SB Nation Minnesota - Twins Vs. Angels: Series Ends As Jered Weaver Deals No-Hitter To Minnesota In LA

Jered Weaver's No-Hitter Is Perfect Symbol Of Twins' Awful Start

2012-05-03T16:30:28Z

First of all, let's give credit where it's due--Jered Weaver pitched an absolutely spectacular game on Wednesday. He allowed only two base runners the entire evening. One of those base runners was Chris Parmelee, who reached only after he struck out and the ball got past catcher Chris Iannetta. Weaver dominated the Twins hitters from start to finish. The final out, Alexi Casilla's long fly ball to right field caught by former Twin Torii Hunter, was one of the few hard-hit balls the Twins had throughout the memorable night. Weaver deserves all the accolades he gets for tossing such a gem.

That said, Weaver did pitch a no-hitter against a team that only mustered three measly singles against journeyman Jerome Williams the night before. Yes, that Jerome Williams--he of the 29-30 career record and who had a 1-0 record with the minor league powerhouse Inland Empire 66ers this year.

To say that the Twins have struggled out of the gate in 2012 is kind of like saying the HBO show "Luck" had a slight problem with their horses. Throwing out statistics of how bad the Twins have been this year is a lot like beating those literally dead horses, but I feel that it has to be done:

The starting pitching staff has a cumulative ERA of well over 7.00. You can point out that the sample size is still relatively small, but we are a month into the season already.
The Twins have the worst record in baseball and are 1.5 games behind the Kansas City Royals--a team that already has a 12-game losing streak under its belt.
If you don't count Denard Span reaching second in the 9th inning on Tuesday night via catcher indifference, the Twins won't have a base runner past first base in four days. (The last time they legitimately had a runner in scoring position was Monday, and Thursday is mercifully an off day.) This fact caused me to send out a slightly off-color Tweet last night.
The Twins have hit only 14 home runs this season while allowing 38. Brian Duensing is the lone Twins pitcher that has yet to allow a dinger, yet half of the 14 batters the Twins have sent to the plate this season have failed to hit one.

I could go on, but it only gets more depressing from there--for instance, I could mention how bare the cupboards are in the minor league system, so there isn't much hope of injecting new blood to turn the team around. Unless the guys currently in the clubhouse pick it up, things aren't going to get better for Minnesota any time soon.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was about as upset as you'll ever see him after the game on Wednesday, and with good reason. It's one thing to hit like you're swinging toothpicks; every team will go through slumps here and there throughout the year. But when the Minnesota Twins are constantly screwing up the fundamentals, it's a sign that something is--well, fundamentally wrong. The Twins have always been the team that does the little things right, which earned them the famous "Piranhas" tag from Ozzie Guillen years ago. This year, Minnesota can't seem to get out of their own way when it comes to the small stuff. Baseball is a game of details and the Twins simply don't seem to be paying attention to them.

But baseball is also a game played over a very long season that's full of peaks and valleys. As bad as things are for the Twins right now, it doesn't look like anyone is going to run away with the AL Central any time soon. Miraculously, they're only seven games back. Hopefully Twins fans (and more importantly Twins players) can look back at Jared Weaver's no hitter in a few months and point to it as the smelling salt that finally woke the team up after an awful start. If getting embarrassed by the Angels these past two games doesn't motivate the Twins to improve, then nothing will.

The 9-0 no-hit loss was sadly the perfect microcosm of the Twins' season so far, but it doesn't have to define the season as a whole just yet.

For more on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation’s main MLB hub at Baseball Nation.

Jered Weaver Deals No-Hitter Against Minnesota Twins, Ending Ugly Series

2012-05-03T04:37:12Z

Jered Weaver has been pretty solid this season for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but Wednesday night's performance was easily an improvement over anything else he's done this year. It was only against the Minnesota Twins, but a no-hitter is always impressive -- and that's exactly what Weaver dealt Wednesday night.

Weaver very rarely even challenged by the Twins lineup as only a foul ball from the Twins in the eighth inning looked like it had a chance of doing any damage before hooking foul in the corner of left field. Just a few batters later and his mission was accomplished, though, as a deep fly ball from Alexi Casilla was caught by Torii Hunter to end the game.

Weaver struck out nine and walked just one batter on his way to the near-perfect game. It took him 121 pitches, 71 of which were strikes, to accomplish the no-hitter agains the hapless Twins.

The perfect game was ruined by Josh Willingham's walk, but that was the only thing that could be construed as positive for the Twins in the 9-0 loss. Starting pitcher Liam Hendriks gave up nine hits and six runs in just a little more than two innings to fall to 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA.

For more on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation.

Twins Vs. Angels: Jered Weaver Has A No-Hitter Through 5 Innings

2012-05-03T03:54:47Z

The 6-17 Minnesota Twins are on their way to losing their third straight game and eighth in their last nine, but they're also well on their way to being no-hit by 2011 Cy Young candidate Jered Weaver, who is a passed ball strikeout away from perfection through five innings on Wednesday night.

Worse, the Twins actually don't have a hit since the third inning of Tuesday night's loss. The Angels on the other hand are putting together their best game of the season with 13, already a season high through five innings.

Liam Hendriks got the start for the Twins and lasted only two-plus innings, allowing six runs on nine hits. After Matt Maloney got the final two outs of the third inning after giving up a measly hit, Alex Burnett relieved him and promptly gave up a three-run homer to Howie Kendrick in the next half.

Weaver just took the mound in the sixth with six strikeouts through five and no walks. Clete Thomas, who has struck out 15 out of his last 18 at bats, will leadoff for the Twins.

For more on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation.

Twins Vs. Angels: Danny Valencia Out Of Wednesday's Lineup With Stiff Back

2012-05-03T01:06:22Z

Danny Valencia will not play in the series finale against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night as a result of a stiff back. He is still active on the roster, but will not be available. Justin Morneau is also listed as active, but unavailable.

Here is the Twins' lineup:

1. Denard Span, CF

2. Alexi Casilla, 2B

3. Joe Mauer, DH

4. Josh Willingham, LF

5. Ryan Doumit, C

6. Chris Parmelee, 1B

7. Trevor Plouffe, 3B

8. Clete Thomas, RF

9. Jamey Carroll, SS

Liam Hendriks is pitching.

The Angels' lineup is as follows:

Erick Aybar, SS

Vernon Wells, LF

Albert Pujols, 1B

Kendrys Morales, DH

Torii Hunter, RF

Howie Kendrick, 2B

Mark Trumbo, 3B

Chris Iannetta, C

Peter Bourjos, CF

With Jered Weaver on the bump.

For more on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation.

Twins Vs. Angels Preview: Minnesota Trying To Avoid Sweep

2012-05-02T18:48:43Z

The Minnesota Twins are trying to avoid being swept at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. Minnesota dropped game two by a score of 4-0, and game one by a score of 4-3. Prior to that, they bested the Kansas City Royals to snap a six-game losing streak. They'd like to avoid that kind of skid this time around.

Minnesota will be up against Jered Weaver, who has been great this season, save for one outing - a game against the Twins earlier in the year. Still, he's 3-0 with a 2.02 earned run average and had a no decision in his last outing with no earned runs over six innings of pitching.

He'll be up against Liam Hendriks, who is 0-1 with a 6.89 ERA and had a horrible outing when he saw the mound last, giving up seven runs in four innings to the Boston Red Sox on April 25. Prior to that, he'd only allowed one run in six innings of work against the Rangers, but it was ultimately a loss for the Twins either way.

After this series wraps up, the Twins will take on the Seattle Mariners in a three-game set before returning home for nine games. Game three against L.A. is set for 10:05 p.m. eastern.

For more on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation.

Twins Vs. Angels Final Score: LA Wins 4-0 Behind Pitching Gem From Fifth Starter

2012-05-02T12:24:19Z

Usually people don't associate the words 'pitching gem' and 'Jerome Williams' with each other, but the Minnesota Twins saw just how dangerous the veteran 30 year old righty could be on Tuesday night as he inspired the LA Angels to a 4-0 win off a complete game shut out. The journeyman threw only 109 pitches on the night, 75 of those were for strikes.

Offense did come in small bursts for Minnesota, but only to the tune of three hits as six Twins struck out on the evening. Howie Kendrick did most of the heavy lifting for the Angels, hitting a single, triple and solo home run as the game progressed.

Francisco Liriano was able to hold off Albert Pujols, but at this point in the season that's really no big feat with the highly paid slugger struggling mightily to live up to the enormous contract that he signed. Still, that was one of the new positives on a night where not much went right for the Twins.

Minnesota will try to avoid being swept by LA on Wednesday evening.

For more information on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation for all kinds of baseball news and analysis.

Twins Vs. Angels: Joe Mauer Back In Minnesota's Lineup On Tuesday

2012-05-02T01:25:25Z

Joe Mauer sat out his first game of the season on Monday night due to a sore knee that was hit by a foul tip during Sunday's game. Mauer is back in the Twins' lineup against the Angels on Tuesday night, though, doing the designated hitting.

#Twins lineup vs. #Angels: Span CF, Casilla 2B, Mauer DH, Willingham LF, Valencia 3B, Doumit C, Parmelee 1B, Thomas RF, Carroll SS & Liriano
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 1, 2012

Francisco Liriano will do the pitching for the Twins.

The Angels' (8-15) lineup is as follows:

1. Mike Trout, CF

2. Alberto Callaspo, 3B

3. Albert Pujols, 1B

4. Torii Hunter, RF

5. Mike Trumbo, DH

6. Howie Kendrick, 2B

7. Vernon Wells, LF

8. Erick Aybar, SS

9. Chris Ianetta, C

Jerome Williams will do the pitching.

For more information on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation for all kinds of baseball news and analysis.

Sean Burroughs Designated For Assignment To Make Room For Drew Butera

2012-05-02T00:49:19Z

After recalling catcher Drew Butera from Triple-A on Tuesday morning, the Minnesota Twins announced Tuesday evening that the corresponding move to make room for Butera is designating third baseman Sean Burroughs for assignment. The club will now have 10 days to decide what to do with Burroughs; they can either place him on waivers, trade him or release him outright. Burroughs is immediately removed from the 40-man roster.

Initially, Butera's move may have been construed as a preemptive one, bracing for bad news with Justin Morneau, but following good news, the Twins still had to make a coinciding move, one that may have been in the plans all along.

Burroughs, a one-time top prospect for the Padres, was hitting .118/.167/.343 through 17 at bats for the Twins this season.

For more information on the Minnesota Twins, check out Twinkie Town. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation for all kinds of baseball news and analysis.