For the second straight series, the Jays hit the road for a series with a division leader. And if the Jays keep on hitting, they can once again bump their opponent out of first place by earning a series win on the road.
The 12-6 Twins have not been meaningfully slowed by their well-documented slew of injuries. Surprising contributions from Lew Ford and Henry Blanco -- yes, that Henry Blanco -- have offset the potential offence lost when the Twinkies' opening series landed Torii Hunter and Joe Mauer on the injured list. And though the Twins haven't gotten nearly the performances they had hoped for from their three starters on the docket this week, their excellent bullpen has held down leads and kept Minnesota in games that the club's bats have subsequently won in the late innings.
The key for the Jays will be to strike early and get to the starting staff; hopefully, the Jays saved some of their overflowing offence from yesterday. The Jays do not want to face a comeback attempt against the tough trio of Rincon, Romero and Nathan.
On to the Advance Scout!
* After a somewhat sluggish start, the Twins have commenced with their anticipated thrashing of Central Division opponents ... Minnesota is 9-2 in its last 11, all of which have been played against the Tribe, Tigers and Royals ... The Twins are 9-0 when leading after seven, a testament to their excellent trio at the back of the bullpen ...
* Despite his stellar 2/15 BB/K ratio, tonight's starter Brad Radke has been knocked around at a .313 clip ... He had a sparkling outing at Jacobs field on April 15, going eight shutout innings, but has been hit hard in his other three starts ... He was tagged by the Tigers for six runs on seven hits in just two innings on Wednesday ... Ron Gardenhire on his quick hook: "Six runs is a lot in two innings...Rather than let him get his brains beat, you go to the bullpen" ... The Twins are expected to ask for a hometown discount from Radke; the righty, currently earning $10 million per season, won't get a Minnesota offer over about $6 million per year again ...
* Ron Gardenhire might not quite be Carlos Tosca, but he's a fan of the pitching change ... Example: 25-year-old righty Juan Rincon has already made ten appearances ... Rincon has given up just four hits in 9 2/3 IP on the season, but one of those hits was a game-tying three-run blast by Carlos Beltran on April 16 ... Righties are hitting .095 off of Rincon ...
* His lefty counterpart in the set-up role, J.C. Romero, gave up his first run of the season in yesterday's game ... He's allowed just four hits in 10 2/3 IP (also ten apperances), giving him an incredibly stingy .108 opposing batting average ... Lefties are hitting .067 off him ...
* Overall, Gardenhire has been justifiably delighted with the 'pen ... Gardenhire: "[A]nytime you lose Eddie Guardado and LaTroy Hawkins, people are going to say 'your bullpen is totally gone' ... But with the arms we have, we're not weak" ...
* Jacque Jones is having a solid April at .329/.382/.557 ... He's four-for-four in steal attempts, but all four were against Kansas City in the same series ...
* Tomorrow's starter, the exceptionally live-armed Johan Santana, has been vulnerable to the long ball this season ... The longtime stathead fave has been taken deep five times in his four starts, which has contributed to his 5.91 ERA ... He'll be relying on his (very capable) 'pen on Tuesday, as his longest outing has been 6 1/3 innings this season ...
* Slick-fielding Doug Mientkiewicz (ment-KAY-vich, in case you were wondering) went hitless this weekend ...
* With just two walks on the season, Cristian Guzman's mediocre season line sits at .266/.288/.344 ... Ordinarily very reliable in the field, Guzman has committed three errors in his last two games ...
* With seven multi-hit games already, Lew Ford has forced his way into an everyday job ... Yet another in the Twins' seemingly endless parade of hit-happy outfielders, Ford's up to .408/.455/.714 on the season ... Ford's quickly becoming a Metrodome cult hero ...
* The man who won't go away, Jose Offerman, is slugging .509 on the season, thanks largely to seven doubles ...
* Pressed into a starting job by the torn meniscus of Joe Mauer, Henry Blanco has brought surprising pop to the backstop ... Despite having a career-best OPS of .712, he's put up .313/.411/.604 numbers this season ... Strange: At home, Blanco's hitting a more typical .150/.292/.200. But on the road, he's an amazing .414/.469/.862, with four doubles and three homers ... He's earned the tongue-in-cheek nickname "Hammerin' Hank" ... Even better, Blanco's delivered the defence the Twins thought they were buying for $750,000. Blanco's been popular with the Twins' Spanish-speaking pitchers, and Romero has credited Blanco's communication skills for his fast start ... His backup for now is 23-year-old Rob Bowen, who's 2 for 9 on the season with a single and a homer ...
* After coming from San Francisco in the A.J. Pierzynski trade, Joe Nathan has been converted to the club's closer ... His last six appearances have all been save situations -- and he's converted all six without yielding a run ... He has, however, allowed at least one baserunner in all of his saves ... Despite striking out eleven in his nine innings, he's walked a disconcerting seven ... Nine of his ten outings have been scoreless ...
* Luis "Oh-For-Threevas" Rivas is in fact 0 for his last 15 ... His sorry line on the year: .207/.233/.345 ...
* The alternative at second base isn't great: all of Nick Punto's nine hits have been singles ...
* The pride of Anola, Manitoba, Corey Koskie has hit in his last five starts, with five extra-base hits over that span ...
* Wednesday's starter, hard-throwing Kyle Lohse, has given up at least four runs in all of his starts thus far ... His BB/K ratio is a poor 12/13, and opponents are hitting .326 off him ... Oddly, righties are hitting .395 off Lohse ...
* Old friend Shannon Stewart boasts an excellent .427 OBP this season, with a fine 15/6 BB/K ratio ... Stew missed the weekend series against Kansas City, though, with a tight right hamstring ... He was expected to play yesterday but couldn't go ... He'll be spelled by Mike Ryan if he can't play against his old mates this week ... Count Stew among those who don't view FieldTurf as a panacea: "Since I've been on that stuff, my legs haven't responded" ...
* In spot duty, Ryan's gone 9 for 21 (.429) ... Ryan came through with a clutch ninth-inning, game-tying single off of Curtis Leskanic in Friday's come-from-behind win over the Royals ...
* The often-spectacular Torii Hunter has been limited to just three games -- the year's first two games, and yesterday's matinee -- due to his own hamstring problems ... Hunter overcame his anxiousness at the plate -- "You want to hit a five-run home run with nobody on" -- and homered in his return yesterday ... At least for tonight, he'll be limited to DH responsibilities, which he loathes: "This is the worst job a man can have" ... Slightly hyperbolic, Mr. Hunter ... To make room for Hunter's return from the DL, the Twins demoted gas-can lefty Carlos Pulido, who was really hearing it from the ordinarily-supportive Metrodome faithful as he got bombed in outing after outing ...
* Rick Helling, who suffered an incredibly painful broken shin after being struck by a line drive in spring training, made a rehab start with the Class-A Fort Myers Miracle this weekend ...
* Highly-touted Grant Balfour played catch this weekend for the first time since going on the DL with an inflamed pitching shoulder ...
Probable Batting Orders
vs. LH
7 Stewart/M Ryan
4 Punto
3 Offerman/Mientkiewicz
5 Koskie
DH Hunter
9 Jones
8 Ford/Cuddyer
2 Bowen/Blanco
6 Guzman
vs. RH
7 Stewart/M Ryan
4 Rivas
3 Mientkiewicz
5 Koskie
DH Hunter
9 Jones
8 Ford
2 Blanco
6 Guzman
Pitching Probables
Monday: RH Radke vs. Lilly
Tuesday: LH Santana vs. Batista
Wednesday: RH Lohse vs. Miller
Bullpen Usage
Long: Roa R
Short: Mulholland L, Fultz L
Setup: Rincon R, Romero L
Closer: Nathan R
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