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The Twins stormed into Anaheim to take a nail-biter and a rout before dropping a pair of two-run contests that both could have easily gone the other way. This time it wasn’t shaky defense so much as a less-than stellar performance from Jesse Crain out of the bullpen. Triples to Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Matthews Jr. did both Crain and the Twins in as their record on this all-important 14-game road trip fell to .500.

Slowey strong

Kevin Slowey dealt well into the 7th before departing for Senor Southpaw, Dennys Reyes with 1 out in the frame. Slowey K’d 5, walked none and left with the lead having been charged with two earned runs. That was before the roof collapsed in the 8th.

Nothin’ but disdain for Mark Teixeira

I never liked the guy when he was with Texas, either but Teixeira rocked the Twins this weekend. Never mind the fact that he plays five feet off the bag but still “holds runners on”, that would be enough to drive anyone crazy but it’s the damage done at the plate that was the most crushing. The rented switch-hitter went 8-for-14 with 3 homers, 4 RBI, 2 walks and scored 5 times.

Sick and wrong. Go back to the National League, Mr. Teixeira. Please?

Johnny Canuck for MVP

Reggie Jackson made his way into the Twins FSN North booth while the Twins batted in the 1st yesterday afternoon to say hi to Bert Blyleven and wonder aloud why he still wasn’t in the Hall of Fame. That said, discussion began to surround who might win AL MVP honors and Justin Morneau was the focus. As Mr. Ocotber pointed out, it’s a down year for big stats — in fact, he stated it as “the stats are real now” — which makes pretty clear his feeling on performance enhancers. Moving on — Canuck picks up three hits in his first three at-bats including big fly number 20 and with his first inning RBI joined Harmon Killebrew as the only Twins to ever drive in 100 runs three consecutive years. On top of it all, Morneau picked a couple of beauties on throws from Nickie Punto and company, as he did all series and has been doing all season long.

Sorry Yoooouk, Canuck is the best all-around first baseman in the league so cross yourself, Josh Hamiton and Carlos Quentin off the list — Justin Morneau is the Most Valuable Player in the American League.

Speaking of seconds

Joe Mauer’s single to center in the 3rd frame of yesterday’s tilt extended his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games and his .321 average has him firmly entrenched atop the American League batting leader board. Considering no catcher in AL history had ever claimed a batting title before Mauer pulled it off in ‘06, it should be that much sweeter the second time around.

4 down, 10 to go:

2-2

Punk, Prick, Pierzynski — Words that start with the letter “P”

The loyal and learned B & C reader will be well acquainted with my “Once a Twin, always a Twin” declarations, and that mantra has held true for years with regard to A.J. Pierzynski even though he plays for the hated, and I’m using the word hated here, White Sox; but I have had enough.

Forget the ALCS ridiculousness against the Angels in ‘05 or the deft Balboa defense he employed against Michael Barrett — no, this time we’re talking about a bonehead baserunning gaffe. On a ground ball to short with one out in the 10th and Pierzynski on second, A.J. got himself in a run-down and then stuck an elbow out just enough to make contact with Tampa third baseman Willy Aybar as he ran by. And in form that would make Sidney Crosby proud, Pierzysnki flopped and somehow convinced the umpires that he’d been interfered with. Not only was A.J. deemed safe, he was awarded third base. Needless to say the White Sox went on to win moments later but I have temporarily forgotten about that huge 9th inning homer Pierzynski tagged off of Oakland closer Billy Koch in Game 5 of the ‘02 ALDS because…

For the first time ever I am willing to say — funk A.J. Pierzynski!

Scoreboard watching

With Clayton Richard and Brian Burres on the mound for the ChiSox and O’s, respectively we can probably expect some fireworks in Baltimore tonight, while the Twins counter with ace Francisco Liriano against the Seattle’s disappointing Miguel Batista.

Interesting note — Liriano is 4-0 since his return from AAA Rochester and three out of those four victories have put the Twins in first place. It’s called a trend, folks.

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