The starting pitching of the Twins is the real reason that they are tied for first place with the White Sox right now and rookie Nick Blackburn has been a big part of that success. The 25-year old righty was the Twins’ #1 prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America and he’s showing why. Blackburn has started 24 games for the Twins this season and he is 9-6 with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has only walked 24 batters in 144.2 innings this season buying into the Twins’ philosophy of throwing strikes and that’s a good thing because he has allowed 164 hits this year. Watching Blackburn pitch he really reminds me of a young Brad Radke and that’s a good thing.