Bonus Cantos

Both of my teams squandered leads and were forced into extra innings (or, as Michael Kay calls them, "bonus cantos") on the road last night. One of them recovered, while the other did the exact opposite. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

The Twins were led by a stellar Nick Blackburn into the 9th with a 3-0 lead over the Royals. Blackburn was under 90 pitches and looked like he was going to throw a complete game. Then, when he put two on with only one out, Gardenhire decided a win was worth more than the CG, so he ended Blackburn's day and put in Joe Nathan--one of the era's elite closers. But Nathan was far from elite last night. Mark Teahen blooped the first pitch he saw into left field and past Delmon Young. As the ball got lost in Kauffman's corner, the other two baserunners and Teahen managed to touch home plate. That's an inside-the-parker, Nathan's first blown save of the season, a no-decision for Blackburn, and a new ballgame in Kansas City.

Luckily, the Twins recovered. Dennys Reyes and Jesse Crain maintained the tie until the top of the 12th, when a walk, a base hit, and a Royals misplay allowed good ol' Cuddy to bring home the go-ahead run. Matt Guerrier came in at the bottom of the inning to close it out for his first save of the season.

So although it was a win overall, disappointment comes from how an excellent start was wasted by the best member of the bullpen. Nevertheless, Minnesota passed .500 and now looks for series victory behind veteran Livan Hernandez.

The tale of the Yankees is loads more depressing. How about this: The Yanks scored four off of Brian Burres in the top of the 2nd thanks to home runs by Giambi and Damon. Then Ian Kennedy allowed the O's to even the score, giving up more moonshots to Kevin Millar and Ramon Hernandez. Stellar. Kennedy recovered in the 3rd, but then left the game due to a strained lat--now he's on the DL. The Yanks came back and chased Burres out of the game in the fourth, scoring four more runs with the help of back-to-back homers by Abreu and Arod. But then came Russ Ohlendorf.

Olly, apparently wanting an exciting game, gave up a 2-run shot to Melvin Mora. Two batters later came a solo shot from Luke Scott, which was followed by Millar's second of the night. The good news is that he managed to escape the inning. The bad news is that he helped squander yet another 4-run lead in an instant.

The home run derby ended in Baltimore, but the game did not. The Yankees got close to scoring in the top of the 9th but came up empty. Then there was a 1+ hour rain delay before vintage Mariano Rivera prevented the Orioles from scoring and sent the game into extra innings.

Well, the good news up to this point was that Giambi was taking things to the opposite field. The worst news (because there was a lot of the bad type) was that the Yanks had scored 8 runs but still hadn't won in regulation. Unreal.

And as it turned out, they weren't destined to win, either. Mo also threw a scoreless 10th, and in the top of the 11th, the Yanks saw some amazing luck and managed to load the bases with no one out. Of course, then the Law of Averages kicked in and Arod lined into a double play. But clutch Matsui managed a hit, and alas, the Yanks squeezed out a single run in the situation. The game went into the bottom of the inning, and enter LaTroy Hawkins.

It was over before it even began. A pitcher is asked to get three outs without giving up a run and he lets through two; now I know how Cubs fans felt when he closed for them. But seriously Awful. Just awful.

It's almost June, and it's time for the FO to make some decisions. Something needs to be done about Hawkins (second miserable appearance in just as many days), Shelley Duncan (kid's got a good heart but let's face it--he's Bubby Crosby 2.0), Wilson Betemit (should NEVER play first ever again), Ian Kennedy (what's the deal, Ian), and Kyle Farnsworth (he's only consistent in being inconsistent). These are currently the weakest links in the team, and they could very well prevent us from having a winning season. I'd much rather see farmhands take up the slack than these guys; at least the former has room for improvement.