Twins Aren't Buyers Or Sellers. But They Still Lost

Hey, stop me if you heard this one before: Offense gets an early lead, starting pitching blows up around the fourth or fifth inning, and digs a hole that miners couldn’t get out of.

Yeah, more of the same again today in Oakland, as Carl Pavano, who was staked to an early 3-0 lead, decided to use his Wonder Twin powers to form of a batting tee in the third inning, surrendering seven straight hits as Oakland pushed across six runs.

Pavano struggles have mirrored the rest of the rotation for a good part of the season, and with the loss today he fell to 6-8 with a 4.90 ERA. The only starter with an ERA under 4.00 this season is Scott Baker.

And with Minnesota in the peculiar position of being under .500, yet still within 6 games of the lead going into today, they decided to stand pat as the trading deadline came and went. So it looks like the Twins will sink or swim with who they have, unless they decide to move Kevin Slowey back in to the rotation.

Twins Turn To Pavano To Slow Down A's, Win Series

It seems appropriate as of late that the Oakland Athletics play their home games at the Overstock.com Coliseum. . .because, lately, they really have been all about the "O."

The Athletics, as a team, are hitting .315 since the All-Star break, and have collected at least eight hits in every game in that stretch. That includes the twelve they racked up on Saturday night in the process of thumping Nick Blackburn and the Minnesota Twins by a final score of 8-3.

In an attempt to win this three-game series, the Twins will send right-hander Carl Pavano (6-7, 4.60 ERA) to the mound. Pavano was blistered in his last start on Tuesday, allowing eight runs on nine hits in just five innings of work against the Texas Rangers, but wound up with a no-decision as the Twins' furious comeback got them a 9-8 victory. He has faced the Athletics twice this season, and has been pretty successful. On April 8, Pavano worked eight solid innings, allowing just one run on four hits at Target Field in Minnesota's 2-1 win. On May 18 at the Overstock.com Coliseum, Pavano allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits in seven innings, but got a no-decision in a 4-3 Minnesota victory.

He will be opposed by Oakland right-hander Brandon McCarthy (3-5, 3.52 ERA). McCarthy has only made 14 starts this season, having gone on the disabled list on May 20 with a shoulder injury and not returning until July 4. In his last start, he was great against the Tampa Bay Rays, giving up just one run on six hits in eight innings in Oakland's 6-1 victory. He has started twice against the Twins this season, and has also fared relatively well. On April 10 at Target Field, he pitched 7.1 solid innings, giving up two runs on nine hits in a 5-3 Athletics win. He also started opposite Pavano in the May 18 match-up mentioned earlier, and also got a no-decision, allowing three runs on nine hits in seven innings.

First pitch from Oakland is scheduled for 3:00 PM Central time. Be sure to keep an eye on Twinkie Town for the party that is the Game Thread, and we'll be here for the recap when the game is finished.

Twins Can't Get It Going In Loss To Oakland

With the non-waiver trade deadline fast approaching, Minnesota has yet to make any major moves, because they can’t decide if they’re going to be buyers or sellers.

Saturday nights game in Oakland only further muddied the waters in that regard.

Nick Blackburn, who has drawn mild trade interest throughout the league, continued his struggles last night. In just 4.1 innings, he gave up up 8 runs (7 earned), on 10 hits and 5 walks, struggling with his command all night.

Blackburn flirted with disaster in the second inning before escaping with only two runs given up before getting knocked out in the fifth. It caps a run of terrible outings for Blackburn, who has posted an ERA over 8 in his last 7 starts, and he has pitched only 33.1 innings over that time. That is barely 4.1 innings per start.

The offense wasn’t terrible, spotting Blackburn early leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first two innings, but at times Blackburn looked like he was pitching batting practice, as many of his pitches were belt high and right over the plate, begging to be crushed.

And they were. The Twins look for a series win in the rubber game, with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 CST.

Twins Try To Keep It Going

This looks like it's turning into a nice road trip after all, thank you very much.  Minnesota, after a rough start, is now 3-2 on their swing through the AL West, and last night's 9-5 win was an impressive one. 

The Twins got a strong outing from starter Francisco Liriano, the offense pounded out 12 hits, and the Twins played great defense, turning key double plays, to take the first game of the series 9-5.

Nick Blackburn will get the start for the good guys tonight.  Blackburn is coming off his toughest outing of the year, when he gave up 9 runs and 11 hits in just 2.2 innings in the 20-6 loss to the Rangers.

Joe Mauer, who has been swinging a hot bat as of late, will move back behind the plate for Saturday's game.  After the plane ride from Texas to Oakland, manager Ron Gardenhire played Mauer at first base on Friday night, where he went 2-4, raising his average to .294 on the season.

Starting for the A's tonight will be Guillermo Moscosco, who is 3-5 on the season, with a 3.47 ERA.

Twins Beat Oakland 9-5 Behind Liriano's Strong Outing

Twins pitch Francisco Liriano has had an up and down season this year. One outing, he looks impressive, and the next he can’t find the strike zone and is unable to go deep into a ball game.

Friday night in Oakland the dominant Liriano made an appearance, pitching 7 solid innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits. Liriano struck out four and walked two, and improved his record to 8-8 on the season while dropping his ERA to 4.67.

He got off to a rough start, however, giving up a 2 run home run in the first inning to Josh Willingham, who had all five RBI for the A’s last night and also hit a three run blast in the bottom of the 8th. Willingham has been in the middle of a lot of trade talk, but at least for last night, it didn’t affect his play.

For the Twins, offensively it was a team effort, and they took advantage of some Oakland miscues. In the third a pair of throwing errors got the Twins a run, and in the sixth A;s starter Gio Gonzalez, who struggled all night, walked Ben Revere with the bases loaded.

The Twins blew it open in the 8th, when Michael Cuddyer, also the subject of trade speculation, hit a 3 run home run.

Game two is tonight at 9:05 CST from Oakland.

Twins-A's: Minnesota Opens Three Game Series Tonight

After a disastrous start to this nine game road trip, the Twins managed to right the ship and get some quality starting pitching, solid relief pitching, and timely hitting.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all at the same time.  So far on this trip, if the starting pitching has been lacking, the bullpen has been okay.  If the bullpen was good, the starter didn't do well.  If the pitching has been good, timely hits are hard to come by.

The Twins will look to get all facets of the team on the same page against the Oakland A's tonight.  

For the Twins, the poster boy of 2011's inconsistency, Francisco Liriano, will take the mound.  On the year, Liriano is 6-8 with a 4.82 ERA.  At times, Liriano has been spectacular, like throiwing a no hitter against the Chicago White Sox on May 23rd.  Other times, he's been dreadful, like in his most recent start, where he couldn't make it out of the third inning against Detroit.

Oakland has played good baseball since the All Star break, going 8-5 with the best team batting average in baseball, .317.  On the mound for the A's is Gio Gonzalez, who has a 9-7 record with a 2.67 ERA on the season.  Despite his impressive ERA this year, lifetime he is 2-2 against Minnesota, with a terrible 8.03 ERA.

The Twins also made a roster move,.  Alexi Casilla has been place on the 15 day DL due to an injured right hamstring, and in his place 2nd baseman Luke Hughes was recalled from Rochester.  P Chuck James was also sent down, and 2nd baseman Matt Tolbert called up.

First pitch tonight is 9:05 CST from Oakland Alameda County Stadium Coliseum.