Jim Thome 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.

A quick note that I've got an article over at Ballhype discussing many of the free agent signings of last off season, so please check it out and hype it up, if you deem it worthy. It is the first of what I expect to become regular baseball columns at Ballhype. It gives me a good opportunity to expand my focus beyond the Twins once every week or so.

The Twins offense exploded for a combined 32 runs in the two games in Chicago on Friday. That one day accounts for nearly 7.5% of the Twins' runs scored so far through 86 games. Things were going so well that even Nick Punto had 3 hits on the day.

The series has been cut short due to cold weather and wind on Friday, but it appears that the next two games will go on as scheduled. Sidney Ponson will be shuffled to Monday leaving Carlos Silva to get the start on Saturday afternoon and Johan Santana to pitch on Sunday. The White Sox will stick with their original rotation plan by having Javier Vasquez pushed back to Saturday and left handed rookie John Danks face off against Santana on Sunday.

The Twins got off to a slow start on Monday night in Chicago. Despite having baserunners in scoring position in the 3rd and 4th innings, Javier Vasquez managed to hold the Twins scoreless through five innings. In the meantime Brad Radke had given up a homerun in each of the 4th and 5th innings. However, they were both solo homers, so the damage was minimal. The Twins matched the White Sox in power on Monday night; the difference was the Twins had more baserunners on when the balls left the park.

This past week was similar to week one -- a record of 1-5 and not many good things to talk about. Let's jump right into the discussion of the players this week and cross our fingers that next week goes a lot better.

Making the lineup card for Saturday night's game wasn't an easy task for Ron Gardenhire. Shannon Stewart is still away with his wife who just gave birth to their first child. Luis Castillo is still hobbled with the knee injury from Thursday's game, and Ruben Sierra is a bit sore from fouling a ball off the ankle. All this meant Rondell White, the usual DH was playing in Left field, Luis Rodgriguez was playing at second, Joe Mauer was the DH, and Mike Redmond was behind the plate.

This game was a lot closer than the final score indicated. As predicted, the Mark Buehrle and Johan Santana matchup turned out to be a pitchers duel--until the 8th inning.

I posted some live commentary and a game recap over in the scoreboard section, so check that out for details of the game. From time-to-time over the course of the season I'll keep a running live commentary on games, so be sure to stop by during games and leave comments as well.

In Baseball, you'd rather be playing well in the month of September than in April, so you have some momentum going into the playoffs. However, when it comes to making the playoffs, April games count just as much as those in September. The first few weeks of the Twins' season could prove to be pretty important when it comes to how the season is going to turn out. Let's take a look at the tough matchups they'll be facing right away.