Starter Kenta Maeda earned his first win of the season, Jorge Polanco delivered a key hit and the Twins edged the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Wednesday to take two of three games from the Motor City-based club. The Twins have won four of their first six games of the season. The Twins fell behind early,... Continue Reading »

Twins outfielder, Max Kepler, singled, doubled and tripled in Game 1 of the regular season on Thursday, reminding Twins fans everywhere (OK, me) that spring training results are pretty much meaningless. Kepler hit all of .070 during spring training, but it sure didn’t seem to matter on Thursday. Also bucking the trend was, Byron Buxton,... Continue Reading »

Spring training came to an end on Tuesday, the Twins scoring one run on one hit (no, it wasn’t a home run) to finish in a 1-1 tie with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Starter Matt Shoemaker allowed a run over three innings and the bullpen was perfect the rest of the way. So, what does it... Continue Reading »

Free agent pitcher and ex-Yankee, J.A. Happ, saw more spring training action on Friday, but perhaps he wishes he hadn’t after he was roughed up in a 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The Twins are 1-6 in exhibition play against the Braves. Happ followed Kenta Maeda, who was his usual sterling self. Maeda scattered... Continue Reading »

The starting pitching has been strong, the bullpen has shown improvement, but this Twins team is not hitting, and that was underscored Tuesday after they were shut out by the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0. The Twins had a grand total of three hits. After that loss, I crunched some numbers that showed the Twins have scored... Continue Reading »

Prior to Sunday’s game, I had wondered: Where is that spring training game where the bats come alive and the hits come easy and it produces the lopsided win or horse race we come to expect during exhibition play? The Twins have been on the receiving end of one of those games — the 9-1... Continue Reading »

Twins starting pitchers Jose Berrios, Kenta Maeda, Matt Shoemaker, J.A. Happ and maybe Randy Dobnak or Lewis Thorpe, have pitched extremely well this spring. So well, in fact, that their collective performance has stood in sharp contrast to that produced by the relief corps. (My apologies to Mr. Michael Pineda who is very much a... Continue Reading »

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli unveiled the real deal on Sunday, using a lineup that we can probably expect to see a lot during the regular season. All the familiar names were there: Max Kepler, Josh Donaldson, Nelson Cruz, Mitch Garver, Jorge Polanco, Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Andrelton Simmons and Brent Rooker, who played in left... Continue Reading »

The ball isn’t flying into the outfield stands at a rate we’ve come to expect from the Twins, but it certainly is sailing well off the mound based on the low number of earned runs starters have allowed this spring. And it continued Friday after Michael Pineda gave up only one earned run over two-plus... Continue Reading »