The Twins hoped to put a miserable weekend of baseball behind them as they returned to the dome for a 7 game series starting with the Seattle Mariners. Unfortunately, the weekend horror story spilled over into Monday as the Twins lost by a pretty wide gap. Monday was just another day for the Twins – another 19 hits and 8 runs surrendered. They did manage to score more runs than they manged all weekend in Detroit, but 2 runs isn’t exactly what I’d call a major league offense.

The Twins first inning at bat started off as so many have this year. Shannon Stewart singled and Luis Castillo reached on a well-placed bunt. Joe Mauer then grounded out reaching first while Castillo was retired at 2nd. Torii Hunter causes the second out with a ground ball to SS Yuniesky Betancourt who threw out Stewart trying for home. With 2 outs and what looked like another failed attempt with runners in scoring position, Lew Ford battled back from an 0-2 count and singled to score Joe Mauer and give the Twins a brief lead in the game.

In the 2nd Scott Baker gave up a 2-run homer to Kenji Johjima to put Seattle in the lead for good. Things really got out of hand in the 6th inning. Baker ran into trouble and was pulled for Jesse Crain (what is Gardy thinking???). Crain was pretty much ineffective allowing four hits and getting just 1 out. Willie Eyre had to come in to finish out the inning. When it was all said and done, 5 more runs had scored and the game was out of reach at 8-1.

Morneau barely got a ball over the center field fence and past Jeremy Reeds glove to score the Twins second and final run of the game. Seattle isn’t a very good team, and it’s pretty depressing to the Twins struggle so much against them. The Twins defense is also beginning to look careless and sloppy. The Twins had just one error in the game but there were also a couple balls that weren’t played well, such as a grounder that skipped past Juan Castro’s glove at SS.

Game Notes

• The Twins had a different lineup today with Hunter batting cleanup, Ford batting fifth and White down in the 8 spot.
• Hunter brought his average above .200 with a 2-for-4 day.
• Justin Morneau hit his 6th homer of the season. Before you start to think he’s having a good season, let me tell you that he’s batting .210.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow night the Twins will try to take a split from the Mariners in this two game series. Johan Santana will take the mound against lefty Jarron Washburn. You’d like to think a Santana start is a guarunteed victory, but obviously the Twins struggle against lefties and with the way they’ve been playing lately…well, you get my point.

The Twins will start a 2-game series against the Royals on Wednesday