By Joe Short

When Trevor Crowe hit that winning run in the ninth for Houston on Wednesday, Twins fans can be justified for looking for someone to blame. Having clawed our way back into the game with singles in the eighth and ninth, all reliever Brian Duensing had to do was take down three men – he got hit twice.

We fans betting MLB World Series are right to be disappointed with Duensing. In fact, the finger could also point to Liam Hendriks for letting three runs under his arm in the first. Yet there are great positives we can take from that defeat, none the least the fact Minnesota won their second series in a row to banish the nightmare of Kansas City and came agonisingly close to a first sweep since Houston early last month.

We haven’t had a good time of it since the All Star break and with the playoffs a million miles away attention moves from this season to the next. There are already rumours on the MLB betting sites over who Ron Gardenhire may bring in over the offseason and a solid pitcher or two wouldn’t go amiss.

Focussing on this weekend, however, we should have confidence in the team to earn another series – this time against the Blue Jays. Toronto have had a torrid season in the AL East but have won seven in their last 10 games, so they are a threat. They were on course to sweep the D-Backs this week before a last-inning defeat (like us!) and so Gardenhire and co. will feel confident of getting something at Target Field.

The Twins have something in their arsenal that Toronto don’t have, however, and that’s a reliable defense. While the Jays should win Friday’s game – RA Dickey (11-12) v Mike Pelfrey (5-10) – both Kevin Correia (9-10) and Andrew Albers (2-2) have the arm to keep Toronto’s offense at bay.

Albers’ selection is interesting as the leftie starts Sunday’s game against Esmil Rogers. He is greatly out of form having hit a 7.53 ERA from his last three starts but if there’s one team in the MLB you want to face when you’re down, it’s Toronto.