Mike Lamb Topic Page

Compared to last season, not a lot changed for the Twins this past winter. Last offseason saw the loss of Johan Santana and Torii Hunter as well as a trade that sent Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to the Tampa Bay Rays for Delmon Young and Brendan Harris. This offseason's biggest move was the signing of Joe Crede, who comes into the season still trying to shake off any doubt about his health.

Let's take a position-by-position look at where the Twins stand in 2009 compared to 2008.

It looked the Twins might have been on the verge of giving up another lead when Livan Hernandez allowed 2 runs in the sixth, tying the ball game. Livan allowed 5 runs (3 earned) through six innings for his worst start of the season. However, unlike the previous two nights, the bullpen was able to get the job done. Dennys Reyes, Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan put together 3 scoreless innings and the Twins were able to add one run in the eighth inning on a Mike Lamb sacrifice fly for the win.

For the second straight night the bullpen gave up a late Twins' lead. Three runs in the eighth inning were enough to put Detroit on top and hold off a small ninth inning rally from the Twins. The Tigers swept the 2 game series and doubled their win total on the season. At 4-10, they're not just 2 games behind the 6-8 Twins.

The Twins seemed on their way to handing the Tigers their 11th loss of the young season before the Tigers broke out for 11 runs in their final three innings at the plate to defeat the Twins by a score of 11-9.

A quality start from Boof Bonser wasn't enough to overcome the continued offensive struggles of the Twins. Through seven games their offense is averaging only 2.7 runs per game and they've been limited to 1 or less run in 3 games.

The Twins played their 4th 1-run game of the young season, this time barely coming out on top against the Kansas City Royals. The loss was the first of the season for Kansas City, who had opened their season with a 3-game sweep of Detroit.

In his first major league start, Nick Blackburn gave the Twins a pretty good effort. Unfortunately, 0 run support never results in a win. Blackburn allowed just 1 run on 5 hits through 7 innings. He matched the zeros of Angels pitcher Joe Saunders until the seventh inning when a 2-out wild pitch allowed Howie Kendrick to score from third.

Game Time: 6:05 PM (CT) Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Opponent: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Twins offered Mike Lamb a 2 year $6.6 million contract to man third base in 2008 and 2009, with a $3.5 million club option for 2010. Will they get their money's worth on this deal? Let's see:

The Twins signed their second former Houston Astro infielder of week, offering Mike Lamb a 2-year deal worth $6.6 million with a club option for 2010. Lamb has not surpassed 400 AB since his rookie season of 2000 with the Texas Rangers. He spent his years in Houston playing behind third baseman Morgan Ensberg.