The Twins started off the week with four straight losses including a sweep by Detroit. They finished the week with a 2-1 series victory in Milwaukee. While the week’s record was pretty discouraging, the Twins did make some good roster moves and we did see encouraging starts from a couple newcomers to the rotation. Carlos Silva went to the bullpen after his bad start last Sunday making way for Francisco Liriano. Kyle Lohse headed to AAA after his start on Tuesday and was replaced by Boof Bonser. Both Liriano and Bonser had quality starts and had it not been for the bullpen’s failures on Sunday they both would’ve picked up wins.

Honorable Mention

• Francisco Liriano: We have all been waiting to see Liriano in the rotation, and we weren’t let down on Friday night when he started in Milwaukee. As he works to build up his endurance, he was limited to just 5 innings of work. He had a little control problems at times, but for the most part Brewer batters weren’t able to figure him out. He gave up just 1 run and 2 hits in the outing and picked up the win.
• Boof Bonser: Bonser made his major league debut on Sunday and we weren’t really sure what to expect. Bonser worked out of his first inning struggles by only allowing one run after bases were loaded with no outs. It was fairly smooth sailing from there and he left after 6 innings with 8 strikeouts and a 3-1 lead. In the end Milwaukee came back on Jesse Crain, but Bonser gave us a better start than Lohse has provided all year.
• Torii Hunter: Hunter had at least a hit in each of the games last week and raised his batting average to .272. He had 6 runs scored, but only 3 RBIs out of the cleanup spot.

Player of the Week: Joe Mauer

Mauer started off the week a little slow with three 1-4 days at the plate and an offday on Thursday. He exploded over the weekend though. On Friday he was 3-5 with a run scored. On Saturday night he did even better going 4-5 with 3 runs and 4 RBIs including his third homer of the season. On Sunday, a day that would normally be an offday for him he hit 2-5 with an RBI against left-handed starter Chris Capuano. With the exception of Luis Castillo, Mauer has been the Twins most consistent hitter this season. There have been comments that he still lacks power and he’s not a good fit for the #3 spot, but he’s still been a solid guy in the lineup.