Category Archives: Minnesota Twins Game Preview

Can the Twins Turn It Around Against The Struggling White Sox?

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PREVIEW T Can the Twins Turn It Around Against The Struggling White Sox?

 

I’ll be honest.

It’s hard to write about the Twins lately.

I keep thinking “okay, I’ll start with this next series”, but each passing series has been so disappointing that it takes the wind out of my sails.  I’m not saying I’m a fair weather fan… the Twins will always be my team.  I’m just saying that it’s hard to motivate myself to get in this blog and write about how terrible that team is.  I mean, it’s easy for me to write about the old days, or to post baseball cards, because those are reminders of better times.  When it comes to current Twins news, it seems somehow less depressing to just keep linking to other people’s articles.

But that has to change.  I can’t wait forever.

300px Francisco Liriano About to Uncork One Can the Twins Turn It Around Against The Struggling White Sox?

Image via Wikipedia

Funny how I’m resolving to write in here more often as soon as the Twins get swept for the first time this year.

Okay, enough with the whining.  On to the task at hand.

The Twins are starting their first series with the Chicago White Sox tonight.  These are the two teams that everyone assumed would be battling it out for the division.  Instead we’re battling it out to try to get out of the bottom of the division (along with the Tigers).  Who knew that the two teams at the top of the division this far into the season would be Kansas City and Cleveland!?!?

Francisco Liriano is going to take the mound tonight.  He’s struggled so far, including giving up 8 runs in his last outing.  He only has one quality start for the season.

Hopefully tonight is the night that Frankie turns it all around, along with the rest of his team…

… and this blogger.

GO TWINS!

 

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Tonight Starts an Important Series For The Twins

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PREVIEW T Tonight Starts an Important Series For The Twins

The stage is set perfectly.

There are 50 games left in the season.  The Twins and White Sox are tied at the top of the AL Central.

In the next 10 days, these two teams will play each other 6 times.

It all starts tonight.

The Twins will be heading into Chicago tonight to take on the White Sox in the start of a 3 game series.  After this series, the Twins will host Oakland for a 3 game series at Target Field, then the White Sox will head to Minnesota to play 3 more.

Scott Baker will start the series off for the Twins, which could be a point of concern.  Baker is currently 2-6 with a 5.43 ERA away from Minnesota.  He is, however, coming off of 2 straight wins, and hopefully he’ll be able to keep that up.

In the second game of the series the Twins will start Glen Perkins for the first time this season.  Perkins hasn’t exactly blown people away in AAA this year,  posting a 6-9 record with a 6.08 ERA in 23 starts.  Like Baker, though, Perkins seems to be settling down recently.  In his last 7 starts he has been 3-1 with an ERA of  2.70, which is obviously a move in the right direction.

In the final game of the series Twins fans will be much more comfortable with Francisco Liriano taking the mound.

If the rotation stays consistent, during the second series with the White Sox the Twins will be able to put Liriano and Pavano on the mound during the game.

Maybe I shouldn’t get too hopeful, but it’d be nice if Minnesota could be in a position to practically put the Sox away by that point.

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Are the Twins Ready For Tampa?

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PREVIEW M Are the Twins Ready For Tampa?

Tonight Minnesota will start a 4 game series against the Tampa Bay Rays of the American League East.

Tampa is currently a game back from the New York Yankees for the division lead in the East.  Their record is currently 65-39, a little better than the 59-46 record that the Twins have posted so far.

In the first couple months of the season the Twins and Rays were the two best teams in the majors.  Both teams have fallen a little bit, but the Twins have fallen slightly farther than the Rays, and many would say against weaker competition.  While the Twins play their divisional games against the Royals, Indians, Tigers, and White Sox, the Rays have to contend with the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Orioles. (Okay, maybe I shouldn’t count the Orioles).

For comparison reasons, the combined record of the AL East is 277-246 (0.530).  The combined record of the AL Central is 259-263 (0.496)

The Twins are currently half a game out of the lead in the Central.   In the AL East they would be in 4th place.

But have the Twins stepped up their game enough to play with the AL East… not only for the next four games, but the rest of the season and (hopefully) the post season?

Minnesota has really come on strong in July.

In the last 30 days…

  • The Twins have the best batting average in the majors, hitting at .320.
  • The Twins have scored the most runs in the majors with 146.
  • The Twins have had the most hits in the majors with 287
  • The Twins have given up the fewest walks in the majors with 50
  • The Twins have had the fewest errors in the majors with 4
  • The Twins are the second best team in the AL at preventing stolen bases with 8 (behind Tampa, who has given up 7)

The Twins biggest problem as of late has obviously been their pitching.  In the last 30 days their team ERA has been 3.97.

I really feel like if the Twins get their pitching under control to the level that they are capable of, they can play with anyone in the league.

Tonight Carl Pavano will take the mound for the Twins.  He is 8-0 in his last ten starts.  He currently sits at 13-6 with a 3.21 ERA.  He’s been one of the bright spots in a struggling Twins lineup.

It also helps that tonight the Twins will be facing Jeremy Hellickson who will be making his major league debut.  Hopefully the Twins hot bats will stay hot against a pitcher who hasn’t faced anyone in the bigs just yet.

Unless Pavano has an unusual outing tonight, the big questions about the Twins capability of playing with the AL East will have to be answered during the rest of the series.  Unfortunately the Twins won’t get back around to Liriano in this series, so it’ll be up to Duensing, Baker, and Slowey to step up.

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Slowey Will Begin The Second Half Against The Division Leading White Sox

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PREVIEW Th Slowey Will Begin The Second Half Against The Division Leading White Sox

The Twins will start a 4 game series with the White Sox tonight at Target Field.  Because of the slide that the Twins went on over the last couple SloweyAP2 Slowey Will Begin The Second Half Against The Division Leading White Soxmonths, and because of some solid play by Chicago, the White Sox are going into the series on top of the division and 3.5 games ahead of Minnesota.

Most of us were hoping that the Twins would have Cliff Lee at this point, but that’s obviously not going to happen.  So, what we’ll need from the team is for the pitchers to step up and start being a little tougher.

Tonight Kevin Slowey will take the mound for the Twins against Chicago’s John Danks.

After a 6-3 start through the month of May,  Slowey has been 2-2 in Jun and July combined.  His ERA was 5.29 in June and is so far 5.60 in July.

The bright side is so far this year Slowey seems to be a better pitcher at home, and a better pitcher in night games.  His ERA at home is 3.54 compared to 5.98 on the road, and his ERA is 3.69 in night games compared to 6.25 in day games.  Playing at home in a night game will hopefully help him out tonight as the Twins try to get back on track.

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5 Quick Facts About Tonight’s Twins Game. (05-21-10)

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PREVIEW Th 5 Quick Facts About Tonights Twins Game. (05 21 10)

Tonight Minnesota will start it’s first interleague series as they return home to face the Milwaukee Brewers.

Nick Blackburn will take the hill for the Twins.  He’s 4-1 so far this year with a 4.63 ERA.  Lifetime he’s 0-1 with a 6.39 ERA against the Brewers.

He’ll be facing Dave Bush, who is 1-4 so far this year with a 4.27 ERA.  Lifetime he’s 1-5 with a 4.38 ERA against the Twins.

The Brewers won on Thursday night, but they had lost 9 straight before that.

The Twins are typically good in interleague play.  Since 2000, they’re tied with the Angels as the best in the league at 108-72.

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Baker Will Take A Shot At The Redsox Tonight

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PREVIEW W Baker Will Take A Shot At The Redsox Tonight

Tonight the Twins will start a two game series in Boston.  They’re coming off a split series with Toronto, and a 2-1 series loss against the Yankees.  Hopefully the Twins can get something going on a consistent level so they can regain the momentum they had earlier in the season.

Scott Baker will be pitching tonight.  His last outing was against the Yankees, and it did not go well.   He is 0-1 lifetime against Boston with an ERA of 4.30.

He’ll be facing Clay Buckholz.  Buckholz is 4-3 so far this season with a 3.46 ERA.  Lifetime against the Twins 0-1 with a 14.54 ERA.

Hopefully the Twins will hit well tonight.

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Slowey is Up Tonight, Mauer Catching

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PREVIEW T Slowey is Up Tonight, Mauer Catching

Tonight the Twins start a short two-game series at home against the Chicago White Sox.  Last time the Twins played the Sox they won the series 2-1, and that was in Chicago.  Chicago has been off to a slow start so far this year.

Kevin Slowey will take the mound for  Minnesota.  He’s 4-2 so far this year with a 3.93 ERA.  His stats against the White Sox, though, haven’t always been as good.  Lifetime he is 2-2 with a 5.04 ERA against Chicago.

He’ll be facing Freddy Garcia, who is 1-2 at this point with a 5.28 ERA.  His lifetime record against the Twins is a little better than he is currently pitching,  standing at 9-6 with a 3.76 ERA

Joe Mauer will be back behind the plate tonight after missing the Baltimore series due to a heel injury.

J.J. Hardy will miss tonight’s game.  Brendan Harris will play shortstop.

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