Nick Blackburn's had a rough time of late. He hadn't won since July 10th, putting up an 8+ ERA in that span. His ERA has risen to above 5 after hovering around 3 for most of the first half. He'd kept the Twins afloat by pitching over his head, but had now fallen back to his career norms. He's never going to be a true ace, but the Twins need him to do more bending than breaking to stay in the playoff hunt. Blacky also has had a career-long problem with Jim Thome, most famously giving up the division winning home run to Fat Jim last September. Thome had a career OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of over 1.000 (that's really, really good) against Blackburn. At least until tonight.
Blackburn caught Thome looking to end the Sox threat in the first, and found the considerable hole in Jim's swing in the fourth. Nick struck out a career high seven batters, and got enough from Mauer Power and Kubel Strudel (best I could do, sad) to jam a few patterns: his winless streak against Thome, his winless streak since July, and most importantly the Twins' streak of being four and half games back of the division leading Tigers. With Thome's trade to the Dodgers, Blackburn's numbers against him will never be stellar. But he ended it on a nice, significant note.
Up next, another two rookie starters, but with the further depletion of the Chicago lineup, there's no reason the Twins can't push the pale hose further into the ground.
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