Enough Already

Red Sox 18, Twins 5

We're working our way into a nice routine over here. Baby sleeps on Daddy's chest, Daddy watches the game on the laptop, Mommy takes a nap. Everybody wins!

Oh, except the Twins. They most certainly did not win.

Only the Red Sox win at Fenway Park, so I don't want to get too upset about Wednesday's outcome. The Twins had an opportunity to win the first 2 games of the series, and were in the last game until the 7th. They're playing very well, and they're quite close to being able to outplay the best in the league, but they're not quite there yet. Today's fiasco was the result of the very things I've been harping on for weeks, so there's no need to expound too much:

Livan Hernandez is the weak link in the rotation.

Boof Bonser or Brian Bass (or neither), but not both.

Denard Span belongs in the leadoff spot.

You can't give a good team extra outs.

It's amazing how frequently Boof is the victim of bizarre defensive miscues. On Wednesday, 2 of the 4 H he allowed were fly balls that Jason Kubel should have caught in RF. His (typically) ugly line might have looked quite different had those plays been made. However, part of being a good pitcher is picking up your defense, and Boof has shown no ability to do that all year.

In a way, I'm glad this sweep happened. It should wake the organization out of its winning-streak induced fog and remind them that they have yet to assemble the best possible team. When you're on a streak, you tend to skip shaving, wear the same undershirt, maintain every behavior that's been working. Above all, you don't change anything. That attitude will be fatal to 2nd half success. Now that the streak is over, I hope the Twins will finally take this opportunity to make the last few changes they need to be 3-4 games better than the White Sox after the All-Star break.