J.J. Hardy Topic Page

Despite the Twins' success in this decade, they haven't posted a winning record against the Angels since 2003 when they went 5-4, so what seemed like a difficult way to open the season, has actually gone pretty well. By winning on Tuesday night, the Twins guarantee at least a split in the 4-game series. The Twins swept the Angels in their first series last season, but then went 1-6 against them the rest of the way; the sweep came at the Metrodome.

Justin Morneau and J.J. Hardy each hit their second home run of the season, but the Twins again failed to take advantage of many scoring opportunities throughout the game. Fortunately, Carl Pavano was dealing quite well and 4 runs proved to be enough for the win.

Jim Thome got his first start at DH, leaving Jason Kubel to ride the bench against righty Ervin Santana. Thome was 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, which didn't do much to support an already easy-to-criticize decision by Ron Gardenhire.

The Twins rebounded from Monday night's season opening loss with a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Nick Blackburn looked anything but dominant, but managed to work through 6 2/3 inning while allowing just 3 runs. Brian Duensing and Matt Guerrier closed the gap nicely to enable Jon Rauch to come on for his first save as a Minnesota Twins.

Boof Bonser turned in a decent start on Saturday night against the Brewers, but once again the offense gave the starting pitcher virtually no chance to win. The Twins bats were up against Dave Bush, who had a 3-6 record and an ERA of 5.70 coming into the game. Scoring runs shouldn't have been a problem, yet they managed just 2 runs through the entire game.

As much as my old-fashioned baseball loving mind hates the idea of inter-league play, I must admit it provides me with a convenient opportunity to see the Twins on the road in a real stadium. I'll be heading to Milwaukee with a couple friends for Friday and Saturday nights' games at Miller Park. I've never been to Miller Park (or really Milwaukee for that matter), so I'm definitely excited about the trip, despite how the Twins are playing heading into the weekend.