• Home
• Our Writers
• About B&C
• Contact
• Advertising
Quick jump to your team -------------------- The Clubhouse -------------------- Arizona Diamondbacks Atlanta Braves Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Cincinnati Reds Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox Cleveland Indians Colorado Rockies Detroit Tigers Florida Marlins Houston Astros Kansas City Royals Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers New York Mets New York Yankees Milwaukee Brewers Minnesota Twins Oakland Athletics Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Seattle Mariners Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Toronto Blue Jays Washington Nationals
• 

A pair of errors that could have easily been three combined with Nick Blackburn’s getting hit hard led to the end of Minnesota’s four-game winning streak and a missed opportunity to gain a full game on the second place White Sox.

Despite the loss, Minnesota still sits atop the Central standings thanks to Tampa’s take down in Chicago yesterday, a game won by Grant Balfour.  Once a Twin, always a Twin.

Brian Buscher has been relatively solid at the hot corner this season but last night he blundered a throw and a fielding play in the 3rd which helped put the Halos up 4-0.  The Twins came right back with an Alexi Casilla bomb to right in the 4th and then plated four of their own in the 5th but this time Torii Hunter made a leaping catch in center instead of having it glance off his glove as it had on Friday, which prevented the Twins from getting any closer than one run.

Mark Teixeira added a rope that bounced off the top of the right field wall for a solo shot in the 6th and then it was K-Rod in the 9th for his 49th save, three of which have come at the expense of the Twins.

Blackburn failed to become number 4

Nick Blackburn missed out on becoming the fourth Twins starter with 10 victories this season by getting handled pretty well by the Angels despite surrendering just three earned runs.  As Bert Blyleven stated “He just didn’t have it tonight.”  That said, Radke Jr. doesn’t worry me a bit and win number 10 should be comin’ di-rectly.

Circle me, Gubicza!

The Twins and Angels television broadcast teams decided to do a little mid-game trade for three innings which had Bert Blyleven and Mark Gubicza discovering how the other half lives.  Blyleven has “hereby circled” many a Twins fan over the years but last night had the honor of being circled himself by Gubicza. However, last night was the only time in memory that I didn’t want Bert to return to the booth — and let me tell you why.  Baseball players, fans and writers are all superstitious — the Twins had been down 4-0 before Gubicza entered the picture and before you knew it Minnesota had five runs — as long as they’re scoring, Gubicza stays! Of course he didn’t and we all know how this turned out.

3 down, 11 to go:

2-1

Andale still has a way to Go-Go

With all the raw talent — of which there is an abundance — Gomez’s mental lapses can be frustrating.  Don’t get me wrong — love the kid and with experience these things will wane but the play in center last night, that should have been an error was not an isolated incident.  Playing Twins baseball means solid fundamentals and Gomez is somewhat erratic afield.  All season long he’s been drifting, fails to get behind the ball and in position to throw and it costs the club baserunning position and runs.  Last night, for instance, with the bases loaded and one out, Vlad was given credit for a double that went off Gomez’s glove that should have been an error.  Instead of getting back into position, Gomez started to run backwards, reached up and couldn’t corral the liner which plated two Angels runs.  Instead a 1-0 deficit with two down and runners at the corners it was 2-0 with runners on second and third and one out.  For effect, the score ended up 4-0 by the conclusion of that third frame.

Again, don’t get me wrong, Gomez has been hitting .315 since being moved down to the 9th spot in the order and has gotten back to running with six steals since the switch but his “hack happy” approach and lack of grape usage out in center just makes you wonder when the nuggets being shared by Twins coaches will set in and just how good he’ll be once that corner is turned.

Scoreboard watching

Will it be too much to ask the DEVIL Rays to sweep the Pale Hose? The pitching match-up tells me no because Andy Sonnanstine will take his 13-6 mark to the mound to face off against Mark Buehrle’s 11-10 record at U.S. Cellular Field Comiskey this afternoon.  While in Anaheim, Kevin Slowey puts his 10 wins up against the 13 of Ervin Santana in the final game of this all-important first leg, which has gone pretty well early on.  If the Twins can find a way to pull out one more at the Big A, this road trip could be a very successful one indeed.

Share Close Social Web E-mail to a friend del.icio.us Furl Digg Netscape Technorati BlinkList StumbleUpon Newsvine Yahoo! My Web ma.gnolia Google Bookmarks reddit Windows Live Tailrank E-mail It To Address: Your Name: Your Address: