Twins-Yankees: a Disapointing Series Split for the Minnesota

It was not so long ago that a split in a four-game series against the New York Yankees was a very good showing for the Minnesota Twins.

What a difference a few years make.

The Twins now expect to do much better than just split with the Yankees, and they very nearly took the series three games to one when Mike Lamb missed a home run by a few feet on Saturday night.

Counter-factual histories aside, the Twins entered Monday night's game needing a win to salvage the split. The game was a perfect chance for the Twins to showcase Livan Hernandez to the open market, as it was televised on ESPN.

Livan, however, didn't do much to increase his market value.

The Twins righty got knocked around to the tune of 13 hits and five earned runs in just six innings of work. Yet, somehow, the Twins overcame his poor start once again to win the game.

Dennys Reyes, Matt Guerrier, and Joe Nathan did their best to shut down the Yankees' bats after they gorged themselves on Livan's "eephus" pitch. The three combined to allow just three baserunners in their three innings of work, one of whom was eradicated on a double play.

The offense got to Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte early and often to keep the Twins in the game.

Delmon Young led the attack, going 3-4; all three of his hits were doubles. Two came off Pettitte and the last, off of Kyle Farnsworth, proved to be the game winner.

Even with good nights from Young and Michael Cuddyer, who also went 3-4 and scored on each of Delmon's three doubles, the Twins found themselves down going into the bottom of the seventh.

The Twins needed a big hit with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and Joe Mauer delivered. Mauer took Pettitte's 1-1 pitch deep over the baggie in right field for his first home run of the season, tying the game, and allowing Mauer to shave his beard of shame.

The important thing to take away from this series is this: for the first time in many years, the Twins are as good as the Yankees, if not better.

Tonight's win moves the Twins just one-half game back of the idle White Sox heading into their three-game series with Baltimore. The Sox take on the Royals for three games, but then the teams face each other head to head this weekend at the Cell.

Here are tonight's heroes and goats:

The Good: Michael Cuddyer: 3-4, 3R, 2B, OA. Cuddyer's outfield assist on Derek Jeter at second base was as good a play as you will see this season. Too often OAs occur when the outfielder gags an easy play and the runner gets caught between bases. Cuddyer played the ball perfectly off the wall, threw a perfect strike to Harris covering second and nailed Jeter as he slid in.

Delmon Young: 3-4, 3 2B, 3 RBI. Young is now the only offensive regular without a home run, but three doubles the other way to score Michael Cuddyer three times is good enough in terms of production. Still, seeing balls go over the wall instead of up against it would assuage a lot of Twins fans' fears that we got the raw end of the Young-Garza trade.

Joe Mauer: 2-4, 2R, RBI, HR. Mauer's timely HR was a huge boost for the Twins, hopefully he can use this as a booster to better his power numbers from here on out. Realistically, if he hits double-digits in HR, I'll be shocked.

Matt Guerrier: 1.2 IP, 1H, 0R, 1K. I don't give the bullpen much love, but when they earn it like Guerrier did tonight, they deserve credit. Guerrier came on with one out in the seventh and runners on second and third. Neither scored. Guerrier kept the game close even after Livan and Dennys Reyes conspired to give the Yankees the big inning they had been threatening all game.

The Bad: Carlos Gomez: 1-5, R, K. Gomez had a rough series against the Yankees, but hopefully he can rebound against the Orioles. He did score a key run on Alexi Casilla's well-placed bunt single, but he owes that run to a two-base error by Andy Pettitte.

The Ugly: Livan Hernandez: 6 IP, 13H, 5ER, BB, K. His WHIP on the night was a stunning 2.33. It is stunning because pitchers with that kind of WHIP don't usually stop at five runs. Hernandez is quickly looking like an expendable piece for the Twins; hopefully he can put together another decent start or two while the Twins look for trade partners.

Justin Morneau: 0-4. Morneau was one of two starters without a hit for both teams (the other was Bobby Abreu.) It's a good thing that Mauer brought the home-run stick tonight, because Morneau's was clearly not within the 612 area code.