Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn, and Scott Baker are all products of the Minnesota Twins’ farm system. The trio of mid-to-late 20 year old right-handed hurlers all have an efficiency of motion. This isn’t the first time the team’s fans have seen a similar style. Brad Radke was the organization’s molding of Greg Maddux-a poor man’s version mind you. Rick Anderson has been a stalwart pitching coach during the Gardenhire era. It has undoubtedly been a successful tenure during the regular season, but there have been many disappointments in the playoffs.
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Nick Blackburn is a major league pitcher.
As simple as that sounds and as obvious as it may seem, perhaps Blackburn was the only one that didn’t understand it.
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Justin Morneau has not been in the line-up for the Minnesota Twins in about a month and a half. This concerns Manager Ron Gardenhire, General Manager Bill Smith, and the rest of the organization’s hierarchy. Dealing with concussions is a continually evolving practice for physicians and specialists. According to Web MD - the symptoms can be devastating to not only one’s job performance, but also daily routines.
They include, but are not limited to: blurry vision, a loss of balance, nausea, headaches, slurred speech, and memory loss.
Obviously, these aforementioned sufferings can adversely affect Morneau’s production at the plate and in the field. Ron Gardenhire has consistently stated that there is no timetable for his return, but Morneau has recently started taking batting practice before games.
By: Patrick Herbert
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The Minnesota Twins play an exciting brand of baseball that emphasizes hustle and fundamentals. There are, however, some changes to the game that could make fans even more excited to see a Joe Mauer plate appearance or Orlando Hudson turning a double play with an efficiency that is rarely matched.
By Patrick Herbert
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The Minnesota Twins haven’t had a lot of holes to be filled this year.
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The Minnesota Twins stretched their lead in the AL Central to five games Wednesday, before the Chicago White Sox struck back Thursday with an 11-0 mauling of Minnesota.
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The Minnesota Twins have seen what this before. But this time, Minnesota welcomed it with open arms. Rewind to Game 163 for the Twins and White Sox in the 2008 season after they finished the regular season tied at the top of the AL Central.
Nick Blackburn and Tuesday’s starter, John Danks, battled to a 0-0 tie through six, proving how evenly matched the two teams were.
All it took to eliminate the Minnesota Twins from the playoffs that night was one swing in the bottom of the seventh by the man who has the most home runs against them in club history.
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Only 32 days ago, the White Sox boasted a 4.5 game lead over the Minnesota Twins, the Chicago sports talk radio hosts were ready to hand the Commissioner’s trophy to the Sox and I was guaranteeing that Ozzie Guillen’s team would miss the play-offs.
Since July 15th the Twins have been 8.5 games better than the White Sox and have taken a firm hold on first place in the AL Central Division. I don’t mean to get all self-righteous or anything, but come on, I deserve an “I told you so,” right?
By Peter Christian
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The first place Minnesota Twins are in the midst of their perennial quest to capture the Central Division of the American League. As you may have noticed Sunday, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire took Kevin Slowey out of the game after 106 pitches; and before he had given up a hit.
Jon Rauch promptly entered the game and gave up a base hit squashing any hopes that remained for a combined no-hitter. What follows are some pros and cons stemming from Gardenhire’s tactic.
By Patrick Herbert
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2010 has been a year unlike any other in Major League Baseball, particularly on the pitching side of things.
As we were witness to on Monday night, we are truly seeing another year of the pitcher.
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Roy Oswalt is changing uniforms and his presence instantly makes his new team a World Series contender.
Those words would’ve been music to the ears of Minnesota had the Twins been the team in question.
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Quick question: What would you consider more satisfying, a piece of perfectly seasoned but dry beef jerky that takes a long time to chew before you can swallow it or a super sweet piece of gum that is great tasting at first but eventually leaves your palate bland and must be spit out? Think about it, we’ll get to the point of that query later.
The Twins now have a former Washington Nationals closer as their closer for 2010. Well, they did before today too, but they have a new one, or a different one, or… whatever. The Twins traded Wilson Ramos and a minor league pitcher for Matt Capps Thursday night. I wish I could accurately describe my waffling emotions. It’s taken me nearly an hour just to write an opening paragraph. I don’t really love the trade. I initially hated it. I’m pleased the front office is trying, though I wished they would have gotten a little more to show for “trying.”
If you can’t tell, it’s really hard to judge this trade as it’s one that could have dramatic short and long term ramifications.
By Peter Christian
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Fresh off a series loss to the Cleveland Indians, the Minnesota Twins have to be staring into the mirror asking themselves some serious questions about the last nine months.
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TARGET FIELD, Minneapolis – The Minnesota Twins didn’t mess around when creating Target Field. The Twins new stadium has already received some big time accolades in its inaugural season, such as the Greenest Stadium in all of MLB and the best venue in North American sports (via ESPN the Magazine). Those honors are just the tip of the iceberg.
The fan experience is centered exactly where it should be focused: the baseball game. From every seat in the stadium, from the concourses behind the seating and even at the concession stands, the diamond is the focal point. No gimmicks, no in-stadium areas dedicated to activities other than the game, just a stadium that offers plenty of methods to enhance your viewing of the game.
by Peter Christian
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TARGET FIELD, Minneapolis – Baseball, fundamentally, is a game of throwing, hitting and catching the ball. For some teams you can add their ability (and willingness) to run the bases as well. The Minnesota Twins used to be one of those teams. The Chicago White Sox weren’t but this season, however, they love wearing out the base paths.
That fact was made especially evident on Thursday night’s game in which the White Sox beat the Twins 8-7.
by Peter Christian
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The Minnesota Twins offense has a funny way of covering up the teams other flaws.
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Ozzie Guillen is not afraid to put the worst case scenario out there. The manager of the Chicago White Sox is well aware of the high quality baseball his team was playing heading into the All Star Break, but also remains astutely aware of how quickly things can turn from good to bad (or in the case of the White Sox, bad to good to bad again).
“We’ve got 70 or so games to go and we might lose all of those games. You never know,” Guillen said prior to their first post All-Star Break game with the AL Central Division rival Minnesota Twins. “But I know we’re gonna play hard, we’re gonna play baseball, and regardless of what happens, I can win with them.”
By Peter Christian
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A six run inning, 10 hits with two outs, six for 14 with runners in scoring position and three relievers combining for five innings, three hits and zero runs.
Most MLB teams would take every one of those stats in a heartbeat. For the Minnesota Twins last night, all of it still resulted in a loss to the Chicago White Sox—a very tough loss at that. The Twins have added a lot of digits to the “L” column over the past month. To be exact: 19 losses in the last 31 games.
As Thursday night’s game was ready to begin and the Twins starting pitcher Kevin Slowey threw his final warm-up tosses, the Target Field PA system blared the aptly titled “Slow Ride” by Foghat. The team and Slowey alike were hoping that his mound performance would be, like the song, a classic.
By Peter Christian
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When Delmon Young was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Minnesota Twins in 2007 as the centerpiece that sent Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza from Minnesota to Tampa, the reaction around Minnesota was mixed.
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The man that has hit more home runs against the Minnesota Twins than any player in the history of baseball is making Twins fans forget all 57 jacks he clubbed against his current team.
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