A's at Twins: Well...

Recap:
Friday: A's 1 - Twins 2
Saturday: A's 1 - Twins 0
Sunday: A's 5 - Twins 3

Record: 3-6

"Well..." I've been saying that a lot this weekend (imagine it all snotty-like; it kind of sounds like "welp"). There were just a whole bunch of missed opportunities. The Twins were getting me all excited with a nice hit, just to disappoint me. "Well..." Sure, the Twins faced some good pitching, but was it really that good?

Fortunately on Friday, there were runners on base for Joe Mauer, so he could drive in the go-ahead run. The fielders couldn't do their usual shift for him. If the bases would have been empty, it would have been yet another ground out to second. That saved the home opener, and the series apparently.

Blackie's nice start on Saturday was absolutely wasted by much flailing of the Twins' bats. So much flailing in fact, that one little error -- ok, one big error -- cost the Twins the game. "Well..."

Sunday's game was a little better as far at the Twins runs were concerned. Thome's blast was a ton of fun. And what a blast it was. But there were so many other wasted opportunities to score. And Baker's pitching wasn't all that sharp. "Well..."

Oh, and that baserunning gaffe by Valencia? It was hard to tell from the stands if Jerry White was telling him to "go to two" ('cuz that what he do) not realizing that Liddle was holding Kubel, or if Danny just rounded first too far, assuming that Jason would go home. Either way, some one was a bonehead. "Well..."

The brightest spot of the whole weekend was Thome's blast. That ball flew out of Target Field so fast. It cleared the new batters' eye screen. I heard it crossed the concourse and hit one of the TVs that hang over the State Fair booth. Heh heh. 

I was at Sunday's game. I took some fun, albeit lousy, pictures. I'll post them sometime soon. I only had my phone, so the pictures aren't very good. I want to try to make them a little better.

High Five:

Only one this time: Jim Thome. #590

A pat on the back for Nick Blackburn for a really good effort.
~~~

DL Report:

The Twins placed RHP Kevin Slowey on the DL with what they're calling "shoulder bursitis." Kevin first indicated that it was biceps soreness, but after an MRI, the Twins reported it as a shoulder strain. Perhaps they reviewed the images again to determine bursitis. It's hard to pinpoint the cause; Slowey won't venture a guess. Gardy was uncharacteristically outspoken about it, indicating that Slowey needs to learn how to pitch from the bullpen. Phil Mackey of ESPN1500 has the full story here. I asked Phil via Twitter if Gardy sounded as chippy (I may have used the word "snotty") as those quotes seemed. Sometimes it's hard to get tone-of-voice from printed direct quotes and I wanted to give Gardy the benefit of the doubt -- maybe his words came across more diplomatically as I was reading them. Phil replied that, yes, he did.

Bursitis is inflammation or irritation of a bursa sac that protects and cushions a joint. In this case, it's in the right shoulder. There has been no timetable for return announced.

Right-hander Alex Burnett has been called up from AAA Rochester to take the roster spot.

Nishioka Update:

Nishi's broken fibula won't require surgery or even a cast. The break occurred in a place where there is quite a bit of muscle tissue that stabilizes the bone.