Gavin Floyd pitches another career-highlighting game, brushes against history after nearly no-hitting the Tigers in April.

While The Perfect Game is rare, a No-Hitter is pretty damn close.  Floyd combined a masterful performance with some help from his defense, the end result of which was a great win for the White Sox.  There was a little trouble in the first inning, as he walked Brendan Harris and Joe Mauer in back-to-back plate appearances, but no damage was done.

Another walk to Mauer in the fourth led to Minnesota's only run.  With Joe on first, Justin Morneau took a strong cut and lined the ball hard into left field.  Carlos Quentin appeared to make the catch, but in the next instant the ball slipped from his glove.  Michael Cuddyer followed up with a long fly out to right field, advancing Mauer to third, and Jason Kubel completed the hitless scoring opportunity by lifting a sacrifice fly to Nick Swisher in center field.  It made the score 2-1, but Floyd wouldn't give the Minnesota offense another opportunity.

Cuddyer described what it was like for hitters in the batters box:

"He had late movement, and that's the best kind you can have," Cuddyer said. "It looks like a strike all the way to the zone and then maybe it falls out. To the naked eye, it looks like we are chasing, but when you're up there, it looks like a strike."

Gavin Floyd's curveball has always been his best pitch, but on Tuesday night his fastball and slider were just as effective.  Games like this are what can happen when guys with great stuff, like Floyd, can get it all working at once.

After retiring Brendan Harris on strikes to start the top of the ninth, Joe Mauer stepped in, 0-for-1 with a pair of walks.  On a 1-0 count, Floyd's slider broke over the plate and Mauer took advantage.  Mauer pushed it, lining the ball into the left-center field gap.  Swisher, who had been playing Mauer to pull, was out of position.

Knowing it takes a little luck to put a No-Hitter on your resume, Floyd mentioned he could only do what he could do:  throw strikes and get people out.  It was Swisher who sounded disappointed when talking about trying to keep that goose egg intact:

"In the sixth, I looked up and realized they didn't have [a hit]...I didn't care if I had to run through the wall to catch it. I was going for it, and tried my best superman impersonation, but I didn't get it. In my mind, it [stinks]. The win was great to get, but I wanted that for Gavin."

That one hit was enough, and Ozzie Guillen lifted Floyd from the game with a 7-1 lead, one out and Joe Mauer standing on second base.  It was Mauer's ninth double of the season.  Bobby Jenks came on and closed out the ninth.

It wasn't much fun to watch as a Twins fan, but as a baseball fan it's easy to appreciate what Floyd nearly pulled off.  We know first hand what it's like to cheer for someone or something that isn't extpected to do too much, and Gavin Floyd's career hasn't exactly gone as it once was projected.  Tuesday night he was effective as any pitcher in the game, and he nearly pulled off a No-Hitter.

Having said that, I'm glad Mauer broke it up.  It's a small victory, one of those "moral victories", but you take what you can get out of a loss.  Game two of the series is tonight, hopefully we can turn it back around and start another winning streak.

[Note by Jesse, 05/07/08 5:39 AM CDT ]  Be sure to check out our Q&A with Twins President Dave St. Peter from Tuesday moring!

Twins score four in bottom of the seventh, win fifth straight.

This game kicked off with one of those ominous half-innings, the ones that make you cringe as your team gets rocked.  Things that can go wrong do go wrong, and by the time that third out finally gets recorded you need a few minutes to shake the haze from your head.  Such was the top of the first inning, as Bonser combined bad location with bad luck, and following Curtis Granderson's leadoff homer the Tigers strung together five consecutive singles.  By the time the number seven hitter, Marcus Thames, popped out to Joe Mauer, it was five to nothing.  And the Twins hadn't even come to the plate.

A wild pitch by Bonser on a third strike allowed Ivan Rodriguez to reach, a throwing error by Mauer saw Edgar Renteria score, and when Granderson struck out in his second at-bat of the inning to end the top of the first Detroit was staked to a six-run lead.  But it's always darkest before the light.

Following the implosive first inning, Bonser found his groove.  It was a 45-pitch first inning, but the Tigers never found a way to get to Boof again as he followed up with pitch counts of five, 14, 10, 14 and 11.  His fastball looked good, the breaking balls snapped down and all the luck Detroit had (or was it bad luck on Minnesota's end?) in the first inning disappeared without a trace.  Boof Bonser could have collapsed, could have given in and thrown it away for lost after that nightmare of a first inning, but he didn't.  He came back strong, was effective, and he gave his offense a chance.

The offense didn't disappoint.

Justin Morneau singled following Mauer's double in the bottom of the fourth, making for the Twins first run.  The next inning, Nick Punto doubled in both Craig Monroe and Delmon Young to close the gap to three.  But it was with two outs in the bottom of the seventh that fireworks went off.

With Kenny Rogers still on the mound, Matt Tolbert took the seventh pitch of his plate appearance pulled a double into left field.  Nick Punto followed that up by rolling over on a changeup, but the Twins were getting all the bounces by this point.  Carlos Guillen, playing third base, let it get through his legs; runners at the corners, still two away.  The hiccup chased Rogers, who was replaced by Zach Miner.

Miner peppered leadoff man Carlos Gomez with four straight fastballs.  On the fourth offering, Gomez swung and chopped a high bouncer off the plate.  Edgar Renteria charged and snagged the ball on the first hop, but he never had a chance.  Gomez reached, Punto advanced to second, and Tolbert scored.  6-4, Detroit; momentum was swinging.
 
Hitless on the afternoon, Brendan Harris put a charge into a changeup from Miner.  He drove it deep into left field, past the outstretched arm of Jacque Jones, and it bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double.  6-5, Detroit.

Then came Joe Mauer, with two runners in scoring position.  Bobby Seay had replaced Miner, but he couldn't stop the bleeding.  Mauer chopped a fastball up the middle, right over the mound.  Polanco and Renteria converged but the ball snuck through, and Mauer's seeing-eye single scored two.

It was a fantastic comeback for the Twins, and the victory keeps them in first place.  In the stretch of these five wins, Minnesota has outscored their opponents 29-12, and the bats have been more impressive than they've been most of the year.  The picture is far from perfect, but it's working for the moment, and it's one hell of a lot of fun to see.

The game was at a reasonable time considering my six-hour time difference...and I didn't even see it.  Which is probably why we won.  And since when did I become so superstitious?

Checking the box scores and reading recaps is no way to live a life as a Twins blogger.  But it will have to suffice for tonight.  I'm more than happy to dish out the general specifics (oxymoron?), but I'm sure you can fill me in on the specific events.

Carlos Gomez had a huge game, going 3-for-4 and snagging his 11th base of the year.  After reaching on a bunt, Justin Morneau busted out a double that plated the speedster from third base, giving the Twins the go-ahead run.  From what I've read it looks like Gomez had tried earlier in the game to score from third on a mis-played ball, but was called out at the plate.  I'm wondering how they were able to throw the ball fast enough to over-take him on the relay home.

Thursday is an off-day before heading into the weekend series versus the Tigers.  I'll catch up with you sometime tomorrow.  Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday everyone.

It's as easy as 1-2-3.

Jason Kubel hit a 2-run shot in the fourth off Chicago starter Gavin Floyd, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead.  Michael Cuddyer, who had doubled directly in front of our new full-time designated hitter, was the other run.  Said Kubel about the upper-deck shot:

"I was just trying to get the runner over from second base, and he left it down the middle," Kubel said. "I was trying to pull it and ended up putting a lot of backspin on it. And I got it up and out."

Floyd agreed, admitting leaving a fastball down the middle was a mistake to a hitter like Kubel.  The towering blast was Jason's fourth home run of the season, and while it's early puts him on pace for more than 20 bombs in 2008.  His .247/.268/.398 line to this point isn't anything to write home about (in fact it's disappointing), but there aren't many position players off to good starts for the Twins.  As the season rolls along, Kubel should find his stride.

Bonser was like a man possessed, taking out the Chi-Sox early on the fastball before mixing in his breaking balls.  Seven strong innings, eight strikeouts, a walk and only six hits.  Joe Crede's solo shot in the seventh was his only damage.  Gardenhire was impressed:

"He set a nice tone. I think you saw some really good breaking balls. His curveball was going down hard. He had a nice slider. And he mixed them all in there. But it all starts with locating the fastball early in the ballgame and setting it up."

While Pat Neshek and Dennys Reyes combined for a scoreless eighth, it was Joe Nathan came on and pitched a perfect ninth inning.  There's nothing like finishing a vicotry with a double-shot of Joe!  Twins win, 3-1.

With Tuesday's win the Twins improve to 12-14, which puts them in a tie for second place with the Royals.  While many of Minnesota's upcoming opponents will are early favorites for October runs, hopefully the Twins can take advantage of having 15 of their next 21 games at home.

Other Highlights

*  The 1 and 2 hitters for the Twins were 0-for-8.  His hitless night left Brendan Harris' OBP at .344, still second best on the team.

*  Joe Mauer was 1-for-3, with a triple and a walk.  He's now hitting .306/.362/.400.

*  Delmon Young was 2-for-2 with a walk and a pair of stolen bases, giving him six in seven attempts.  While there's still no power, Delmon is 10-for-27 in his last seven games.  Hopefully this means he's heating up.

*  In his last two starts, Bonser has pitched 13 innings and allowed three runs and just nine hits.  BOOOOFFF!!!

*  Pat Neshek has held opponents scoreless in his last six appearances (5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 K).  His ERA is under 4 for the first time since being lit up by the Royals on April 4th.

*  Dennys Reyes:  LOOGY extraordinaire.  11 appearances, 8.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks, 0 runs allowed.

*  Joe Nathan's eighth save ties him for third in baseball, behind something named George Sherrill and Francisco Rodriguez.

See you tonight!!

Livan Hernandez fell off the horse.

No bueno.

It's a good thing I'm not terribly supersticious, I'd never see another full Twins game this year.

I wouldn't call it ironic, because kicking the living crap out of the Ranger bullpen isn't unheard of or even unexpected, but the Twins didn't get to Sidney Ponson as early as I thought they would.  Ponson went five and a third, allowing five runs (just one earned), but he'd been surprisingly effective through five innings.  In the sixth, holding a 5-2 lead, things came unravelled.

Once he was staked to his lead, Ponson changed tactics and began to go after Twins hitters, not being afraid to throw over the plate instead of trying to get them to bite on fastballs dancing on the outside of the zone.  In the sixth inning this tactic began to backfire, and in the end forced Texas to put the fate of their game into their suspect relief corps.

Brendan Harris led off the Minnesota sixth, and again it looked like Ponson was approaching Twins hitters aggressively.  Three of his four pitches were right over the heart of the plate, and on a 2-1 count, Harris took Ponson's offering to center field for a double.

Still in control, Ponson attacked Mauer will three consecutive fastballs.  Joe took the first two for balls before taking his third pitch back to the pitcher.  Ponson threw the ball away, Harris scored, and when the dust settled Joe Mauer was standing on second base.  5-3 Rangers, but Ponson was shaken.

After Justin Morneau grounded out to first base, Michael Cuddyer reached base when Texas third baseman Ramon Vasquez was unable to come up clean on the ground ball.  With only one out and runners on first and second, it was Jason Kubel who chased Ponson.  His hard-hit liner to right scored Mauer from third.

Jamie Wright came on in relief, and quickly walked Delmon Young on five pitches.  The bases were loaded for Mike Lamb, who's had one of the roughest starts of any Twin so far this spring.  Lamb came through with a sacrifice fly, and the game was tied as Cuddyer crossed home plate.  It was the best inning I've been able to watch so far this year, and was an awesome way to wake up this morning, not gonna lie.

Another three-run inning in the seventh gave the Twins a healthy lead late, but it was Michael Cuddyer's three-run homer in the top of the eighth that put the nail in the proverbial coffin.  Following a 10-pitch plate appearance for Morneau, Cuddyer took Scott Feldman's first pitch and deposited it over the left field fence.  It capped 10 unanswered runs by the Minnesota offense.

Craig Monroe's start in center field didn't cost the Twins any runs in the end, and likely helped the offense in the absence of Carlos Gomez.  He went 2-for-5 with an RBI double, giving the Twins their first lead at 1-0.  I wouldn't want to pull that job more than a handful of times all season, but if it has to happen on a limited occasion, well...it's not going to alter the fortunes of the team one way or the other.

That was a great win for the Twins.  Let's shoot for a series victory this afternoon!

 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.

Thursday afternoon's contest against the Athletics was discouraging for many involved.

Francisco Liriano failed to make it through the first inning yesterday, easily making it his worst start to date in his career with the Twins.  Only 43% of his pitches were for strikes, and when you're struggling for command with your fastball there's not too much you're going to be able to do to be effective.  He recorded two outs, allowing eight men to reach base; Liriano was charged with six runs.

After his night off, Carlos Gomez collected hits in his first two plate appearances on Thursday.  Leading off in the top of the first, he gave the Twins a 1-0 lead when he hit his first home run of the season.  Minnesota's only other run came off Brian Buscher, who knocked in Mike Redmond from second base following his double in the fifth.

With more than eight innings chewed up by four members of the bullpen, it's likely that only Guerrier, Neshek and Nathan will be available for Friday night's game.  While Rincon and Reyes only threw 15 pitches apiece, in today's game that means they'll only be used if absolutely necessary.

It was a disturbing thing to watch, from the bottom of the first innings through the rest of the game.  Francisco Liriano's immediate future with the Twins will likely be decided in the next 24 hours, when the Twins will decide whether to option him to Rochester to further develop his arm, or whether to give him one more shot at a start.

Span Optioned to Rochester; Cuddyer to Start Friday

Following the 11-2 defeat, the Twins sent Denard Span back to triple-A to make room for Michael Cuddyer's return on Friday.  Span was 1-for-1 in relief of Jason Kubel yesterday, and Ron Gardenhire believes the outfielder needs to be with the big league club:

"I know he needs playing time, but I'd like to have him here and off my bench too," Gardenhire said. "Maybe that is something I can work out over the next couple weeks or so. I'd like to use him in the big leagues a bit more. I like having him here."

Span's appearances didn't shock anyone, and he didn't do too much to make you notice whether he was there or not.  But by playing well in the field and limiting his mental mistakes, he's at the very least impressed his manager.  Span averaged 3.97 pitches per plate appearance in his first brief stint with the Twins, and managed a .324 OBP.

On Friday night, Michael Cuddyer will make his first appearance since leaving the game on April 4.  Reports on Cuddyer, and his hand, have been positive.  It will be interesting to see if he favors it during his at-bats tonight.

Eminem says:  Hip-hop The offense is in a state of 9-1-1.

I don't want to say I called it (actually, I don't mind), but I did:  Mike Sweeney hit his first home run of 2008 against the Twins on Wednesday.  While Oakland already had all the runs it would need to come away with the win, Sweeney's shot in the bottom of the eighth played through my visions like so many other of Sweeney's hits in his tenure with the Royals.  At 34 and seemingly a walking injury waiting to happen, he's still a good hitter.

After a disturbing start to the game, Boof Bonser ended up giving the Twins six quality innings.  Only 56% of his pitches went for strikes, and in the process he walked four.  Three hits allowed, none out of the park, kept the game close; when Bonser left Minnesota was only down 2-0.  He attributed his initial lack of effectiveness to "mechanical problems" and being "rusty", but also said the number of walks he issued were unnacceptable.

On the other side of the hill, Oakland starter Chad Gaudin completed seven innings in just 84 pitches, walking none and striking out four.  Allowing just four singles, his fourth start of the year was a far cry from the first pair, as each saw him lit up to the tune of eight earned runs in just 10 innings.  He'd also allowed 17 base runners between the two starts, but the man we saw on Wednesday night was an entirely different pitcher, and now has allowed just one run in his last 14 innings.  Against the Twins he executed superb command and a very good breaking ball, inducing a lot of ground-ball outs.

Offensively for the Twins, the only real threat of the night came on Kubel launching a ball deep into right field.  With Delmon Young on base it would have tied the game at 2-2, but it veered out of fair territory.  Craig Monroe would seal the inning's fate with a pop-up to strand runners on second and third.  Only Joe Mauer tallied an extra-base hit; a useless double in the top of the ninth.  His effort was wasted as again, Minnesota couldn't string together a series of hits.

Starting in center field on Wednesday was Denard Span, who went 1-for-3.  Carlos Gomez was given the night off, as going 1-for-18 in the last four games had indicated that his recent skid isn't just a slump, but that he's currently over-matched.  24 strikeouts and two walks in 87 at-bats is a miserable start, and since hitting .326/.356/.465 in his first ten games has hit .136/.136/.159 in his last ten.

How bad does it have to get, and for how long, before the Twins pull a u-turn on their plans for Carlos Gomez?  There's merit in just throwing a player into the fire, not just to see how he responds but to give him the experience necessary and to let him take his lumps.  But at certain junctures the philosophy can take on some negative qualities in regards to the player's development.

I'll get into that tonight.

Franchise can't complete 5, struggled with command.

While this wasn't a devastating performance by Liriano, and in many respects was really a quite predictable outing at this juncture, it still wasn't pretty.  Fastballs and changeups dominated the afternoon, and the fastball in particular struggled to find the strike zone much of the time.  The fourth and fifth innings in particular were intriguing to watch, as he appeared to lose a little something.

I've charted Liriano's pitch selection by inning, to give you an idea of how he fared.

Fastballs (49 total, 54% selection)

I was entirely unaware that Liriano had a cutter in his arsenal (or a curveball for that matter, as you'll see below), but Gameday insists he did.  There weren't many pitches labeled as a cutter though, so we can stick with the fastballs.

All six of Liriano's hits were given up on fastballs, which weren't registering near the mid-90's according to some reports.  Just over half of his fastballs went for strikes, and while working into deep counts and getting behind didn't help him, that once blistering pitch was quite hittable Sunday afternoon.

Breaking Balls (8 total, 9% selection)

Once again, Gameday identified a pitch that I didn't know Liriano had:  a curveball.  It seems to me that both the cutter and the curveballs could have been wonky sliders, causing them to be misinterpreted.  For that reason I've combined the chart for sliders and curves.  (But then again, a couple of those pitches did look like curves, didn't they?)  At any rate, only eight of Liriano's 90 pitches were breaking balls, three of which went for strikes and none of which were turned into a hit.  At least in his first start, Rick Anderson's wish to dramatically reduce the number of sliders/breaking balls used came to fruition.

As the weeks wear on and Liriano gets stronger, I do anticipate he will begin to throw more sliders/breaking balls again, but on Sunday afternoon it's clear he was limited.  And from how effective the pitches were, I don't think the limitations hurt him too much.  The fastball wasn't locating well enough to make breaking balls any sort of bait.

Changeups (33 overall, 37% selection)

Game announcers called this a circle change, and based on this one appearance it did look as though Liriano was more confident with its use.  Or maybe it was just because his fastballs weren't too effective and he wasn't throwing many breaking balls.  At any rate, the change was Cisco's most effective pitch on Sunday.  Thrown for strikes 61% of the time, no changups were turned into hits, and even when it appeared hitters were waiting for it they weren't able to capitalize.

Final Sunday Thoughts

Once again, no offense, but it was fun being able to watch Liriano throw his first real game in 19 months.  He'll be a work in progress most (if not all) of 2008, so we should be prepared for many more starts that may look just like this one.  Hopefully he can start putting it together these next few weeks, and we'll be able to see some positive trends as we move into the fall.