The Twins pieced together 17 hits but managed to score just four runs on their way to beating the Orioles, 4-3.   Michael Cuddyer finished the day 3-for-4 with two doubles and Jason Kubel continued his hot spring (.467) going 3-for-5 with an RBI. 

 

After sitting out for his sore left knee, Nick Blackburn returned to throw one inning against Baltimore on Wednesday.  Blackburn will begin to amass more innings in efforts to build arm strength, hoping to go three innings against the Yankees on Sunday.

 

Joe Christensen notes that Opening Day is not a given for Joe Mauer.  The Twins will be consulting more doctors after his magnetic resonance arthrogram revealed inflammation of his right sacroiliac joint and the pain was not associated with his offseason kidney surgery.  Unfortunately for the Twins, injury to the sacroiliac joint frequently causes lower back stiffness when sitting for prolonged periods.  The last time I checked catchers are still required to squat raising concern that Mauer may battle flare-ups throughout the season if the injury is not addressed properly. 

 

This, of course, is of great concern to the organization as a healthy Mauer has been worth an estimate +6 wins (+5.9 in 2008, +6.1 in 2006) and has been worth +3 during injury-shorten seasons (+3 in 2006, +3.1 in 2005).  As a team that won 88-games in last season, subtracting between three-to-six wins would undoubtedly complicate playoff chances.  For more on a Mauer-less future, Twinkie Town analyzes the offensive differential of a lineup that contains Mauer and one without him.  (Hint: they score more runs with him). 

 

With his success as a pitching coach with the Netherlands – who upset a heavily favored Dominican team twice — former Twin and current FSN color commentator, Bert Blyleven, is the talk of the WBC world.  The Dutch Federation had the lowest team batting line (.137/.158/.204) among the 16 teams in the tournament so the emphasis that was placed on pitching certainly looks to be the masterwork of Blyleven.  Miraculously, the Netherlands allowed just six of 36 baserunners to score.  Inquired whether or not he was interested in coaching in the Majors, Blyleven told Newsday that he still has three years remaining on his Twins FSN contract, so his immediate future will be in the booth. 

 

SI.com’s Ben Reiter breaks down the 2009 Twins, suggesting that Minnesota are the favorite in the AL Central.  Another factoid to come away with in Reiter’s piece: pitcher Kevin Slowey has some interesting taste for a professional athlete.  While a scary majority of Major Leaguers lack solid intellectual skills, Slowey’s interests include graffiti artist Banksy and the works of Malcolm Gladwell - somethings that he has mentioned on his personal offseason blog. 

 

The Hardball Times has two leftover “nuggets” about Scott Baker and Denard Span that did not make the 2009 Bill James Gold Mine. 

 

Twins infield prospect Trevor Plouffe now has his own MLBlog titled Plouffe! His first entry tackles an age-old question that every hardcore stathead wants answered: Is or isn’t Delmon Young a giant teddy bear.   

 

Seth Stohs runs provides us with a glimpse of the Twins’ coaching staff.  One thing that Stohs does not mention is that manager Ron Gardenhire is 11th in wins among active managers (93rd all-time).  In addition to that, his .549 winning percentage is currently third behind the Angels’ Mike Scioscia and the Braves’ Bobby Cox.