ANAHEIM — Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn had the standings on his mind when he described his disappointment over Saturday night’s 7-5 loss to the Angels.

“We get in a good spot to take the [division] lead, and the last couple outings, I go out and give it back to [the White Sox]. I’m just tired of doing that. I’d like to go out in a big situation and get a win for us.”

Blackburn is 9-8 with a 3.78 ERA and leads all AL rookies with 157 1/3 innings pitched. He’s a big reason the Twins entered the night with a chance to stretch their lead over the White Sox to 1 1/2 games. They haven’t had a lead that big since May 12.

I couldn’t quite understand why Blackburn was so hard on himself, especially when the team made three misplays behind him during the pivotal third inning. (Two errors by 3B Brian Buscher, and the Vladimir Guerrero double, which should have been an error on CF Carlos Gomez.)

“I’m not mad that we made errors,” Blackburn said. “It’s just frustrating to go out there and struggle the way I did. The last couple outings, I couldn’t get the team a win. It’s starting to get pretty old.”

Again, it seemed a harsh assessment considering Blackburn pitched eight innings in his last start, holding Oakland to three runs on six hits.

But I took a closer look at his game log and realized something. The Twins have lost his past three starts. In the previous two, the Twins entered the day in first place and came out in second.

At least this time the Twins are still in first. Blackburn will have more chances to get another big win. What he really needs is some luck. Five times he’s left a game with the lead only to have the bullpen turn it into a no-decision.

‘PICK YOUR POISON’

Blackburn got Vladimir Guerrero to ground into two inning-ending double plays.

But in the third inning, the Twins had Blackburn walk Mark Teixeira intentionally to load the bases for Guerrero with one out. Blackburn threw a low slider, a pitch that wasn’t even close to a strike, he said, and Guerrero lifted it for the two-run double that bounced off Gomez’s glove.

“That’s pick your poison,” Gardy said of the intentional walk. “You wouldn’t want to do that too many times — walk anybody to get to Vlady. But with [Blackburn’s] sinker on the mound, you’re going to try to get a ground ball and see what happens. He got a fly ball. Should have been a sac fly, one run in.”

Gomez, who tried to make a backpedaling catch, said he didn’t lose the ball in the lights or anything.

“I missed it. That’s it,” Gomez said.

SHORT HOPS

(*) Nick Punto and Joe Mauer extended their respective hitting streaks to 11 games and 15 games.

(*) Boof Bonser’s only real blemish in 2 2/3 innings of relief was the home run by Teixeira in the sixth. “He gave us a chance,” Gardy said.

(*) Gomez reached base in all three plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch, before Gardy used Mike Lamb to pinch hit for him after Nick Punto singled with one out in the ninth. Lamb, who is 2-for-11 as a pinch-hitter, struck out.

This didn’t come up in the postgame, but the guess here is a Gomez/Francisco Rodriguez matchup wouldn’t have been pretty with that slider K-Rod throws. Lefties were batting .221 against him, compared to .182 for righties.

(*) OK, I’m spent. Day ball Sunday - 2:35 p.m. I’ll be back here in the morning with the lineups, as the Twins try to win the series.

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