In the first two games of their series against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Minnesota Twins have managed all of four runs and have yet to hit the ball out of the park. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, have scored 19 runs and deposited six baseballs into the Rogers Centre seats. This would be a pretty terrible way for an entire baseball season to go, and the Twins will try to establish one victory over the Blue Jays in today's series finale in Toronto.
The Twins will try to change their luck today against left-hander Brett Cecil, who went 15-7 with a 4.22 ERA for the Blue Jays last season and, surprisingly, has never allowed a hit to either Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau. . .not that that matters much, particularly with Mauer sitting out today, but the Twins' two main superstars are a combined 0-for-9 against Cecil. That's just a shade worse than the 1-for-13 mark that the two have combined for in this series.
Minnesota will counter with Nick Blackburn, who went 10-12 with a 5.22 ERA in 2010, but was significantly better after a stint in the minor leagues.
With Mauer out of the lineup, here's how the Twins will look this afternoon.
Denard Span, center field
Tsuyoshi Nishioka, second base
Delmon Young, left field
Justin Morneau, designated hitter
Michael Cuddyer, first base
Jason Kubel, right field
Danny Valencia, third base
Drew Butera, catcher
Matt Tolbert, shortstop
The Blue Jays will counter with this lineup.
Yunel Escobar, shortstop
Juan Rivera, designated hitter
Jose Bautista, right field
Adam Lind, first base
Aaron Hill, second base
Edwin Encarnacion, third base
Travis Snider, left field
J.P. Arencibia, catcher
Mike McCoy, center field
Here's hoping that the Twins can get off the schneid today against the Blue Jays and give themselves a bit of positive momentum with a four-game trip to Yankee Stadium starting on Monday.