Blackburn trying to put contract behind him

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Nick Blackburn admits that putting the new contract he just signed out of his mind hasn't been quite as easy as he thought.

The Twins right-hander has been greeted with plenty of congratulatory wishes from teammates, coaches and friends and family after signing a four-year, $14 million contract on Sunday. It makes it tough, he said, not to let it creep into his thoughts at times.

But forgetting about the contract while he was on the mound wasn't Blackburn's biggest concern on Monday. Instead, it was exactly when he should start warming up in the bullpen.

Blackburn had originally been scheduled to start Monday's 5-0 victory over the Orioles, but the Twins flip-flopped him and Kevin Slowey. This was the second time the two starters had been put back-to-back in a game, and so they just decided to switch the order this time around.

"I had to ask [pitching coach Rick Anderson] when to start throwing," Blackburn said of being in the bullpen. "I got ready and then to get the second and third out, it took them forever. So I was hanging out for 10 minutes before coming in to warm up again."

It's not something that either Blackburn or Slowey will likely have to worry about again this spring, as the Twins will split up the two starters during the next turn of the rotation. But on this day, it seemed to work pretty well to have them pitch together.

Slowey and Blackburn produced identical pitching lines in their second spring outing. They each tossed three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two.

Perhaps even more ironic was the fact that both pitchers talked about working on the same issue during their outings -- tempo.

For Slowey, it was just his second time back on the mound after missing the entire second half of last season due to wrist surgery. Slowey said the biggest adjustment for him has been to normalize himself with the speed of the game again.

"I just want to find the right tempo, not to work too fast and not taking up too much time," Slowey said. "The first couple innings I felt like I did both. There were at-bats where it took me too long to get back on the mound and at-bats where I went too quickly and didn't give myself enough time."

Slowey said he's had no issues with his wrist at all so far this spring, so he has been able work on all of his pitches as well as getting a good feel once again for the tempo of the game.

"I think it's just repetition," Slowey said. "The more I'm out there, the more I'll settle back into what comfortable speed is for me."

Slowey said he settled in by his third inning of work and it was the same for Blackburn, who said he had to work to slow himself down.

Blackburn said he had worked with Anderson last season to not be so quick with his delivery, but early on Monday, he felt a little out of whack mechanically. So in between innings, Blackburn said he worked on a drill that helped last year. And while he was a little too slow in his second inning, Blackburn said he was able to get in a rhythm by his final inning.

"Everything was right in 'sync to where we needed to be, and Andy was pretty happy that I was able to make that adjustment this early in the spring," Blackburn said. "It was good to have not exactly the right tempo and still be able to get out of an inning without too much damage. I definitely felt good about today's performance."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he wasn't surprised that both pitchers were focused on working on tempo.

"I think it's all about the pace of the game," Gardenhire said. "When you haven't been out there in a while, you try to figure out your pace and where you're at and their rhythm and where they want to get their body pitching wise. That's all about innings here in Spring Training."

Blackburn seemed happy with his outing. But his hope is that the next time he takes the mound, the contract will be a little further removed from his thoughts.

"It's going to be a while before it's completely out of my mind," Blackburn said. "I look forward to when it's not ever on my mind. I don't want that interfering with what my main focus is, and that's pitching."