MN Sports Blog

Nick Blackburn dazzled today against the Seattle Mariners coming just one out shy of his first career shutout. Blackburn gave up just two hits on the day while walking two and striking out six. Blackburn had two outs in the ninth but after walking the speedy Chone Figgins Gardy decided to make a move to the newly acquired Brian Fuentes. Fuentes came in to face the always dangerous Russell Branyan.

Fuentes is somewhat of a lefty specialist as they’re only hitting .132 off him this season. Fuentes nailed down his first save as a Twin picking up the strikeout and securing the victory for Nick Blackburn as he improved to 8-8 on the year.

Blackburn had struggled this year to say the least coming into today’s game with the highest ERA in all of baseball. This was just his second start since being recalled from Triple-A. Blackburn picked up the loss in his start prior to this but did manage seven innings but gave up three earned but this was also the game where the Twins were nearly no-hit.

In a bit of bad news for the Twins today slugger Jim Thome came out of the came due to lower back stiffness after grounding into a double play. Jason Repko filled in for Thome and went 0-for-3 on the day.

Up Next: Carl Pavano (15-9, 3.56 ERA) takes on Luke French (2-4, 4.57 ERA) for the final game of the series. The Twins have Monday off before starting a nine game home stand against the Tigers, Rangers and Royals.

The Minnesota Twins acquired closer Brian Fuentes from the struggling Angels. Fuentes had been decent for the Angels this year going 23-for-29 in save opportunities with a 3.52 ERA. Gardy said he plans to use Fuentes as a setup man to Capps and an occasional closer if Capps is unavailable.

Fuentes led all of baseball last year with 48 saves but struggles in the first half for the Angels. The Twins acquired another lefty earlier this week in Randy Flores from the Rockies but Fuentes is a much stronger addition. Lefties are hitting just .132 against Fuentes this season which will help make up for the absence of Jose Mijares.

Fuentes is set to join the Twins on Saturday as they take on the Seattle Mariners.

The Good:

.434: Batting average for Delmon Young in the month of July. Young had 12 doubles, a triple and 6 home runs with 30 RBIs in that span. He has been on absolute fire with no sign of slowing down. He pushed his batting average all the way up to .335 and ranks fourth in the Majors behind Josh Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Morneau. He is also tied for fourth in RBIs with the Phillies’ Ryan Howard at 81.

.453:  Batting average for Danny Valencia for July. Valencia played in just 16 games in July but he made them count. He had 24 hits in just 53 at bats with 6 doubles a homer and 11 runs driven in. The Twins haven’t had a productive third basemen in a few years so Valencia could be just what they’re looking for.

4-0: Carl Pavano’s record for the month. Pavano was outstanding for the Twins this month as he was undefeated while posting a 2.91 ERA 24 strikeouts and just 7 walks. Pavano was tied for third in the month of July for most innings pitched with 43.1 behind only Felix Hernandez of the Mariners and Johan Santana of the Mets.

33: The team-leading number of strikeouts for Francisco Liriano. Liriano went 3-1 in July and improved to 10-7 on the year while posting a 2.97 ERA in July.

.311: Team batting AVG – 1st in MLB

60: Number of doubles – 1st in MLB

143: Team RBIs – 3rd in MLB

15-11: record in July riding a 7 game winning streak

13: wins by starters

The Bad:

.232: Jason Kubel’s average for July. Kubel had a very streaky month of July where it seemed to be feast or famine. Kubel struck out 27 times in July which by far led the team with the next closest being Michael Cuddyer with 14. On the season Kubel is hitting .259 but he does have 61 RBIs and 12 dingers.

.245: Average for Denard Span in July. Span was on fire in May hitting .353 but he hit just .264 in June and now down to .245 in July.

8.00: ERA for the usually dependable Matt Guerrier. Guerrier was 0-3 in July giving up 8 earned runs in just 9 innings while giving up 12 hits and 4 walks.

Team Leaders for May

Batting Average:

1. Danny Valencia: .453
2. Delmon Young: .434
3. J.J. Hardy: .351

Runs Batted In:

1. Delmon Young: 30
2. Joe Mauer: 19
3. Jason Kubel: 15

Wins

1. Carl Pavano: 4
2. Francisco Liriano: 3
3. Scott Baker: 3

Strikeouts

1. Francisco Liriano: 33
2. Carl Pavano: 24
3. Scott Baker: 23

ERA

1. Jesse Crain: 0.00 (11.2 IP)
2. Brian Duensing: 1.83 (19.2 IP)
3. Carl Pavano: 2.91 (43.1 IP)

The Minnesota Twins traded their number 2 prospect in Wilson Ramos for a…closer? The bullpen obviously has it’s issues but to trade a great prospect like Wilson Ramos for basically another Jon Rauch is a little strange to say the least. The Twins hope to have Joe Nathan back for the ’11 season so this hardly seems like the most logical scenario for giving up one of their best trade options.

Capps was 26-for-30 in save opportunities this year for the Washington Nationals with a 2.74 ERA while Jon Rauch was 21-for25 in save opportunities with a 3.05 ERA. It gives the bullpen a boost by having Rauch available as a setup guy but the future in this move just doesn’t seem to make sense.

The Twins continued their absolute tear tonight against the Kansas City Royals as they pounded out twenty hits scoring nineteen runs. They even managed to do so against former Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke. Greinke lasted just four innings giving up eight earned runs on eight hits while somehow managing to strike out seven. Francisco Liriano on the other hand returned to form giving up just three hits in seven innings with six strike outs. Liriano improved to 9-7 on the season and lowered his season ERA to 3.35.

Offensively the Twins were absolutely unstoppable. They filled the stat shit early and often as five Twins hitters had at least two hits with Thome being the only starter without one. Joe Mauer made up for some lost time going 5-for-5 driving in 7 RBIs. Mauer hit his sixth homer of the year and falling just a triple shy of the cycle.

Danny Valencia was matching Mauer’s cycle attempt as he needed just a triple for the cycle. Valencia was 4-for-4 with his first career grand slam, four RBIs and two doubles. Delmon Young went 4-for-6 with an RBI and a pair of doubles as he continues his torrid pace. Delmon is hitting .410 in the month of July with five home runs, 23 RBIs and nine doubles. Young has pushed his average all the way up to .324 compared to .263 two months ago.

The Twins are in a much needed easy part of their schedule as they took three out of four from the Orioles, three against the Royals and then three against the struggling Mariners. The Twins are starting to do what they were supposed to do and really need to do which is beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. The month of August is a little more difficult for the Twins as they’ll face off with the White Sox for six, the Angels, the red hot Texas Rangers, and the Tampa Bay Rays.

In semi unrelated news Matt Garza, who was part of the trade that brought Delmon Young to the Twins from the Rays, no-hit the Detroit Tigers for the first time in franchise history.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman reports that talks between the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Mariners are starting to heat up. No agreement has been made but the Mariners are reportedly looking for a package deal including catching prospect Wilson Ramos.

The Twins are on a long list of interested bidders for Lee’s services including the Yankees, Rays, Phillies, Mets and Reds.

Lee owns an 8-3 mark with a 2.34 ERA this season to go along with his four complete games. Lee is an absolute horse that would be exactly what the Twins need to anchor their young, inconsistent rotation.

In an absolute slug fest that started off with the Twins taking a three-run lead in the first quickly turned into what looked like a lopsided loss for the Twins. The Phillies matched the Twins three runs in the bottom half of the first then added four more in the second and another in the third.

When it seemed all was lost and the Twins were destined to lose the series in blowout fashion that scraped together five runs in the ninth to tie the game at nine. Drew Butera gave the Twins the lead in the tenth inning with his first career home run but the celebration was short lives as Ross Gload homered with two outs in the bottom of the tenth.

But in the eleventh the Twins would seal the deal scoring three runs thanks to an infield single by Delmon Young and a two-run scoring double by Matt Tolbert. Jon Rauch pitched two innings for the first time this year picking up the win and he also laid down a sacrifice in the eleventh that put the Twins in position to take the lead.

This marked the second time in two games a Twins starter lasted just an 1 and 2/3 innings. Slowey allowed seven runs on seven hits inflating his ERA to 4.58. On Friday Nick Blackburn gave up eight runs on six hits in his 1 and 2/3 innings.

There were nine home runs in today’s game including homers by Jim Thome (6), Joe Mauer (3), Justin Morneau (14), and Drew Butera (1).

Up Next: Carl Pavano (7-6, 3.92 ERA) takes the hill as the Twins looks to win the series with the Phillies at 12:10 PM but will face the daunting task of doing so against Roy Halladay (8-5, 2.36 ERA).

The Good:

Justin Morneau: Morneau has been on an absolute tear this season and even more so in the month of May: .400 AVG/ 6 HR/ 19 RBI .496 OBP. Morneau currently leads the league in hitting with a .377 AVG overall.

Denard Span: Span didn’t get off to the start most had hoped for but he has been turning it on as of late with a .353 AVG in May with 10 RBI and 10 stolen bases. Span was hitting just .211 in April with 9 RBI and 6 stolen bases. He also improved his on base percentage to .403 from .339 in April.

Nick Blackburn: After a brutal start in April (1-1 with a 6.85 ERA) he has been on fire in the month of May going 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA.

Team batting AVG: .283 – 4th in MLB

63 doubles – T-1st in MLB

12 Errors – Fewest in MLB

16-12 in May with a current five game win streak

15 wins by starters

The Bad:

Joe Mauer – Mauer is hitting “just” .293 in May with 1 HR and 11 RBI versus .414 in May of ’09 with 11 HR and 32 RBI.

Jim Thome – .217 AVG in May with just 7 RBI and 1 HR. Although he lacks the plate appearances and opportunities he is still disappointing so far this year in the power and run production.

Francisco Liriano – Liriano was the AL Pitcher of the Month in April going 3-0 with a microscopic .93 ERA in April but is 2-3 with a 5.15 ERA in May.

Jon Rauch – 7-for-8 saves with a 4.09 ERA in May vs. 1.80 ERA in April going 6-for-7 in saves. Rauch was fantastic in April but the saves have gotten a little more nerve racking ever since.

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Jon Rauch inherited the closer’s job this season when Joe Nathan went out with surgery and that seemed to dampen the Twins hopes as well as the fans hopes. Rauch wasn’t even the immediate choice for Gardy as he weighed the options. When he was actually named the starter people began to wonder how effective he could really be and how interesting the ninth inning would now be all season long.

Rauch has quieted those who doubted him by nailing down his first six saves in a row while giving up just one earned run in that span and striking out four. There have been a few hiccups for Rauch this year but he has only two blown saves in 12 chances while picking up just the one victory. If Rauch continues at least the pace he’s on there should be no one that can say he was less than remarkable given the role he was thrust in to.

The Twins start a three game series with the New York Yankees tonight which will hopefully lead to some more save opportunities for Rauch that may prove to be a huge test for Rauch’s success and composure.

To sum up the stat lines of Jon Rauch ’10 versus Joe Nathan’s ’09 numbers through the same number of appearances in 2009 it looks like this:

Jon Rauch: 17 IP, 17 Hits, 5 ER, 13 Strikeouts, 10 Saves and a 2.65 ERA

Joe Nathan: 15.2 IP, 13 Hits, 5 ER, 16 Strikeouts, 6 Saves and a 2.87 ERA

Jon Rauch 2010

Joe Nathan 2009

Minnesota Sports Blog

Jason Kubel led the Twins to their first victory against the Yankees after losing the last ten regular season games against them. Kubel’s grand slam was just his third  homer of the year but gave the Twins enough of a cushion this time to hang on to the victory. The slam came against Mariano Rivera of all people who had successfully converted his last 51 save opportunities.

Jon Rauch tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the ninth giving up back-to-back singles but he managed to slam the door shut striking out Jeter, Gardner and Teixeira. The save was Rauch’s tenth of the season and helped lower his ERA to a very impressive 1.80.

This might help the Twins develop some amount of confidence whatsoever against the Yankees who have absolutely dominated them in the past few years. If the Twins turn out to be the contenders we hope they will be they’ll need to find some way to handle the American League East. Although this is the last trip of the regular season the Twins will make to Yankee Stadium they have another three game series against the Yanks starting May 25th at Target Field.

The next AL East test comes on Monday in Toronto as Kevin Slowey (4-3, 4.62 ERA) faces off against Dana Eveland (3-2, 4.81 ERA) and the Blue Jays.

Minnesota Sports Blog