MAY 21, 2009 -- MINNESOTA 20, CHICAGO 1

No, that's not a typo. The Twins put a twenty-spot on the board Thursday afternoon, pasting the White Sox on the day that Padres ace Jake Peavy spurned a potential trade to the South Siders. Coincidence or not? Whatever the case, the fact remains that the White Sox are committed to putting the best players on the field and they are willing to part with their best prospects in order to get a major piece of the puzzle. That sort of thing is simply non-existant in Minnesota, where the team regularly chooses to go with homegrown players with severe deficiencies in the talent department (think Nick Punto, Matt Tolbert, et al.) and annually refuses to make that key acquisition down the stretch. Different philosophies for sure, and it's not surprising that the White Sox have a World Series title to show for it.


I know what some of you must be thinking. Howie -- the Twins won by nineteen runs. You can't possibly take anything negative out of a 20-1 win. My friends, I am afraid you simply don't know me well enough to make that assumption. There's plenty to take out of the game that is hard to accept from a Twins fan. I know this team and one thing is for certain: they'll do this sort of thing once and awhile and score a ton of runs, and then the next day invariably they get shut out. It doesn't matter who they're playing or what pitcher they're facing. They got their hits in for the week on Thursday and expect some low-scoring games from the Twins this weekend against the red-hot Brewers. That I will guarantee.



Secondly, did anyone else get the feeling after they were up by eight runs after two innings that the lead was not safe? In the third inning, when Nick Blackburn started the inning by loading the bases with no one out, I had this sneaky feeling like "Here we go again." Believe it or not, the Twins needed all twenty runs on Thursday. With the bullpen the way it is and the manager mismanaging games on a regular basis, no lead is safe. As long as the Twins had their hitting shoes on, they need to tack on as many runs as they could get.



Thirdly, what the hell was Ron Gardenhire thinking when he took out Nick Blackburn after seven innings and eighty-one pitches??? That's it, Gardenhire -- there's no more bitching about an over-worked bullpen anymore, because you chose to send out Jose Mijares in the eighth and Joe Nathan in the ninth inning. Talk about classic Gardenhire -- using three pitchers to get through a 20-1 victory. You say you wanted Joe Nathan to "get some work in." How about an extra bullpen session, or even better, why not use him in a two-inning situation when you really need the outs? Blackburn was just simply cruising, and the gall that Gardenhire displayed by taking him out just emphasizes his inability to manage games. What legitimate reason do you have for taking Blackburn out? The pitch count was low, the game was a blowout, and you've overworked your bullpen your entire career. Managers should love blowouts like these, because they're essentially bullpen savers. But not to The Brain, who chooses to overmanage 20-1 victories. Because of this pathetic display of stupidity, Gardenhire has no right to complain about his bullpen being overworked. You, Gardenhire, chose to use three pitchers in a 20-1 ballgame.




Because seven days have elapsed, outfielder Delmon Young needed to be activated from the "family emergency list" even though he won't be able to rejoin the team until Sunday night. As expected the Twins sent down catcher Jose Morales, making it two times this season that the Twins have sent down a guy hitting .358. Meanwhile, Mike Redmond is swinging at balls three feet outside to end ballgames, has lost five steps, can't throw out a runner at second base to save his life, and pitchers have an ERA over 6 when he's behind the plate. Makes a whole lot of sense, Gardenhire.


As mentioned, the Twins battle the Brewers in the first batch of interleague games this season. The Twins have previously thrived on playing the National League, but the Brewers have been the hottest team in baseball for the last month or so, and the Twins have limped back home. Don't expect a carry-over from Thursday's rout; knowing the Twins, I expect more of a hang-over than anything. Kevin Slowey pitches tonight against Manny Parra.