After a one day breather, your 16-40 Minnesota Twins rekindle their long slog toward winning baseball with a three-game tilt against the Miami Marlins beginning tonight at 7:10p in beautiful Target Field, Minneapolis.  The Twins promise to be a little feisty after dropping three of four against the Marlin’s Florida brethren, the Tampa Bay Rays.  Pat Dean on the mound for the Twins.  The Marlin’s bring their 30-27 record to Minnesota, however the Twins catch a break as Jose Fernandez pitched over the weekend and won’t be making an appearance in Minneapolis.

It promises to be a beautiful night at the ballpark.  No reason not to pick up a $7.00 ticket and just hang out.

First Pitch 1:10 pm CDT

Tyler Duffy (2-4, .457 ERA, 36 K)
Drew Smyly (2-7, .477, 70 K)

Yeah, we suck, but the Rays aren't exactly tearing up the AL East this year, so this has actually been a competitive, dare I say, almost entertaining series. Since this is supposed to be a gorgeous summer day and we haven't been to a game yet and because I found a good deal on StubHub, the wife and I will be at the ballpark for this one, sitting in seats 7 and 8 of row 1 of section 115. The togs of fandom shall be donned. Beer, hot dogs, and peanuts will be consumed, and a Twins victory attained. Or not, we'll see about that last one.

Play ball!

Finally a game I can watch the ending to in this series.

Pat Dean
v
Sean Manaea

The Bay area seems to be the center of U.S. sports universe with San Jose in the Stanley Cup Finals, Golden State in the NBA finals and our plucky Twins in the middle of a three day stint in Oakland.  What is a discerning Bay denizen going to do?  Well at least for tonight the Twins-Athletics have the attention all to themselves.  Even better, Byron Buxton is back and here’s some Gleeman if you are so inclined.  Tyler Duffy brings his 2-3 record against someone called Eric Surkamp and his 6.55 ERA to match his 0-3 record.  Game time is 9:05p Central so you have time to get the young ones in bed before settling down.

First Pitch - 3:10 pm CDT

Ricky Nolasco (1-3, 5.54 ERA, 46 K)
Taijuan Walker (204, 2.70 ERA, 47 K)

Cowabunga! The Twins are riding the crest of a winning wave, three in a row now with a chance to notch a sweep against a pretty good Mariners team. You wouldn't think that winning two games in a row on the road would be a big deal, but this year we have to find our pleasure in the small accomplishments. Nunez continues to be a lot of fun to watch, Joe Mauer is hitting again after slumping for a few weeks, with Plouffe! sidelined with a sore knee we may get to see Sano play a little third base and an outfielder play right field. Buxton has been tearing it up in Rochester; with Mastroianna on the DL and Rosario shipped down, we could see the kid back in the show before long. Grossman has been a nice edition and gives Molitor more outfield flexibility. His slash line (.375/.500/.625/1.125) is a short sample size fluke and he's bound to regress before too long, but it's nice to see while it lasts.

On the mound today, the Twins Ricky Nolasco squares off with Taijuan Walker. Nolasco had a very good April but he's had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad May, posting an 8.14 ERA. He lasted less than three innings in his last start, giving up six runs to the Royals on Monday. At just 23 years old, Walker is having a solid season, though he is 0-4 with a 3.96 ERA in his last five starts, but with eight unearned runs in that span he's had some bad luck and/or some bad fielding behind him. Walker has faced the Twins once, throwing a complete game one-hitter against them at the end of last July.

Play ball!