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Nick Blackburn won his 3rd consecutive game and put an end to the Twins' 3-game losing streak on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays. Blackburn allowed solo home runs to Carlos Pena and Matt Joyce, and he was able to work out of a bases-loaded jam in the 5th inning. 4 of Blackburn's 5 wins this year have come following a Twins loss, including his past 3 wins.

His opponent, Matt Garza, seemed to be pitching even better. By the 6th inning, a Brendan Harris solo home run was the only costly mistake he had made. In the 6th inning Denard Span reached on a bunt single and was later driven in by Justin Morneau. In the 7th inning the Twins gave Blackburn the lead when Carlos Gomez blooped a single into shallow right to score Brian Buscher.

Joe Nathan blew his first save of the season by giving up a leadoff home run to Ben Zobrist in the ninth inning. Gleeman suggested that perhaps Nathan isn't getting enough work. It's hard to disagree. Nathan has pitched just 7.0 innings all season. The only player that's been on the active roster all season and pitched fewer innings is Craig Breslow. Nathan is the highest paid member of the bullpen, and should be used more often.

Although Francisco Liriano couldn't get his first save of the season, he had his best outing of the season, allowing 2 runs through 6.2 innings.

Whenever the Twins got something going offensively on Sunday, a double play was right around the corner. In the 2nd inning Michael Cuddyer drew a walk, which was following up by a Delmon Young inning ending double play. Jose Morales led off the 3rd inning with a single, and that was following by a Nick Punto GIDP.

The worst came in the ninth when the twins had worked to within 2 runs and were facing closer Kerry Wood. Morales again got a leadoff single, and then Brian Buscher walked on 4 pitches. Denard Span then grounded into a no-out double play to kill the rally and the game for the Twins.

I thought I'd interrupt the steady stream of projections posts to recap what's been happening down in Florida.

This was a game I only saw bits and pieces of, and I missed the 9th and 10th innings, so I'll definitely have to go back and watch the archived game from MLB.tv.

The high-powered Yankee lineup was no match for...Ramon Ortiz??? I fully expected another beating from the Yankees, but Ortiz stepped up big-time for the longest Twins start of the season. He allowed just three hits and a walk through eight innings. The Twins offense came around just in time with four runs in the eighth inning to give Ortiz the win. The first two starts of the season for Ortiz have been about as encouraging as possible.

Spring Training Game.