Minnesota Twins News

NEW YORK (AP) _ Minnesota Twins minor leaguer Eli Tintor was suspended for 50 games Monday following a positive test for a drug of abuse under the minor league program. The 22-year-old outfielder's suspension will take effect at the start of the 2008 season. There have been 27 suspensions this year under the minor league program and four under the major league drug plan. Tintor, of Hibbing, Minn., played for the class-A Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League. ...

Canadian Justin Morneau is the American League MVP. The Minnesota Twins first baseman from New Westminster, B.C., beat out New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Morneau is the second Canadian to be named MVP, joining 1997 National League winner Larry Walker. Morneau picked up 15 of the 28 first-place votes and 320 points, 14 points ahead of Jeter, who had 12 ...

Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire, who led the Twins to the AL Central Division title this season, agreed to a two-year extension Friday that will keep him under contract through 2009. He was already under contract for the 2007 season, which was part of a two-year extension he signed in January 2005. ``Ron and his staff have done a tremendous job, not only in 2006, but over the last several years,'' ...

Torii Hunter will be back with the Minnesota Twins for at least one more year. The Twins said Tuesday they picked up Hunter's US$12-million option. Hunter, 31, a five-time Gold Glove winner in centre field, was a big part of the Twins' AL Central title. After coming back from a stress fracture in his left foot in midsummer, Hunter wound up hitting 31 homers and driving in 98 runs. Hunter, ...

Francisco Liriano is off to Florida, and the Minnesota Twins are hoping his left elbow will heal there during the off-season. The Twins will send Liriano to their spring training and minor league facility in Fort Myers on Tuesday to start a therapy and rehabilitation program, general manager Terry Ryan said. Liriano will be supervised by Lanning Tucker, the team's rehab coordinator. ``We're going to put him down there and ...

For four glorious months, the Minnesota Twins were the darlings of the baseball world. They erased a 12{-game deficit to win the AL Central title on the regular season's final day, earning praise and attention heading into an unlikely playoff appearance. Then, just like that, it was over. Their World Series dreams swept away in convincing fashion by the Oakland Athletics, who outplayed them in every facet of the game. ``It's disheartening to see how good we played ...

Torii Hunter came up short again and so did the Minnesota Twins. Hunter was thrown out in a disputed play at the plate on Minnesota's only clutch hit of the series, snuffing out the Twins' best rally in an 8-3 loss Friday to the Oakland Athletics that finished off a first-round sweep. With runners on second and third and one out in the sixth, Rondell White came through with the hit the Twins had waited all series for. New ...

The Oakland Athletics swept away years of first-round futility. Milton Bradley homered and threw out Torii Hunter in a disputed play at the plate as the A's snapped a stretch of nine straight losses in potential playoff clinchers, beating Minnesota 8-3 Friday to reach the AL championship series for the first time in 14 years. The A's never trailed in finishing off the Twins in three games and will face either the Detroit Tigers or New York ...

Oakland Athletics second baseman Mark Ellis broke his right index finger during an at-bat in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the AL division series on Wednesday. X-rays taken after the Athletics' 5-2 win over Minnesota revealed the fracture. His status will be updated on Thursday at the team's workout in Oakland. The Athletics lead the best-of-five series 2-0 heading into Friday's Game 3. Ellis went 2-for-4 with two ...

The Twins' piranhas have keyed an offensive resurgence this season in Minnesota, relentlessly chomping away at opposing pitchers to key big rallies. They had no such success in Game 2 of the AL division series against Oakland on Wednesday, looking more like harmless goldfish in a 5-2 loss to the Athletics that left the Twins facing an 0-2 deficit. After jump-starting so many big innings down the stretch for the ...

Right after two of his Minnesota teammates hit back-to-back home runs, Torii Hunter tried to be the hero. Instead, the Gold Glove centre-fielder made an ill-advised dive for a sinking line drive. Sprawled on the turf, he could only watch as Mark Kotsay circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run that lifted the Oakland Athletics over Minnesota 5-2 Wednesday for a 2-0 lead in their AL playoff series. A's ...

Capitalizing on questionable judgment by a diving Torii Hunter, Oakland's Mark Kotsay hit an inside-the-park home run in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the AL division series against Minnesota on Wednesday. With the score tied 2-2 and two outs, Kotsay got ahead of lefty reliever Dennys Reyes before roping a line drive toward right-centre. Five-time Gold Glove winner Hunter dove for the ball, but wasn't even close, and ...

Twins left fielder Rondell White has spent much of the season hovering around the .200 mark, but he's swinging the bat well when the team needs him the most. White was the only Twin to have success against Oakland lefty Barry Zito in Game 1 of the AL division series, going 2-for-3 with a double and a home run. ``Just see the ball, hit the ball,'' White said. ``Pretty simple ...

The Minnesota Twins' M&M Boys aren't quite Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris just yet. Roommates Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, whose success and maturity this season earned them the nickname first bestowed upon the Yankees greats, went 0-for-7 with a walk in Tuesday's 3-2 loss to Oakland in Game 1 of their AL division series. Mauer, who hit .347 in the regular season to become the first catcher to win ...

In the place where Johan Santana usually can't be beaten, Barry Zito and Frank Thomas slowed Minnesota's momentum and gave Oakland a big boost to start this AL division series. Zito threw eight innings of one-run ball, besting Santana behind two big home runs by Thomas and sending the Athletics to a 3-2 victory over the Twins on Tuesday afternoon. Minnesota rookie Boof Bonser will start against Oakland's Esteban Loaiza ...

Joe Mauer became the first catcher to win the American League batting title, going 2-for-4 for the Minnesota Twins on the final day of the regular season to hold off the New York Yankees' Derek Jeter. Mauer doubled and singled against the Chicago White Sox, leaving his average at .347 down from a high of .392 on July 1 but good enough to best Jeter, who went 1-for-5 against Toronto ...

The Twins took home another AL Central championship on Sunday and Joe Mauer became the first catcher to win an American League batting title by getting two hits in Minnesota's 5-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Justin Morneau of New Westminster, B.C., drove in his 130th run of the year to tie the record for most RBIs by a Canadian in a season, set by Larry Walker of Maple Ridge, B.C. About 35 minutes after Minnesota's ...

Minnesota Twins reliever Dennys Reyes left Sunday's game against the Chicago White Sox in the seventh inning after being hit in the left foot by Rob Mackowiak's comebacker. Reyes, the Twins top left-hander out of the bullpen this season, entered in the sixth in relief of starter Carlos Silva. Reyes walked A.J. Pierzynski and then got Alex Cintron to ground into a double play to end the inning. Mackowiak led off the seventh with a hard-hit ball ...

Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau drove in his 130th run of the season Sunday to tie Larry Walker's single-season record for most RBIs by a Canadian. Morneau took an outside pitch off the plate and muscled it into left field, a bloop double that brought Joe Mauer home from second. Walker, from Maple Ridge, B.C., knocked in 130 runs for the Colorado Rockies in 1997, when he batted .366 ...

The Minnesota Twins missed another chance to move ahead in the division race. Jon Garland took a shutout into the ninth inning and Tadahito Iguchi had a homer among his three hits and three RBIs, leading the Chicago White Sox past the Twins 6-3 Saturday. That left Detroit needing one win in its last two games, or a loss Sunday by Minnesota, to clinch the AL Central. The Tigers, who ...