Twins (6-6) at Tigers (2-10)

Well, who would have thought that they Tigers would struggle this much with the lineup they now have. Detroit will eventually turn it around, but I'm not sure the playoffs are a guarantee like we all assumed it would be.

The Twins on the other hand, are a very average team. They are 6-6 and have played a fairly normal schedule so far. This will be a big test for both teams. A Twins (2 game) sweep would be disasterous for the Tigers, while a Tigers sweep would be a big let down for the Twins. I'm guessing a split will be the outcome.

Mon 7:05 Blackburn (0-1) vs Bonderman (1-1)
Tue 7:05 Baker (2-0) vs Robertson (0-1)

Twins (4-5) at Royals (6-3)

Minnesota makes it's first trip to Kansas City this weekend in what used to be a sure sweep. But this year looks to be much different, as the Royals swept Detroit in the first series of the year and just took two of three against the Yankees.

This is already the second series between these teams, Minnesota taking two of three in the first meeting at the Metrodome.

Kansas City is home to a out in Centhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifer Field. It's been called the World's largest HD scoreboard and it looks pretty awesome.

Fri 8:10 Meche (0-1) vs Hernández (2-0)
Sat 7:10 Tomko (1-0) vs Bonser (0-2)
Sun 2:10 Bannister (2-0) vs Blackburn (0-1)

Twins at White Sox

Chicago (4-2) is coming off a sweep of lowly Detroit, scoring 26 runs in three games, while Minnesota (3-4) has only scored 19 runs in the 7 games they've played so far this season. So it looks like it will be more of the same against the high scoring White Sox.

But thankfully, Justin Morneau seems to have things on track as he hit two homeruns against KC. Gomez has continued to get on base and create scoring chances for the Twins.

Mon 3:05 Blackburn vs Vázquez
Wed 7:11 Baker vs Danks
Thu 7:11 Hernández vs Contreras

Here comes the Royals

The 3-0 Royals are next up for the Twins team that had it's ups and downs during the first series of the year. While Kansas City swept the league favorite Detroit Tigers on the road, the Twins went 1-3 at home against another top team in the LA Angels.

The Twins learned that they are fast and still have a good bullpen, and that hitting will continue to be a problem. Justin Morneau is off to a slow start at 0-12, but did make an incredible defensive play at first base. Delmon Young hasn't shown the power yet, but he is batting .400 and has looked good at the plate. Carlos Gómez looked like a star player in the first game, but had troubles bunting in the next few games. Once he gets a handle on how to bunt on the turf at the dome, he will be even better.

The pitching was better then expected. Hernandez and Blackburn and even Slowey had great starts, while Boof struggled. I'm really looking forward to watching Baker take the mound tonight to see how he battles back from a small injury.

If the Twins can take 2-3 from the Royals, I will be very pleased, but even more important is that they do the little things well. It's way too early in the season to get down on this team, so seeing improvement from one series to the next is all we can go on.

On pace for 162 wins!!

That Twins game was one of the most fun I can remember watching. I'm pissed that Kubel didn't start, but not as irate as Gleeman. His statistics are plenty compelling. But I'm going to let it go, because Gardy's "hunch" worked for him. And baseball, it turns out, is a hell of a lot more than statistics. That's certainly not an endorsement for Gardy, however.

Gomez surprised the hell out of me. This was really the first time I've been able to see the "game-changing" speed. And it was game-changing. If this kid can just take a simple approach in his at-bats, I don't think it's going to be too difficult for him to get on base. The beauty of him being on base so much last night, is that he virtually eliminates the potential for Mauer to hit into the DP.
We love that.

Kudos to Hernandez too, for making Angels batters look silly at times, but mostly just confused. He's going to get rocked this year, but at least we see that he will keep the ball in play and let the defense bail him out. There is some truth to all of this "guile" talk.

I was giddy watching Neshek and Nathan seal the win. Wathching Nathan strike Torii out was maybe the highlight of the game for me.

I heartily endorse the reported siging of Barry Bonds. ;)