Still riding out the AL East portion of the April schedule, the Minnesota Twins can at least take solace in the upcoming visit from the Kansas City Royals.
Until then, though, it's two more games with the Boston Red Sox.
Minnesota, 5-12, has dropped three straight, the first two coming against the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend, the third on Monday's series-opener against Boston.
While it's tough to twist the Twins' 5-13 start into a positive, it's true that the schedule can't get much tougher. The Twins have already played the Texas Rangers (defending American League champion), the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay (a chic preseason World Series pick) and now Boston. And for all of Boston's problems so far this season -- the Red Sox are just 5-10 -- there is still an $80-million discrepancy between their payroll and the Twins'.
Minnesota will start Nick Blackburn, who is 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA. He'll go up against Josh Beckett, who is 1-2 with a 5.03 ERA a year after going 13-7 with a 2.89 ERA.
The first pitch Tuesday is set for 7:10.
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