Double Play Delmon

Back-to-back bad losses to the White Sox is never something that gets you in a good mood. This one started well enough, with a homer by Delmon Young in the second inning, but it was only downhill from there. The Twins had only three hits and four baserunners through the first eight innings, which caused me to get sidetracked with a magazine I was reading before I noticed the bases were loaded with no outs in the ninth inning! I was subdued as quickly as I'd gotten excited, though, after Joe Crede struck out and Young grounded into a double play. Immediately before his at-bat, I thought to myself, "And now we've got Double Play Delmon up with the double play perfectly aligned." He obliged.

But, I went to the effort to see if the quick-triggered moniker was accurate. Turns out, Young led the American League in 2007 in GDP with 23, but was tied for 13th last year with 19. So... all in all, I'd say it's fair, but there's an argument against it.

That's the fourth time in their first seven games that the Twins have scored one or fewer runs. Shockingly, they've lost all of them, and won their other three games in which they've scored 6+ runs. It's no secret: if you don't put up multiple runs in a game, it makes it very difficult to win. This time it was Nick Blackburn taking the loss despite a quality start.

A few other non-Twins notes:

• Johan Santana pitched a gem but wound up on the losing end of the game thanks to two unearned runs. His line: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 K. His adversary, Josh Johnson, did him one better though: 9 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.
• Cleveland finally picked up a victory in 2009, beating the Blue Jays 8-4. The Nationals are now the only winless team remaining.
• This is something a lot of us have been hoping to hear from Ron Gardenhire, but in this case it came from Jerry Manuel: "We're not necessarrily identifying saves--we're indentifying wins and losses." Click to read more quotes you wish Gardenhire would say regarding bringing in Joe Nathan in close, non-save situations.