Wow.  That is the only word I can think of to describe the latest loss of my Minnesota Twins.  Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn pitched another great game for the Twins only to see his outing stolen and ripped to pieces by a ratty bullpen. 

The bullpen, given a 3 run lead, was unable to get THREE outs in one inning, the eighth, without giving up 4 runs.  I think if the Twins had brought in Bert Blyleven in from the booth to pitch the 8th inning the Twins would have still won the game.  All the bullpen needed was THREE outs to get to Joe Nathan and the promised land, but no that would be doing your job and helping your team take the season series against the Boston Red Sox was not enough motivation for them to get three outs in one inning without giving up 3 runs. 

Instead the bullpen decided to give another game away to the Red Sox.  It seems that if the Twins starting rotation wants to get a win nowadays, it better pitch 9 innings or else the big bad blowpen will be sent out in full force.  Twins general manager Bill Smith said the Twins didn't have any major holes to fill by the trade deadline.  I beg to differ.

It happened to Scott Baker again. Almost a month since Scott Baker lost a game 1-0 against CC Sabathia, the Minnesota Twins' offense fell asleep at the wheel again. In the first inning, the Twins were able to load the bases with two outs against Dice K.

Up comes Delmon Young for the Twins. Dice K throws a first pitch high and tight fastball which Young promptly grounds out on. Inning over. Dice K had the Twins eating out of his hand after he got out of his bases loaded jam.

In the eight inning, the Red Sox pitcher was replaced by Hideki Okajima after he allowed two base runners with one out. Hideki Okajima then walked Justin Morneau to load the bases with still only one out. Minnesota's manager decided to PH Craig Monroe, who had a good previous series against the Cleveland Indians. Craig Monroe flied out in foul territory to set up the Delmon Young at bat.

Young, not known for his plate discipline, grounded it out weakly on the first pitch again to the Red Sox and bailing the Red Sox out of another bases loaded jam. The Sox, who were held down by a superb performance by Scott Baker, pounced on incoming Twins relief pitcher Brian Bass to record the only run of the contest.

A look back at Minnesota Twins statistics from the last couple of years with 28 games played.

Record
2006 - 11-17
2007 - 15-13
2008 - 14-14

Batting Average
2006 - .248
2007 - .281
2008 - .266

Runs Scored
2006 - 110
2007 - 131
2008 - 113

Runs Against
2006 - 159
2007 - 115
2008 - 123

Home Runs
2006 - 22
2007 - 16
2008 - 15

Team ERA
2006 - 5.75
2007 - 3.38
2008 - 4.20

Record vs Central
2006 - 3-11
2007 - 5-7
2008 - 10-6

The 2008 Twins are better in every category except HRs than the 2006 Twins who sucked in the first half won the division.

Carlos Gomez can run with the best of them. After 5 games with the Twins, Go-Gomez has stolen 4 bases, scored 4 runs, and has 9 hits in 20 at bats. In Friday's game against the Royals, the Twins and starter Scott Baker were set back 2 runs in the top of the first inning. Gomez, the Twins lead-off hitter, got on base with a bunt hit, stole second, and scored on a Joe Mauer single to cut the lead in half in the bottom half of the first. After the game, Manager Ron Gardenhire said Gomez provided a much needed spark in the Twins clubhouse. As a Twins fan, I always pay attention when Carlos is at-bat or at first base just to see if he will do anything spectacular. I don't think he could have a better five games in his Twins debut.

Francisco Liriano looked good yesterday when he pitched four no-hit innings against the O's while giving up two walks. Pitching four no-hit innings could be a sign that the promising pitcher is heading in the right direction. But then again he did it against the O's, a team that lost some key components of last years team which gave up a no-hitter and 30 runs in a game. Liriano has one more start this spring, and depending on how he does, he could start the season in the Twins rotation.

I think that unless he is unbelievable in his next spring start, he should start the year in AAA. The Twins have no reason to rush him into the rotation as they have plenty of young arms willing to take his place at the moment. Liriano missed nine days of spring training due to his visa situation so I'm not sure if he is ready to begin the year up in the bigs. Again, if he shows he is ready in his next start he should be in the rotation to start the year. If he does start the season with the Twins, he will get more time with Rick Anderson, which is always a plus.

Here is the list of Minnesota Twins players named in the Mitchell Report:

1. Rondell White

Quotes from Mitchell Report:

"Rondell White is an outfielder who has played for seven teams in Major League Baseball from 1993 to the present, the Montreal Expos (8 seasons), Chicago Cubs (parts of 2 seasons), New York Yankees (1 season), Kansas City Royals (part of 1 season), San Diego Padres (part of 1 season), Detroit Tigers (2 seasons), and Minnesota Twins (2 seasons)."

"According to [Kirk] Radomski, White started buying performance enhancing substances from him in 2000. White bought both human growth hormone and Deca-Durabolin."



Here is one of the seven checks that was used in the report as evidence of a connection between Kirk Randomski and Rondell White.


2. Chuck Knoblauch

Quotes from Mitchell Report:

"Chuck Knoblauch played as an infielder for three teams in Major League Baseball from 1991 to 2002, the Minnesota Twins (7 seasons), New York Yankees (4 seasons), and Kansas City Royals (1 season)."

"Knoblauch played for the Yankees during 2000 and 2001, the two years when
[Brian] McNamee served as the Yankees’ assistant strength coach. McNamee provided personal
training services to Knoblauch."

3. Denny Neagle

Quotes from Mitchell Report:

"Denny Neagle pitched for six teams in Major League Baseball between 1991 and
2003, the Minnesota Twins (1 season), Pittsburgh Pirates (5 seasons), Atlanta Braves
(3 seasons), Cincinnati Reds (2 seasons), New York Yankees (part of 1 season), and Colorado
Rockies (3 seasons)."

"[Kirk] Radomski said he met Neagle at a club in New York City in 2000 when Neagle played for the Yankees. After they met, Neagle called Radomski 'looking for HGH.' "

4. Chad Allen

Quotes from Mitchell Report:

"Chad Allen is an outfielder who played with four teams in Major League Baseball between 1999 and 2005, the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Florida Marlins, and Texas Rangers."

"Radomski believed he made between three and five sales to Allen involving Winstrol, testosterone, and Deca-Durabolin."

5. Daniel Naulty

Quotes from mitchell Report:

"Daniel Naulty pitched for two teams in Major League Baseball from 1996 to 1999, the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees."

"We contacted Naulty as part of our effort to interview former players. During his telephone interview, Naulty admitted to using steroids, on and off, for seven years, and human growth hormone for one year."

"Naulty said that he went 'from an A-ball pitcher to a major league prospect in a matter of two years.' "

Other Twins references in the Mitchell Report:

"In 2000 or 2001, a visiting clubhouse manager working for the Minnesota Twins found a used syringe on top of a trash can in the visitors’ clubhouse. He brought the incident to the attention of the Twins manager, Tom Kelly, who told him to dispose of the syringe and to be careful doing so. Kelly confirmed the incident and said that he did not report the incident to anyone because he felt it “wasn’t any of [his] business” and that it was the other team’s issue to address."

"Judge Larry M. Boyle, wrote a letter to Commissioner Selig...According to the letter, [Greg] Anderson told Boyle that Sheffield’s team was playing the Twins that week and Anderson had “come to work with him.”...Anderson confirmed to Boyle that his “best client” was Barry Bonds."


Misc:

Juan Rincon was not named in the report but he did test positive for prohibited substances in 2005 and served a ten game suspension.

'Amazingly' all but, Chad Allen played for the New York Yankees, probably because Kirk Radomski was employed by the NYM, and Brian McNamee worked with the NYY. These two seem to be the two main sources in the report. Without these two, this report would be awfully thin.

It almost seems fitting. On the last weekend of the college football season until the bowl games, both the number one and number two teams lost. Missouri lost to Oklahoma 38-17, but the Sooners were expected to win, at least by me. West Virgina lost Pittsburgh, now that is shocking. The top two teams should never lose in the same week. This year, it has happened twice in two weeks. This is the year for a playoff, but unfortunately there won't be one.

A playoff would be great because no one on earth would know who would win it all. Every other level of college football has a playoff, why can Division I-A have it? The playoff system would be so exciting to watch. Can you imagine LSU vs USC and the next week LSU vs Ohio State? For the people that are concerned about their precious bowl games, you can keep them ALL. (Even the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 bowl!) The bowl games would just have a different meaning.

In my blog exactly seven days ago I said it there should be an eight team playoff. After deep reflection and meditation (otherwise known as watching football), I think there should be a playoff of the top twelve teams in the nation, just like in the NFL. The top four teams in the BCS would have a first round bye and the other teams would be assigned to their playoff game accordingly.

I don't think it would be a bad thing to give some of the bowl games more meaning!

The loss today by West Virgina, 13-9 to Pitt, proves that number two is cursed. The second ranked team now has a record of 2-7 since Oct. 1st. This is simply amazing.

On a beautiful New Jersey day, Eli Manning threw for four TDs against the Minnesota Vikings. The only problem was three of his TD passes were interceptions. When all was said and done, Manning had thrown four intercepts and handed the game on a silver platter to the Vikings.

The Vikings, for a second consecutive week, had a big play to start the game off. On the second play from scrimmage, Tarvaris Jackson connected with a streaking Sidney Rice for a 60 yard TD pass to put the Vikings up 7-0. The Giants responded with an impressive 8 play, 65 yard drive that tied the score at seven all.

After a Vikings punt on the ensuing drive, the Giants got the ball back at their own 10 yard line looking to take control of the game. On the third play of the drive, Manning threw his first interception to Darren Sharper, who took it in for the score to put the Vikings ahead 14-7.

The two teams then traded possessions, the Giants got the ball back at their own 20 yard line. Eli Manning then threw his second interception to Dwight Smith, who returned the ball to the Giants' 8 yard line. On the next play, Chester Taylor had a bruising run into the end zone to extend the Vikings lead to 14 points. After tacking on a Ryan Longwell field goal, The Vikings took a 24-7 lead at half time.

VIKINGS LEAD 24-7 AT HALF

The Giants started the third quarter with a 10 play, 48 yard drive that resulted in a Lawrence Tynes 48 yard field goal to place the score of the game at 24-10. The Vikings then had a drive of their own that took 9:24 off of the clock and ended with a field goal by Ryan Longwell to put the score at 27-10.

Eli Manning and the Giants then engineered an impressive drive down to the Minnesota 11 yard line. Eli Manning then threw a quick slant to Jeremy Shockey, but the the ball was tipped by the Vikings' Ben Leber. Dwight Smith intercepted the tipped pass for his second interception of the day and took it 93 yards to the house to put the Vikings ahead 34-10. On the next Giants possession, Eli Manning through another INT for a TD via Chad Greenway, Manning's third INT for TD of the game.

The Greenway interception for a touchdown placed the Vikings in firm control of the game at 41-10. After the Giants added a late touchdown, they had one final chance to score 24 points in 5:09. On fourth down, Eli Manning was sacked for a 26 yard loss, and any hope (there was none) that the Giants could come back was crushed.



Final Score: VIKINGS 41 GIANTS 17

Of Note:

- Eli Manning threw four interceptions in one game for just the second time in his career, the other coming against the Vikings two years ago.

- The Vikings won their second straight game without Rookie star Adrian Peterson.

- Manning has thrown 8 interceptions in his last two meetings with the Vikings

Kansas lost about 30 minutes ago. LSU lost yesterday. Wait a second, that means that both the number one and number two teams in the nation lost in the same week! I check my trusty calendar and yes it is November, late November to be more precise. In a season where the number two teams are cursed (The teams are 2-6 since Oct. 1), and the number one teams are not invincible, it is not surprising that the "top" teams are faltering late in the season. Is this a sign that there should be a playoff? Yes.

I like the idea of keeping the BCS around and using it to select the schools for an eight team playoff. All four of the BCS bowl games would be played as usual to select the four teams that advance to the semifinals. After the semifinals are played, then comes the mother of all bowl games: the BCS Championship Game. Then there would be no debate as to which team is number one. This format for the playoffs also extends the college football season by two weeks. This allows for two more weeks of distraction from your favorite underachieving NFL team. (cough, Vikings)

For the past month or so I have been waiting to hear the news. Yesterday afternoon, I got it. Torii Hunter, the undeniable face of my team, the Minnesota Twins, had signed with the California/LA Angels of Anaheim. I can't say I was shocked by the news, but I was shocked by a couple of things.

1. The Team

Everything I had heard, especially over the last couple of weeks, was about Torii playing on the south side next season. This bothered me immensely. In addition to playing for the one of the Twins' chief rivals, the Chicago White Sox, Hunter would be showcased in 18 divisional games between the two clubs. I don't think many Twins fans who would like departure of our great player be rubbed in our faces. A day ago, if I created a list of teams I thought Hunter was going to, I probably would have ranked the Twins ahead of the Angels.

2. The Cash

90 million dollars. I can't blame him. There are a lot of things I would do for and with 90,000,000 dollars. Apparently the Angels were desperate for a center fielder. That is definitely not the case. Last year, the halos signed Gary Matthews Jr. for ten million dollars over five years. Puzzling. This grand offer blew away other offers by the likes of Chicago, KC, and the Rangers. Obviously, Torii picked the right ball club money wise. Personally, I think the Angels overpaid for Hunter in a big way. Not only did they spend way too much, but they will also lose the 27th overall pick in next year's draft. If Hunter gets injured, his new team might have to eat crow for a while.


One thing is for sure: the Twins made the right decision not to try and out bid other teams willing to sign Hunter. This does not make up for the bigger mistake the Twins made last year in not signing or trading Hunter. No one will know who or what the Twins could have gotten for Hunter if they had had the guts to trade him rather than let him slip through their fingers.