Josh Willingham

The American and National League All Stars were chosen Sunday and the lone Twins' representative is catcher Joe Mauer. Mauer was picked by Texas Manager Ron Washington to backup Texas catcher Mike Napoli. Mauer is batting .325 with 4 homeruns and 36 RBIs this season. He leads the American League in on-base-percentage at .416.

The Twins defeated Kansas City 10-8 Sunday afternoon to win 3 out of 4 against the Royals over the weekend. Minnesota came from down 5-1 to score 5 runs in the 6th inning to lead 6-5. Josh Willingham had a 3-run homerun and Trevor Plouffe homered twice for Minnesota. Drew Butera added a 3-run homerun in the 8th inning to boost the Twins to the win. Plouffe has a team leading 18 homeruns this season. Jeff Gray threw 1 inning of scoreless relief to get the win.

It's a fair question. Until very recently, my answer, and really the only deserving candidate, was Josh Willingham. His batting average has certainly come back to earth, as now he is hitting a very average .277 - but he is the team's co-leader in home runs with 15, and he leads the team in RBI's with 49...

The Twins came from behind Sunday afternoon to beat the Reds 4-3. Josh Willingham hit a 2-run homerun off Aroldis Chapman in the 9th inning to turn a 3-2 deficit to a 4-3 lead. Trevor Plouffe hit a solo homerun and Joe Mauer was 2-4 with a run scored for Minnesota. Scott Diamond threw 8 innings with 8 hits and 3 earned runs to get the win and improve to 6-3. Jared Burton threw a scoreless 9th inning to get the save.

The Twins defeated Pittsburgh 2-1 Wednesday night. Josh Willingham hit a solo homerun in the 8th inning to break a 1-all tie for the Twins. Francisco Liriano made his longest start of the season throwing 6 2/3 innings with 4 hits and 1 earned run allowed. He didn't figure in the final decision. Jared Burton threw 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to get the win. Glen Perkins threw a scoreless 9th inning to earn his 1st save of the season. Trevor Plouffe had a RBI single for the Twins in the first inning.

The Twins lost 9-8 at home against Philadelphia Wednesday night. P.J. Walters left the game in the 1st inning with a right shoulder stiffness. He didn't retired a hitter and allowed 4 hits and 4 earned runs to take the loss and drops to 2-2. Walters will have his shoulder looked at today. Denard Span went 3-5 with a run scored and 1 RBI and both Trevor Plouffe and Josh Willingham each had a solo homerun for the Twins. Ben Revere went 2-5 with 2 runs scored and 1 RBI for Minnesota.

The Twins have won 8 of their last 10 after beating the Chicago Cubs 8-7 in 10 innings Friday night. Josh Willingham's RBI single in the 10th won the game for Minnesota. The Twins trailed 5-2 before taking a 6-5 lead. The Cubs got a 2-run homerun from Rafael Soriano to take a 7-6 lead. Justin Morneau's RBI triple scored Willingham in the 9th inning to tie the game. Trevor Plouffe and Ryan Doumit each had 2 hits including a solo homerun for Minnesota and Ben Revere added 3 hits for the Twins.

The Twins defeated the Royals 10-7 in Kansas City Monday night to earn their 3rd straight win and to win their 6th in their last 7. Ben Revere was 3-5 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs, Jamey Carroll was 3-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs, Josh Willingham went 2-3 with a homerun with 3 RBIs and Justin Morneau hit a 2-run homerun for the Twins. Cole DeVries earned his first major league win throwing 5 innings with 6 hits and 4 earned runs. Matt Capps recorded the final our for his 13th save.

The Twins completed a 3-game sweep of the Oakland A's by winning 4-0 Wednesday afternoon at Target Field. Francisco Liriano was re-inserted in the starting rotation and threw 6 shutout innings with 3 hits and 2 walks allowed to get the win and improve to 1-5. He struckout 9. Josh Willingham had 2 hits including a 2-rn homerun and 3 RBIs and Brian Dozier had a RBI single.

Josh Willingham hit a walk-off 3-run homerun in the bottom of the 9th inning off Oakland closer Brian Fuentes to lift the Twins to a 3-2 win over Oakland Tuesday night. Justin Morneau and Ben Revere each had 2 hits for the Twins. Cole DeVries threw 5 shutout innings wieh 2 hits and 5 walks allowed but didn't figure in the final decision. Glen Perkins threw a scoreless 9th inning to get the win and improve to 1-1.