{"id":633405,"date":"2026-03-20T12:07:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/633405\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T12:07:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:07:27","slug":"the-2006-twins-ride-the-early-season-rollercoaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/633405\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2006 Twins ride the early season rollercoaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

After loading up with some new talent<\/a> following a disappointing, playoff-less 2005 season<\/a>, the Minnesota Twins opened 2006 north of the border in Toronto and rode an early-season rollercoaster for the first few weeks.<\/p>\n

A classic Johan Santana vs Roy Halladay clash christened the new 162-game slate on April 4, and the home Jays got the better of the visiting Twins 6-3. Shannon Stewart and Tony Batista bashed bombs, at least, and the Twins evened the series the next day with a lopsided 13-4 drubbing of the Birds\u201416 hits (homers from Stewart, Torii Hunter, & Luis Rodriguez) supporting a strong Brad Radke start.<\/p>\n

\"TORONTO<\/a><\/p>\n

TORONTO \u2013 APRIL 4: No shame in losing to The Doc (Photo By Dave Sandford\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

But in the series finale, Carlos Silva couldn\u2019t scatter 5 H & 2 BB as masterfully as usual<\/a> and MN went through customs to Cleveland as a losing ball club.<\/p>\n

Hoping to get a leg up on the division rival Clevelanders, the Twins\u2026did not. Kyle Lohse (4.2 IP, 11 H, 8 ER) & Matt Guerrier (2.1 IP, 2 ER) were disastrous in the Jacobs Field home opener, with Travis Hafner hammering two homers and former Twin Casey Blake blasting another en route to a 11-6 Tribe triumph.<\/p>\n

\"CLEVELAND<\/a><\/p>\n

CLEVELAND \u2013 APRIL 7: Pounded by Pronk (Photo by John Grieshop\/MLB via Getty Images) MLB via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Game two saw 24-year old fifth starter Scott Baker twirl a nice road tilt\u2014but only receive 6 H of support in a 3-0 defeat. It was more of the same the next day for the CLE sweep: only 4 MN hits as Jake Westbrook (7.1 IP, 1 ER) out-dueled Santana (5.1 IP, 3 ER). Uh oh. After two series, the \u201806 Twins were 1-5 and the should-have-been-reigning AL Cy Young<\/a> had been beaten twice.<\/p>\n

\"CLEVELAND<\/a><\/p>\n

CLEVELAND \u2013 APRIL 7: No answers in Cleveland for Castillo\u2014or the rest of the Twins\u2019 bats (Photo by John Grieshop\/MLB via Getty Images) MLB via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fortunately, some Dome cookin\u2019 was just what the doctor ordered.<\/p>\n

In the Dome Opener versus the Oakland Athletics on April 11, Justin Morneau & Batista homered in support of the metronomic Radke (7 IP, 4 ER) to blow the 48,911 paid out the doors with a smile over the 7-6 victory.<\/p>\n

A 13-hit, multi-homer (Morneau & Hunter) pounding of Esteban Loaiza backed up Silva (2 homers to Nick Swisher, but otherwise solid) for the 6-5 game-and-series victory the next day, while 12 more hits (HR from Hunter & Michael Cuddyer) including a Nick Punto triple (I can picture the headfirst dive<\/a> into the third sack!) secured the sweep behind Lohse\u2019s strong bump turn (6 IP, 2 ER).<\/p>\n

\"MINNEAPOLIS<\/a><\/p>\n

MINNEAPOLIS \u2013 APRIL 11: Batista bomb! (Photo by David Sherman\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

The New York Yankees were under the Teflon next and threatened to ruin the good vibes as quickly as they had ruined the 2003 & 2004 postseasons<\/a> for Twins fans.<\/p>\n

A four-game home winning streak was achieved when Scott Baker out-dueled Mike Mussina 5-1 with the 6-7-8-9 batters Morneau, Batista, Lew Ford, & Juan Castro combining to go 7-14.<\/p>\n

\"Minneapolis,<\/a><\/p>\n

Minneapolis, MN, Friday, 4\/14\/2006: Baker beats Moose! (Photo by BRUCE BISPING\/Star Tribune via Getty Images) Star Tribune via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The contest on 4\/15\/06 was an all-time Twins\/Yankees classic (in the good way, for once!). Down 6-5 heading into B9 with Mariano Rivera on the mound, one almost couldn\u2019t blame the 42,316 Twins Territory acolytes for gathering their possessions in anticipation of a quick exit. But Luis Castillo singled\u2014then the same from Joe Mauer. Let\u2019s not get too antsy to beat the traffic! But whiffs from Rondell White & Hunter quickly reduced the Twins to their final out. It took exactly one pitch to decide it\u2014that being Mo\u2019s first offering to Morneau which the future Twins Hall-of-Famer<\/a> blooped over the head of NYY 2B Robinson Cano. Moving on contact, Castillo & Mauer skittered around the bases to score the tying and winning runs\u2014a 6-5 victory over the Yankees and a 5-game winning streak to become a winning ballclub (6-5) on the young season!<\/p>\n

\"There\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s your walk-off winner! (Photo by MARLIN LEVISON\/Star Tribune via Getty Images) Star Tribune via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Alas, the momentum would be curtailed the next day when Bombers Jason Giambi, Cano, & future Minnesota Timberwolves owner Alex Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> pummeled Radke & Guerrier to the tune of a 9-3 defeat.<\/p>\n

But roughly two weeks into the 2006 season, the Twins had overcome an initial setback and reset the needle on the campaign to regain AL Central supremacy.<\/p>\n

\"04\/15\/06<\/a><\/p>\n

04\/15\/06 Twins vs. Yankees: Back on track! (Photo by MARLIN LEVISON\/Star Tribune via Getty Images) Star Tribune via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After loading up with some new talent following a disappointing, playoff-less 2005 season, the Minnesota Twins opened 2006…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,822,60,67362,3190,4,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-633405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-twins","11":"tag-minnesota-twins-history","12":"tag-minnesotatwins","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116261426217856829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}