Justin's grand slam, 5 RBI over-shadowed.

A 5-0 lead in the top of the third was wiped out in the bottom, as Nick Blackburn was tagged for five consecutive singles to lead off the inning.  Hank Blalock follwed immediately with a double, before Jason Botts drove his own double to right field.  Blalock, who was trying to score from second, was thrown out at the plate.  Botts, in an attempt to turn his double into a triple, was consequently thrown out at third.  Seven consecutive hits plated five runs, but Blackburn was the benefactor of a slow runner and a bad base-running decision.  Frank Catalanotto was called out on strikes to end the Ranger third in the very next at-bat, but it could have been a whole lot worse.

Each team was kept scoreless until the bottom of the tenth, when Donny Murphy singled off of Juan Rincon to score German Duran.

Carlos Gomez rebounded for the second straight game, going 2-for-3 with two runs and his 10th stolen base of the year.  Joe Mauer also did his part, going 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.  After the criticism they've received here the last couple of days, it was good to see them come through.  Hopefully they can build off of Friday's successes at the plate.

Michael Cuddyer was 1-for-5 in his return, batting fifth.  He was followed by Jason Kubel and Delmon Young, whose hitless nights helped the three combine for a 1-for-14 evening.  They stranded 17 baserunners between them.

That's not a fun way to start your Saturday morning, no matter what country you're in.  I'll see you this afternoon.

Close contest blown open by grand slam.

Nick Blackburn made his second start of the season on Monday afternoon, and turned in another solid performance.  Over five innings he allowed two runs, while striking out five and scattering seven hits.  Leaving the game with a 3-2 lead, on most occasions the Twins bullpen would have locked it down.

Instead, the bottom of the seventh inning turned into a nightmare.  Matt Guerrier got Orlando Cabrera to fly out to lead off the inning, but Jim Thome walked and Paul Konerko singled to chase Guerrier from the game.  Neshek relieved him, and on a high-and-tight slider Jermaine Dye fisted a single up the middle.  Thome scored and the game was tied.

After retiring A.J. Pierzynski for the second out of the inning, Carlos Quentin singled to load the bases for Twin Killer Joe Crede.  Neshek delivered a sinking fastball that just missed outside before feeding him a fastball at the belt.  Crede turned on the pitch and launched it into the left field seats.  The five-run inning gave Chicago a 7-3 lead.

The Twins were able to manage another run in the eighth, but the damage had been done.  Matt Tolbert reached on a single in the ninth, but Carlos Gomez (who stole his fifth base of the season) ended the game on a 6-4-3 double play.  Minnesota falls to 3-5.

Between tomorrow and Wednesday I'm hoping to get up some research that I've done on pitch selection for the Twins so far this season.  I'll see you for the game tomorrow!