Congratulations Wes, RIP Toby.

What a vacation. I went to a wedding, a funeral and a Twins game. How I missed the plains.
Now that I'm back, here's this breaking news.

Most of the month of May was very dark for the Twins. Injuries, poor pitching and quiet bats plagued the team for most of the month. Rondell White, Joe Mauer and a good piece of the bullpen spent most or all of May on the disabled list. Some pitchers regressed while others surged. A poor start prompted some doomsayers to signal the end, but a strong showing in the final two weeks got the Twins back into a decent position.

Starting pitching was a major problem for Minnesota. The rotation went 10-11 with a 4.89 ERA. As well as Ramon Ortiz pitched in April, he pitched just as poorly in May. He posted an 0-3 record with an ERA of 10.48 and averaged just 4 1/3 innings per start. Ortiz gave up 40 hits in 21 1/3 innings before being sent to the bullpen. His worst start was May 15 v Cleveland when he gave up six runs on seven hits in one inning of work. The lone bright spot of his month was a perfect inning of relief against the White Sox.

Fortunately, we were put out of Sidney Ponson’s misery. The ham-fisted greaseball was released after going 1-2 with a 4.96 ERA. Ponson’s career numbers as a Twin against teams other than Tampa Bay: 0-5, 9.24 ERA, 41 hits, 25 1/3 innings, six home runs allowed in five starts.

After a fine April, Carlos Silva took a step back in May. He went 1-4 with a 5.28 ERA. In his first two starts, he was a hard-luck loser. He allowed four runs while the Twins scored none. In his next two starts, he was rocked to the tune of 12 ER on 16 hits in 10 1/3 innings. On the 27^th, he made his best start of the year. He pitched 7 1/3, giving up two ER on six hits in a 4-2 win over Toronto.

Taking Ponson’s turn in the rotation was Scott Baker. In his season debut, Baker dominated the Brewers, giving up two ER on six hits over 8 1/3. But in his next two starts, he pitched a combined 8 1/3 and gave up 9 ER on 15 hits, earning two no-decisions.

The best part of May was watching the emergence of Boof Bonser as a legitimate number two starter. He led the starters in wins (4), ERA (2.45) and innings pitched (36 2/3). He struck out a career high 11 Brewers on the 18^th and had 9.33 strike outs per nine innings pitched. After a rough beginning, Boof has lowered his ERA in six of his last seven starts.

Statistically, Minnesota did well at the plate in May. The team hit .279 with five players batting over .300. But at times, especially in the first three weeks, the offense was nowhere to be seen. Despite his aching legs, Luis Castillo had a phenomenal month. Hitting safely in 21 of 25 games, Luis batted .368 with a .419 on base percentage. He scored 24 runs and collected 39 hits, including the 1,500^th of his career. It has been over a year since he committed an error and at months end, his streak stands at 139 games.

Nick Punto had a much improved month, hitting .253 with a .369 OBP. He stole seven bases in nine tries while playing a solid third base and filling in at second occasionally. Unfortunatly, he’s still striking out too much. He k’d 19 times and walked 16.

The middle of the order finally came to life. Dorn hit .317 with 20 RBIs, lifting his season average to .302. Torii Hunter continued his hot start by batting .311 with six home runs and 27 RBIs. He also struck out 23 times. Justin Morneau again had us chanting MVP with his heroics. He hit .314 with 29 RBIs, 10 HR, and a .667 slugging percentage.

But in my mind, the MVP was Mike Redmond. When Mauer went down with a leg injury, Redmond stepped into the everyday catchers role and excelled. He hit .366 with 6 RBIs and a .418 OBP. Defensively, he didn’t make an error and threw out 48% of potential base stealers.

Unlike other parts of the team, the Bullpen performed well throughout May. The relievers amassed a 3-3 record with a 2.98 ERA. Pat Neshek allowed six hits while striking out 18 with an ERA of 0.66. Joe Nathan went 1-0 with four saves with a 1.50 ERA.