Sunday’s rubber match against the Toronto Blue Jays ended almost as quickly as it began. Reliever Luke Farrell got the nod for the Twins and his one inning of work went like this: strikeout, double, single, home run, single, single, single, single and his day was done. He allowed five runs on seven straight hits,... Continue Reading »

The Twins suddenly can’t score more than three runs. The Twins won 3-2 on Aug. 30, followed by losses of 3-1, 3-0 and 5-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. On the mound for the Twins, Randy Dobnak, who made his first appearance in two months because of a finger strain, according to MLB.com.... Continue Reading »

Toward the end of Harmon Killebrew’s career, Calvin Griffith, the penny-pinching Twins owner who had backed Killebrew in 1959 for a full-time chance to play with the Washington Senators, now looked for a way not to pay Killebrew as much heading into the 1975 season, according to “Ultimate Slugger,” the 2012 biography of the man... Continue Reading »

Top pitching prospect Joe Ryan made his Twins debut on Wednesday and looked pretty good. He made one mistake, allowing a three-run home run in the third inning, but otherwise struck out five over five innings with one walk on 89 pitches — 60 of them for strikes. Unfortunately, Ryan took the loss because the... Continue Reading »

It was under Calvin Griffith that Harmon Killebrew landed a full-time role with the Washington Senators and eventual Twins, hitting 73 home runs over the final two seasons of Senators baseball in Washington, D.C. From 1959 until 1970, Killebrew would hit 40 or more home runs eight times, including 48 in 1962 and 49 in... Continue Reading »

We arrived in Ontario, Oregon on Sunday and finally made our way to Payette, Idaho Monday morning. You head east across the Snake River, pass through the town of Fruitland and the unmistakable smell of onions (onion supplier Dickinson Frozen Foods is based in Fruitland), then you turn north toward Payette. We kept our eyes... Continue Reading »

Despite Sunday’s loss, the Twins still managed to take the series from the Milwaukee Brewers after wins Friday and Saturday. And the standout performance of the series belonged to pitcher Andrew Albers, who hadn’t pitched at the major league level in four years until he recently faced the New York Yankees. He pitched well against... Continue Reading »

The Twins scored five runs against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, which wouldn’t normally be cause for celebration, but it is in this case because the Minnesota club scored only two runs over two games against the Chicago White Sox, both of which were losses (no surprise). The Twins fell behind early, then rallied to... Continue Reading »

A week ago there was optimism. The Twins had taken two of three games from the Cleveland Indians, improved to 10 games under .500, moved as high as third place in the division, and facing a new month of games against division rivals, it appeared that maybe, just maybe, the Twins were ready to turn... Continue Reading »