Twins: A long and unsuccessful road trip comes to an end today (rain delay)

UPDATE: The game is being delayed by rain, but the Rangers hope to resume play by 3:50 p.m,.

This is where Cole De Vries pitched the best game of his young major league career. On July 8, De Vries shut out the Rangers for seven innings before the bullpen blew the game in the ninth.

That outing is part of a stretch of 10 winless starts for De Vries heading into today. He needs a strong start against the hot-hitting Rangers offense. The Twins need a strong start from him to avoid a four-game sweep by the Rangers, a sixth straight loss and a 1-9 road trip.

The Twins need a win to remember what it feels like.

DIAMOND'S APPEAL

Twins lefthander Scott Diamond is expected to have the appeal of his suspension heard on Monday.

Diamond was suspended six games for throwing a pitch near the head of Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton. Diamond contends that he did not intentionally throw at Hamilton, citing his control issues during the game.

STAT OF THE DAY

The Twins have thrown out just 18 percent of runners attempting to steal. The league average is 26 percent. It's not a reflection of the catchers as it is pitchers being able to hold runners on base. I'll get into this more later, but we all know Drew Butera has a cannon for an arm, but he's only thrown out 25 percent of basestealers, when anything above 30 percent is considered good.
When Francisco Liriano was here, 13 of 15 basestealers were successful off him. Liriano is left-handed, and Butera was his catcher for most of the season.

Twins (51-75)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Ben Revere, RF
3. Joe Mauer, 1B
4. Josh Willingham, LF
5. Justin Morneau, DH
6. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
7. Jamey Carroll, 2B
8. Drew Butera, C
9. Pedro Florimon, SS

Pitcher: RHP Cole De Vries

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Mitch Morleand. 1B
3. Josh Hamilton, LF
4. Adrian Beltre, 3B
5. Nelson Cruz, RF
6. David Murphy, DH
7. Geovany Soto, C
8. Craig Gentry, CF
9. Luis Henandez, SS