Twins Ramblings

Tough loss last night for the Twins. After Kevin Slowey's complete game gem on Sunday and great start from Glen Perkins last night, quality starts from the rotation have become nearly customary lately; however, an uncostumary bullpen collapse occurred last night.

Perkins left the game in the 7th inning leaving the bullpen to protect a 4-1 lead. A trio of Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes, and Matt Guerrier all tried to get the final 9 outs but were to no avail. Very quickly a 4-1 slipped to a 5-4 deficit and the Twins weren't able to rally back. What seemed like another great victory against the division rival Detroit Tigers was suddenly a tough loss.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

With two out in the first inning Twins pitcher, Glen Perkins, had a pitch get away from him and come up and in on Detroit slugger, Carlos Guillen. Guillen gave Perkins a long stare and was certainly not happy about the inside pitch. "There is no reason to try and hit him, especially not in the first inning," Perkins said. "He's a good hitter. I tried to make good pitches to him. I didn't want to leave a ball over the plate. It was one that just got away from me. I threw it as hard as I could. It was unfortunate that it went right there."

It didn't take long for the Tigers to retalliate whether it was justified or not. In the 3rd inning Tigers pitcher, Armando Galarraga, threw his first pitch behind batter Joe Mauer which led to a rare show of emotion from the calm catcher as he made a slight glance back toward the mound. But on the second pitch it appeared that Galarraga was throwing at Mauer's knees. Believe it or not, Mauer nearly charged the mound taking three steps toward Galarraga and then made the logical choice to get back in the batter's box. "I thought it was unnecessary, especially the second one," Mauer said. "Nobody got hit. But obviously it looked like they were throwing at us."

Ron Gardenhire did however lose his cool and dedcided he needed to protect his start catcher. I agree, that after the first pitch a second attack from Galarraga should have resulted in an ejection for the pitcher. However, Gardy's tantrem left him as the only person to get ejected from the game.

SPAN WATCH

With the recent move of Michael Cuddyer to the DL (for the second time this year) young outfielder Denard Span has been recalled to take over the rightfield duties.

After struggling during his first callup in April, Span when back down and raised his batting average to .340 through 40 games with a .434 OBP. Span went 2 for 4 last night with a double and defensively made an awesome diving catch that earned him a Web Gem on Baseball Tonight.

I'm excited to watch Span play for the next two weeks and here's hoping for the best for the young outfielder. For more info on Span check out MLB.com here.