Twins vs. White Sox

Monday

Twins: Glen Perkins(LHP) - 5.55 ERA, 84.1 IP, 101 H, 40 K, 20 BB, 9 HR

- In April, he was the Twins' best pitcher.  In May, their worst.  That led to nearly a month-long stay on the disabled list for an irritated unlar nerve in his elbow. 

- He's been inconsistent since returning, with his last start being the most painful, both figuratively and literally.  He gave up eight runs, all earned, against the Athletics, and then revealed that his shoulder was hurting.  An examination showed tendonitis, which can be treated with medication.  He's not expected to miss this start. 

- He's basically a three-pitch pitcher, but really relies on just two pitches depending on the batter.  Versus right-handers he'll throw his fastball and a changeup.  Versus left-handers, it's a fastball and slider, and he also likes to use that slider as his strikeout pitch.  He relies on his fastball about 70% of the time, and that goes up when he's behind in the count.  Finally, he will mix in a curveball as a "show-me" pitch. 

- His Achilles' heal?  Strangely enough, it's left-handed batters. That can be misleading, since often only the best left-handed hitters remain in the lineup against southpaws like Perkins, but they're hitting .351 this year and .333 against him for their career. 

- Fortunately, he's had quite a bit of success against some of the White Sox bigger guns, like Paul Konerko (3 for 12), Jermaine Dye (2 for 11) and Jim Thome (1 for 8). 

White Sox: John Danks(LHP) - 3.98 ERA, 106.1 IP, 97 H, 92 K, 40 BB, 12 HR

- Danks is a 24-year-old left-handed pitcher who threw together a 3.32 ERA over 195 innings last year.  That was his second year in the majors, and his success was due to learning a cut fastball from pitching coach Don Cooper that made him much more effective against right-handers. 

- He's a flyball pitcher, so his success and failure depends a lot on whether he keeps the ball in the park.  So far, he's been about average in that category, and his ERA bears that out. 

- He's very similar to Perkins.  He's basically a three-pitch pitcher, relies on just two pitches depending on the batter, and those pitches are the fastball-changeup to right-handers and fastball-slider to southpaws.  He also shows a curveball as a fourth pitch occasionally.  He's different in that he likes to use his changeup to strike people out, and throws his fastball a little bit less than Perkins.  But you're seeing remarkably similar pitchers. 

- Also like Perkins, he's overcoming a medical condition for this start.  In Danks' case, it was a blister caused by a circulatory problem in his left index finger.  The solution?  He's given up chewing tobacco. 

- The heart of the Twins order has had a LOT of success against Danks in the past.  Justin Morneau has 3 HR to go with his .318 BA, and Michael Cuddyer(.476 BA),  Joe Mauer(.450) and Jason Kubel(.462) all have hit better than .400 against him.