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The Twins snapped their 2-game skid with a convincing win that was broken open with a 5-run seventh inning for the Twins. Edwin Jackson and Francisco Liriano had been dueled to a 1-1 tie in the preceding six innings.

Liriano put together his best start of the season, allowing 2 runs on just 4 hits and 3 walks. More importantly, he struck out a season high 9 batters, which is tied for the most since his dominate stint in 2006. In terms of innings pitched, it was also his most successful effort of the year. After witnessing Scott Baker's sudden collapse on Sunday afternoon, Ron Gardenhire wasted no time pullling Liriano when he ran into trouble in the eighth inning (the pitch count of 103 had a lot to do with it too).

Glen Perkins is next on the list for 2008 projections. First, the stats:

Matt Guerrier is next on the list for the continuing series of 2008 projections. We've done the likely starting pitchers already and are rapidly working through the bullpen. We'll get to the hitters next week. Let's look at Guerrier's numbers:

The Twins' offense tried it's hardest to lose Friday night's series opener against the Texas Rangers, but ultimately the Rangers proved to be the worse of two bad teams.

This was an ugly night for Twins pitching. First, the Sidney Ponson experiment might be nearing an end. I'd give him one last chance before turning to Matt Garza. Ponson gave up 10 hits through 4 1/3 IP and was charged with 6 of the 11 runs scored by Kansas City. The Twins bullpen also continued its early season struggles. Glen Perkins took over for Ponson in the fifth and allowed3 hits and walk through 1 2/3. Perkins has had inconsistent playing time since being called up, so I'd be curious to see how he does once he gets more innings.

There were a lot of hits in Sunday's series finale in Kansas City. The Twins totaled 22 hits in the game, but no one had more than Jason Bartlett's 5. In the past week, since July 31st, Bartlett has had 5 multi-hit games and he's seen his average rise to .377. He of course, has only about half the plate appearances required to qualify as a league leader, but he's no doubt been extremely valuable at the bottom of the order. On Sunday he drove in the Twins first run of the game with a bloop single just past Royal first baseman Ryan Shealy.

Update (5/17/06 4:05 PM): It's just been reported that the Twins have sent Lohse to AAA Rochester and called up Boof Bonser who will start on Sunday. I'll be curious to see what the future holds for Kyle Lohse. Full AP Story

The Twins lost their 4th straight game against Detroit Friday night at the dome. The Twins offense was surprisingly affective against Kenny Rogers. Rogers has built a reputation of being a Twins killer, so it was great to see not one but several innings in which the Twins managed to score against him. Unfortunately, Kyle Lohse struggled again, banishing any chance the Twins might of had at winning the game.

This was an ugly game all around for the Twins. Brad Radke again struggled early givig up 6 runs in the first 3 innings of the game. Radke was pulled in the 3rd and Matt Guerrier finished out the inning. Throught 5 starts this season Radke has no quality starts and his only two wins were a result of massive run support. After having arm trouble late last season, and now struggling mightily this season, Radke is starting to become a concern.

The biggest issue facing the Twins in 2006 isn't necessarily whether they have improved or retreated from their 2005 team, but rather how much better the White Sox and Indians will be in 2006. The Twins are going to have some tough competition this season and the AL Central may become one of the stronger divisions in baseball. Nevertheless, it's worth discussing how the Twins have changed in each area from 2005 to 2006.