Nick Blackburn shows peak form in taming Oakland Athletics

Nick Blackburn felt confident that he finally would find a groove this season after battling through a rough 2010 campaign.

[techie51]

Big Deal. They won 3 in a row. They should be doing alot better than that. Dont get your hopes up. Now they will go on a 7 game losing streak.

[Scott in Orlando]

The Twins SP are all pretty good and Blackburn has been pitching quite well as of late. The problem is one that many have posted in the past - no ace. The team has 5-6 guys who are like #2 or #3 type MLB starters. It's a good staff but not great. I think that the team ought to avoid working Nathan on consecutive days until after the All-Star break. TJ surgery takes time and quite frankly, it's surprising that he's doing as well as he is considering that.

A question mark is Slowey. If used out of the pen he needs to be used in long-relief. But Gardy doesn't really use any RP's that way. Maybe a SP will be first to go should the Twins not recover by the trading deadline in July.

[jimbo92107]

Trevor Plouffe belongs in the big leagues. Yes, his defense needs work, but he'll be motivated to tighten that up. Meanwhile, the pop in his bat will win a lot of games for this team.

Valencia, Plouffe SS, Nishioka 2B could wind up a very good infield, with either Hughes or Tolbert as utility. I wonder if Tolbert can play the outfield...

[KennyO]

Us Twins faithful,knew the bats would come back to life.But the starters are weak,St.Peter & Co. need to get a couple of starters that are better than they are lucky.The Twins now have the money to get a real "ace",what's the hold up,Dave? Afraid you'll get an ego on the team Gardy can't handle?So be it,shake things up!