just 28 games.  That is a great increase over their production from that position last year.  They are on pace to hit 25 homeruns and around 115 RBI.  While those RBI numbers are probably inflated, anything near these numbers would be a great improvement over last years squad.  The DH position last year accounted for a .269 average with only 10 homeruns and 74 RBI.

The Twins are sitting with a 10-10 record and currently in second place in the AL Central.  They trail the Chicago White Sox by 1.5 games and will look to extend their 3 game winning streak tonight against the Athletics.  We will be sending Boof to the mound. 

The Twins have an off day today… The Twins will need to cherish this day — their next day off will be in a week when the Twins finish a 6 game road trip that includes the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers.

Given the Twins current 9-10 record, Twins faithful can be fairly optimistic during these next 6 games. For the most part this season, our ballclub has navigated its way through what would typically be considered a tough schedule. If the Twins would have found a way not to blow those two games last week against the Tigers, their record would be 11-8. That would be VERY respectable considering that they had played the Angels, White Sox, Tigers and Indians. Three of those four teams will have a strong shot of making a playoff push this fall.

The next 6 games are winnable for the better than expected Twins. If the Twins can take both of these series, they could end their road trip with a 15-9 record which would be MUCH better than most of the talking (blogging) heads would have thought.

The first month of this season has been very interesting. A few thoughts on the progress thus far:

1. Starting Pitching - This has been much better than I would have anticipated. Livan Hernandez has shown that he does have something left in the tank and Scott Baker has been reliable. The biggest surprise has been the emergence of Nick Blackburn. He has been very sharp in his first 4 starts. While his record doesn’t seem special, he has lowered his ERA to 2.49 runs/game. He now leads the Twins in this category.

2. Power? We don’t need no stinkin’ power! - Only 9 homeruns…. If Harris wouldn’t have hit one yesterday, the only guys who sniffed a four bagger have been named Morneau and Kubel…

Delmon Young? Where you at!
Craig Monroe? Where you at!
Joe Mauer? Enough with the singles…Where you at!

Eventually we’ll need some help from the long ball if we’re to be successful. It’s very hard to manufacture more than a couple runs a game by playing small ball all the time. Someone step up and get the big hit.

3. Go-Go-Gomez - Who thought that you could go on a bunting “slump”. Gomez started out the season on fire. He was changing games with his speed and bunting ability. During the last two weeks however he has been HORRIBLE in that part of the game. He appears too eager to start running down the first base line and as a result is stabbing at the baseball. I’m waiting for Gardy, or Joe Vavra to get through to him that he doesn’t need to rush his bunts. He’s the fastest man in baseball and as long as he gets it past the pitcher he will be successful in his bunt attempts. Nothing is more deflating to see a guy not do the fundamentals when that is all he needs to do to be successful.

4. Utility players - Tolbert and Harris have been great. It seems as if they are always on base and causing issues. They both have that ability to be like David Eckstein used to be… Always finding a way to piss of the opposing team.

Overall i’m optimistic. I know that our chances to win the division or make the playoffs are slim to none but thus far the Twins have been entertaining and if we’re really building for 2010, I like what I see.

It’s a cool and clowdy day in Minneapolis. This afternoon i’ll be making my trek across downtown to the Metrodome. I chose to attend todays game for a few reasons:
#1 - DQ Hat Day… The first 20,000 fans will be getting one of these:

They typically are not great hats but I kind of dig the old skool retro look. Hopefully I’ll be one of the lucky fans!

#2 I really want to see Nick Blackburn pitch. Everything that I have seen so far from him has been impressive. Although his record (0-1) does not reflect his dominance he has shown that he can compete at the big league level. He has pitched 17 2/3 innings while striking out 11 and walking 3. His ERA prior to todays game is 3.57 which ranks second on the team to Livan Hernandez who has a 3-0 record and a 3.00 ERA.
Hopefully Blackburn can out duel Jarrod Washburn of the Indians. The Twins have had a rough start the season while only winning 4 of their last 10 games (which they are currently riding a 2 game losing streak). With the sudden resurgence of the Detroit Tigers, a loss today puts the Twins at risk of owning the cellar of the American League Central.