Hell Week

Twins 2, Tigers 10

Twins 7, Tigers 9

Oh my sweet Lord, when is this horror show going to be over?

Twins 0, Blue Jays 2

Twins 3, Blue Jays 9 (11 innings)

Twins 3, Blue Jays 11

Seriously, why don't they just kick me in the balls?

I'll make Saturday's loss the 4th of the season squarely on the shoulders of the depth. Not just because the Twins only needed one more run over 10 innings of batting in order to win this one. Because James Hoey got absolutely torched in the 11th, and I don't think he'd be up here right now if several other guys hadn't already failed.

For the week, the Twins pitched well enough to win on Friday and Saturday and hit well enough to win on Wednesday. But whatever needs to happen in order for them to lose, happens. They're on a 110-loss pace right now. Almost nobody loses that much. To lose that much, an avalanche of things has to go wrong. And it has.

One could have predicted that a few of the Twins' moves wouldn't pan out, and that there would be some injuries. But to lose Mauer, and Nishioka, and have Casilla suck worse than he ever has, forcing Gardy to overuse Tolbert and Butera and (who are sucking worse than they ever have), let alone Butera's even worse backups? To have Nathan and Morneau each struggle mightily to recover from their 2010 injuries? To have Capps blow more than his share of saves? To have Liriano and Pavano each see significant spikes in HR/9 and BB/9 with corresponding plummets in their K/9, becoming, in effect, completely different pitchers than they were last year? To have every young player called up from AAA sputter and fail to make a positive impact?

A few of those things were bound to happen. But all of them at once? Inconceivable. And yet, here we are.

False Start

Twins 3, Blue Jays 13

The 1st inning of the 1st game of the season doesn't count, right? I mean, isn't it just for warmup? No? Whoops.

Twins 1, Blue Jays 6

Blinded by my unwavering confidence in Francisco Liriano's stuff, I overlooked his late-starting and very shaky spring training and started him against the Jays, though he's pitched horribly against them, including yielding 33% of his HR to them last season. Lesson learned. He's already on the bench for his start at Yankee Stadium. I'll play him at home against the Royals.

Anybody wanna get a hit? Thank you, Denard Span. At least somebody around here is rewarding my unwavering confidence in them.

Twins 4, Blue Jays 3

Naturally, after pummeling Carl Pavano and Liriano, the Jays were tamed by Nick Blackburn. Matt Capps came on in the 7th inning to save the Twins from a 2-on, no out situation created by a pair of Jose Mijares BB. That left Glen Perkins for the 8th and Joe Nathan for the 9th. I never thought I'd say this, but I felt a lot more comfortable with Perkins out there.

Great to finally see some signs of life from the offense. Now, if they could just avoid getting thrown out on the basepaths, they might be onto something.

Sunday's 9th inning was such an ordeal that it almost felt like the Twins lost the game. But they did salvage a win, and that was about the best that could have been hoped for in this series. They've finished the schedule in 1st place in 4 of the last 5 seasons, but none of those teams was able to win a series in Toronto, either. Of course, I'd love to see them fair better than usual in NYC this week. But I'm afraid I didn't see anything this weekend to make me think that will happen.

Notes:

• Every single MLB team will have at least one series in which they play like crap, as will every single player. Those things are magnified at the beginning of the season, but have no more meaning there than they do in the middle of the summer. So I refuse to draw any conclusions about the team or individual players based on what happened in this series. Let's see how everybody does the next time out.
• That goes especially for Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who had a fine spring, especially on defense, then looked pretty weak in his debut. He was a rookie playing in his 1st MLB game on Friday. He was nervous. Some guys can control that better than others. He made a couple of mistakes on routine defensive plays that cost the team at least 2 1st-inning runs. But the error he made on Sunday (leading to another unearned run) was a really tough play, sprinting toward the plate, then throwing back across his body all in one motion. We saw Nick Punto make that play a lot, and it can only be scored an error, but just because Nishi didn't pull it off there doesn't mean he can't play 2B. I bet we'll see him get outs on similar plays as the season moves along.
• I read this morning that Span was considered by the Rockies with the 9th overall pick in the 2002 draft. Pretty cool to think that another team considered him to be a top 10 talent.

Blue Jay Way

Twins 7, Blue Jays 6

My goodness, those Blue Jays like to swing for the fences. No matter the count, no matter the situation on the bases. No wonder they're leading the league in HR. And the ball was carrying extremely well in this series. Carl Pavano was able to get 11 ground ball outs, and was barely at 70 pitches starting the 7th inning, so aggressive were the Jays. Yet he was only ahead 6-5, because Toronto had ripped him for 5 ER on 5 XBH, including a pair of HR. Whoops, make that 3 HR, and Pavano came out of the game. Credit the bullpen for retiring 8 of the 9 batters they faced.

On this night, the Twins were able to match the Jays blow for blow. Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel and Joe Mauer all went yard, and Delmon Young was 3-3 with a 2B, BB and RBI. Perhaps the difference in the game was that the Twins pitchers didn't surrender a BB, but the Jays gave the Twins 6 free passes, including one to Denard Span with the bases loaded that tied the game in the top of the 6th. That rally was crucial, immediately answering the Jays' big inning against Pavano.

Twins 5, Jays 6

A fly ball pitcher, like Kevin Slowey, in that park, against that team, was perhaps not in a great position to succeed. I thought the lesson from the 1st game was pretty much to stay away from the middle of the plate and throw lots of offspeed stuff early in the count. Slowey did an OK job of that, also reaching the 7th inning. But he was tagged for 4 XBH, and every one led to a run: a solo HR in the 1st, a 1-out 2B in the 4th that scored on a 2-out, bloop single down the RF line, a 2-out, 2-run inside-the-park HR, and a 1-out 3B that chased Slowey and was promptly brought home on a SF.

The inside-the-parker was a tough play, precisely in the middle of Span and Young in left center. Had Span peeled off, I think Young might have been able to catch it - he looked like he might have been distracted at the last second by Span's feet flying at his face. Even if he'd missed it, with Span backing up it would have been just a 2B and, at most, only 1 R allowed. It was a game where it felt like all you had to do was put the ball in the air and something good was bound to happen for the offense. But, in this tough stretch the Twins are going through, it seems as though all sorts of balls are falling in for the opposition, and not quite as many for our guys.

They had their share, though, and it should have been enough to win: a 3B from Orlando Hudson, and HR from Hudson and Young. The Twins pecked away for runs in 4 straight innings, but the Jays always seemed to have an answer in the bottom half. This time it was the Twins who walked too many - only 2, but the 2nd came in front of Vernon Wells' 2-out drive off the wall in CF. That was surrendered by Matt Guerrier, who I'd say the Twins should make every effort not to use between now and the All-Star Break - he looks pretty fried right now.

Twins 1, Jays 8

Same problem for the Twins in this game as the last - fly ball pitcher. How to keep these hackers in the yard? Offspeed stuff, edges of the plate. But Scott Baker was touched for a HR on the game's 3rd pitch, with an 0-2 count. That fastball either needed to be higher or tighter. As it was, it was in the perfect spot for Fred Lewis to loft into the welcoming jet stream of Rogers Centre. He allowed another leadoff HR in the 2nd, but that was on a breaking ball heading through the bottom of the strike zone - I don't blame Baker for that as much as tip my cap to Adam Lind.

Baker eventually settled down and retired 12 of the last 13 men he faced. Unfortunately for him and the Twins, he started that string one batter too late. With the bases loaded, he served up a bases clearing 2B to the wall in right center. It was another 0-2 pitch, and on this one Baker missed his spot by almost 2 feet, delivering up and away instead of up and in. He made his worst pitch of the game at the worst possible time.

Still, he was totally in control after that, and had only thrown 91 pitches through 6 IP. Why lift him from the game there, with the bottom of the order coming up? Why make the bullpen do any more than necessary with an important series against the Tigers on the horizon? Alex Burnett came in and gave up HR to 2 of the first 3 guys he faced, and the game was out of reach. Ron Mahay was also touched for a HR in his inning of work.

The offense, resting Span, Jim Thome and a mildly concussed Morneau, put up no fight whatsoever. Michael Cuddyer finally hit a HR after more than a month since his last shot off Cliff Lee in Seattle. That was it.

I look forward to seeing the Blue Jays for the final series of the regular season at Target Field. We'll see how many opposite field HR Lyle Overbay can hit into Death Valley on a cool October night.

Notes:

• Span is hitting .276/.348/.376, compared to his career line of .297/.379/.407. Off year? Underperforming? His walk rate is slightly lower (10% vs. 11 % in 2008-2009). But, mostly, I think he's just been unlucky. How many liners has he hit this year that have gone straight into a pitcher's glove, or been snagged off the turf by a diving OF? I can think of at least 5 off the top of my head. If it's more like 7 or 8 (about 1 every other week), and even just one of them would have been a 2B (the Gabe Kapler robbery from last weekend comes to mind), he'd be at .296/.368/.403 - pretty darn close to where he's supposed to be.
• Pavano vs. the Blue Jays: 5 IP/GS 10.45 ERA 1.74 WHIP 5 HR (4.4 HR/9)
• Pavano vs. anyone else: 7 IP/GS 2.93 ERA 0.97 WHIP 9 HR (0.8 HR/9)
• The Twins didn't get Cliff Lee. The Yankees reportedly offered Jesus Montero, Zach McAllister and David Adams, but were rebuffed. Montero is a stud bat, but has almost zero defensive value, something the Ms clearly prize. McAllister is a back end starter at AAA and Adams is a 23-year old 2B hitting decently at AA. The Rangers won the sweepstakes, getting Lee and injured P Mark Lowe (and a little cash) for 1B Justin Smoak, P Blake Beaven, P Josh Lueke and 2B Matthew Lawson. Smoak is a 5-star stud, Beaven is a back-end finesse guy at AA, Lueke is a 25-year old, high K/9 bullpen arm, and Lawson is a 24-year old at AA. The Twins didn't have an upper-level prospect of the caliber of Montero or Smoak. But the remainder of the package was well within their means - comparable players appear to be David Bromberg, Anthony Slama, Steve Singleton. If the Twins had been willing to pair Wilson Ramos and Ben Revere/Slowey/Brian Duensing with one of those guys, wouldn't that have been a better package?
• Lee is off the market, but the Twins should still be urgently seeking to upgrade the rotation. The next best option would appear to be Houston ace Roy Oswalt. But he's a little on the old side (he turns 33 in August), has never pitched in the AL, will be owed over $5M for the remainder of 2010, $16M for 2011 and has a $16M option for 2012 with a $2M buyout. That's at least $23M plus some prospects to shell out for a guy who may not be as good in the DH league, and whose best years are probably behind him. Plus, he has a no trade clause, and has already indicated that he would a block a deal with the White Sox or Tigers.
• If the Twins want to go after somebody who's under contract beyond 2010, they should Target Arizona's Dan Haren. He's 3 years younger than Oswalt, and has a track record of AL success from his Oakland days. He'll cost about $3M for the balance of 2010, then $12.75M for 2011 and 2012, with a $15.5M option for 2013 or $3.5M buyout. He'd be very expensive in terms of prospects, though. The Twins would certainly need to put 2 blue chippers in the package. But Arizona already has 2 good C under team control through 2012, so I don't know that they'd need Ramos. The Twins could easily part with Slowey if they could pencil Haren into the rotation for the next 3 seasons, but I don't think Slowey's fly ball tendencies would play very well in Arizona's home park. More likely, the Twins would have to get into Aaron Hicks/Joe Benson territory in order to acquire Haren, and I'd hate to have to go there.
• Perhaps the best solution would be to talk to Seattle about Erik Bedard. He's been injured for most of the last 2 seasons, and was scratched from his scheduled 2010 debut on Tuesday. If he's healthy, he's got ace-caliber stuff, though he can't be counted upon to pitch too deeply into games. But he's on a little $1.5M make-good contract with an $8M option for 2011. With just a few weeks to prove himself before the trade deadline, it wouldn't take too much to pry him away from Seattle at this point - one decent prospect, I should think. Bedard has every incentive to try to prove himself and earn his option. He would be the cheapest option, and the upside could be as high as anyone else the Twins might acquire.

Canadian Lumber

Twins 8, Blue Jays 3

Kevin Slowey got a win, but he again failed to pitch into the 6th inning. This is getting old. Too many 3-ball counts from a guy with allegedly impeccable control. Especially to the first hitter you face after your offense puts up a 4-spot in the top half of the inning. As Dan Gladden said when the count went 3-0 to that batter, "C'mon, Slowey!"

Luckily for him and the Twins, Toronto 1B Lyle Overbay had the worst game of his life. He had already let a couple of playable balls skip past him for "hits" when he dropped a throw from 3B with 2 runners on in the 4th. That should have been the 3rd out. Instead, a run scored, and a 2nd came home when Overbay compounded his mistake by throwing wildly to 3rd in an attempt to cut down the advancing Justin Morneau. Plus he went 0 for 4 with 2 K and 3 LOB. Ouch.

Speaking of Morneau, damn! The other day I didn't mention his HR from Sunday afternoon, but how impressive to take a 2-strike curveball off the plate away and drive it out to the deep alley in left center. That's some power. Morneau displayed a different kind of power in this game. His 2nd HR traveled well over 400 feet in less than 3 seconds. How hard do you have to hit it for that to happen? With this little outburst, Morneau finds himself easily on pace to hit 40+ HR, but that's nothing new. Maybe this will be the year he actually keeps it up to the end.

Twins 2, Blue Jays 11

No need to dwell on this. If Carl Pavano can continue to deliver 3 QS out of every 4 times out, I will be well satisfied come season's end. When he's on, he's as good a mid-rotation starter as you could ask for. But when he's off, holy crap he's bad.

As bad as he was, I wonder about the decision to pull him after 4 IP. He wasn't tired, having thrown just 70 pitches. It was pretty evident after the Twins failed to score in the 5th that this wasn't going to be their day. 4 relievers had worked on Monday, and pulling Pavano there ensured that the 'pen would have to pitch another 4 innings on Tuesday. This put Ron Mahay in a position to fail. 2 things happened to him that shouldn't happen again this season: He pitched more than 1 inning, and he faced 5 RH batters. Even so, he got the first 3 righties out on 2 K. But anything beyond that is just pushing it.

As for the offense, if you're going to allow 11 R, you might as well only score 2. Props to Toronto SP Shawn Marcum - he was pretty nasty. You know a guy is pitching well when hitters make weak contact even though they're ahead in the count.

On to Boston, where the Red Sox must be pretty spent from their grueling short series in the Bronx. Especially their bullpen. Especially Jonathan Papelbon. The Twins should bring their walking shoes, and try to grind Clay Buchholz out of the game as early as possible to keep Boston's weary relievers exposed.

Notes:

• The overuse of the 'pen in this series forced the Twins to send Matt Tolbert back to AAA (he was pretty superfluous anyway) and bring up Jeff Manship so they'll have a fresh arm in the bullpen. Manship, really? That's who they want facing a powerful offense in a hitter's park? What does Rob Delaney have to do to get a shot?
• The Manship move appears to be temporary, as a pitcher will be sent down once JJ Hardy is ready to come off the DL on Friday. Maybe that will be Manship, but it's also possible that this road trip could be the last hurrah for Jesse Crain. There are just too many good bullpen prospects at AAA to keep using a guy who's getting pasted every other time out there.
• In the first AB of the series, Denard Span hit a little broken-bat blooper behind 2nd. It was a crappy swing, and he probably didn't deserve a hit there, but the Toronto SS had to make a really tough leaping, over-the-shoulder catch to keep it from being a hit. Lately it seems like something like that happens to Span at least once a series. When are those going to start falling in?
• Michael Cuddyer has been slumping, though he's still hitting a fair number of bombs. He just likes to hit them to the deepest part of the park. It was nice to see one fall in for him yesterday afternoon for a 3B. Almost makes up for the Rios catch last week.
• Prospects Joe Benson and Chris Parmelee were demoted back to Fort Myers on Monday, even though both of them were more than solid there in 2009. That's gotta be really tough to take for a young player. In happier news, Toby Gardenhire (.225/.295/.250 at New Britain) was promoted to Rochester. (cough) Nepotism! (cough)

The Worst Series of the Year?

Blue Jays 12, Twins 2
Blue Jays 9, Twins 2
OK, this was bad. Scott Baker couldn't keep the ball in the yard. Every reliever but Joe Nathan pitched in these 2 games, and only Jesse Crain could get anybody out. The offense couldn't muster anything against Roy Halladay (understandable) or Scott Richmond (unfathomable).

I could try to break down certain pieces of this debacle, but in this case I think it's better to look at the big picture. Taking the series as a whole, the Jays outscored the Twins 31-13 and outhit them 56-36. They hit 9 HR to the Twins' 2, drew 13 BB to the Twins' 6, and didn't commit an error.

It reminded me a bit of the drubbing the Twins took from the White Sox in early June of last year. In that series, the Twins were outscored 40-15, sending them to 3 games under .500. Things worked out OK after that. At least this series wasn't a sweep. Maybe the Twins have decided to get their worst baseball out of the way right at the start of the season. It had to happen some time.

Minor League Notes
If you're already looking for greener bullpen pastures, there are some encouraging signs from the first week+ of the season. Jose Mijares pitched another perfect inning tonight. So far, he's allowed only 1 H and 0 BB in 5.1 IP with 4 K. And Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama were at it again on Wednesday night for New Britain, combining for 5 K in 2 perfect IP. Delaney has struck out 9 against 3 H and 0 BB in 5.1 IP, and Slama has allowed 1 H, 1 BB and 7 K in his first 4 IP. Anthony Swarzak allowed only 1 ER over 7 IP for Rochester tonight, giving him 11 IP, 8 H, 1 BB and 9 K with a 0.82 ERA through his first 2 starts. And Ben Revere hit a 3-run double in the bottom of the 9th for Fort Myers to win the game for the Miracle, his 2nd hit of the night to go with 2 BB.

Twins Beat Jays!

Twins 3, Blue Jays 2 (11 innings)
Glad that's over with. After 10 straight losses, the Twins finally found a way to beat the Jays for the first time since 2007. It wasn't easy, even though Glen Perkins, Joe Nathan and Jesse Crain cooled off the hottest-hitting lineup in baseball, holding them to just 2 R on 7 H and 1 BB over 11 IP.

Perkins was a hard luck loser in his last start, and this was a hard luck no decision for him. He allowed 8 baserunners in 8 IP, but 5 of them came in the 2 innings in which the Jays scored. I was just getting ready to compliment Delmon Young on his range in LF after hauling in Kevin Millar's deep drive to the corner when he turned the wrong way on Rod Barajas' 2-out liner, letting it sail over his head to drive in the game's first run.

After that, the Jays were pretty quiet, their only threat coming on a 2-out double down the LF line in the 8th. The ball took a crazy hop in front of the diving Joe Crede - had it stayed down, I think Crede would have at least been able to knock it down and hold Alex Rios to a single. As it was, he reached second, and Perkins fell behind Vernon Wells 2-0. Rick Anderson came out to talk things over, and Wells promptly lined the next pitch into CF for the game-tying single. How many times have we seen those mid-AB visits from Anderson result in hits already this season? What are they talking about?

Should Perkins have been pitching to a RH batter with the tying run on 2nd and Jesse Crain warmed up in the bullpen? Maybe not, but he'd pitched a great game up to that point, and I'd rather see Gardy err on the side of trusting the starters - that's probably going to be the right move more times than not over the course of the season. I love that he's stuck with Perkins for 8 IP in each of his first 2 starts. Perkins may not have the best stuff of the Twins starters, but he probably has the best style of pitching. Usually he throws at least 2 pitches inside to every hitter, frequently missing too far in. That tends to produce some less than assertive swings at outside pitches. I wish Slowey would do that.

I said yesterday that this would be a good game to try to get to the bullpen early. Denard Span got the Twins off to a good start, making rookie Ricky Romero throw 10 pitches leading off the game. However, the next 2 batters swung early and were retired on 3 pitches. The aggressive approach from the Twins enabled Romero to match Perkins' 8 IP. I think they would have been more successful had they been more selective. As one example, Romero didn't throw a single pitch in the strike zone to Justin Morneau in the 8th, yet Morneau struck out.

Speaking of swinging at balls, if the Twins face Scott Downs again in this series, I suggest they just keep the bats on their shoulders. He's struck out 5 of the 7 men he's faced, 4 of those on curveballs in the dirt. I don't know that he's thrown 3 pitches in the zone to any batter in this series.

The Twins' big offensive break came when Alexi Casilla's would-be DP ball was bobbled by 2B Aaron Hill - he still got Casilla at 1st, but Span advanced to 2nd and scored on Morneau's subsequent ground rule double. Their bad break also came off the bat of Casilla when he attempted to sacrifice Span to 3rd base in the 6th inning. The bunt was too hard and too close to the pitcher - though it slipped past him and Casilla was able to reach with an IF hit, Span had to head back toward the bag and couldn't advance. Had he made it to 3rd, he would have easily scored on Morneau's towering fly just over the leaping Rios off the baggie in RF. Had the Twins managed a 3rd run there, it could have been a win for Perkins and a shorter night.

Other News
Finally, some information disseminated about Joe Mauer's status. He's had two successful days of running, and is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with the Fort Myers Miracle next week. Once he's comfortable at the plate, he can be recalled. I hope he'll be ready to go by next weekend's series with division rival Cleveland. It will be great to have somebody in the lineup besides Span taking some pitches.

Also, Scott Baker was activated from the DL, and the Twins elected to send Brian Duensing back to Rochester. I find this news mystifying, not because R.A. Dickey didn't earn the roster spot - he clearly did - but because nothing has transpired in the first 9 games of the season that made the choice between those 2 players any easier. Duensing performed adequately in March, and his 3 IP in long relief last weekend were also adequate. Dickey looked very good in March, and has done fine in 2 appearances this past week.

Here's my problem: if the Twins are OK with having Dickey stick on the roster, why were they so quick to put Baker on the DL? He was able to pitch 7 innings in Fort Myers last Friday, the same night Dickey started in his place. Why didn't they wait on the DL decision until Baker had thrown his side session, see that he was feeling OK, push him back a few days if necessary so he could pitch when he actually pitched? Why sacrifice a start from one of your better pitchers at the beginning of what promises to be another tight division race, if not to give Dickey a chance to prove that he didn't really belong? I don't get it.

Blue Streak

Blue Jays 8, Twins 6
So much for my theory that the Twins would win every game in which they scored 6 or more runs. Toronto came into the series averaging over 6.5 R/G, so that should have been my first clue. The Twins haven't beaten the Jays since June of 2007, which suggests that they haven't been catching them at good times. The home series vs. the Jays last May was a time when the Twins weren't playing very well. For the away series in September, the Jays were as hot as they would be all season, and the Twins' bullpen was struggling. It looks like we're catching the Jays while they're hot this year as well.

Considering that he saw every other batter reach against him, Kevin Slowey did a pretty commendable job in lasting into the 6th inning. The first 2 RBI singles he allowed weren't particularly his fault: a check-swing chip shot into no-man's land down the RF line by Rod Barajas in the 2nd, and a groundball from Lyle Overbay on which Alexi Casilla was positioned so far over toward 1B that Michael Cuddyer ended up fielding the ball even though it was hit a few steps to Casilla's right. This game saw infield dribblers for hits, jam-shot flares to the OF for hits, soft liners off the end of the bat for hits. When you're hot, those things find a way to fall in.

Then there were the balls they hit hard. The 2 ringing doubles from AL RBI leader Adam Lind, one to the opposite alley on a backdoor slider, one down the RF line on an inside pitch, both leading off innings in which the Jays scored. The 1st HR from ROY candidate Travis Snider and the 2-run shot from Lyle Overbay, both on knee-high sliders, both absolutely walloped. Snider even seemed to be a little fooled, hitting it off his front foot, and still rocketed it nearly to the upper deck. Thank goodness his manager hasn't figured out yet that he should be hitting a little higher in the order than 9th. His 2nd HR, on a get-me-over 2-seamer from Luis Ayala, easily reached the upper deck in RF, putting the Jays ahead to stay.

I'm probably going to gripe a lot this season about the way the Twins use Craig Breslow. He was able to strike out the one LH batter he was asked to face, a la Dennys Reyes, then handed the ball to Ayala, who allowed the game-tying hit on his first pitch. 2 of the next 4 hitters were lefties, and one of the righties coming up was Barajas. Breslow can get righties out, and was the Twins' 2nd-best reliever last season. Why not leave the game in his hands?

The stolen base Vernon Wells picked up right before Breslow struck out Lind was huge. The Jays picked some good pitches to run on (low breaking balls every time, I believe), but Jose Morales wasn't able to get a throw particularly close to 2nd base. He's going to get run on a lot while he's back there.

Offensively, there was a lot to like about this game. The Twins rapped out 13 H, 6 for XB, along with 2 BB and put 6 R on the board. In most cases when Slowey starts, that's going to get it done. However, they came up short in this game, and there were certainly opportunities to do more. They twice had a man on 3rd with nobody out and failed to get him in. In fact, Morales' liner to the drawn-in SS was the only ball the Twins put in play out of those 6 AB. That's right, 5 of their 8 K in the game came with a man on 3rd. Got to get better at the situational hitting. It perhaps isn't surprising that Delmon Young was the first out in each of those innings. He hit the ball hard in his other 2 AB, but so far this season seems to have no idea what to do when he comes up with men on.

Cuddyer was twice called out to complete close DP; I think he was probably safe in both cases. The CS in the 2nd was certainly a bad call by the ump - with the throw from Barajas so far toward the LF side of the bag, it should have been clear that Cuddyer got in there even though the throw beat him. (The play was almost identical to Lind's 2nd double, where Cuddyer's high throw enabled Lind to just get in safely). 3 straight H followed that DP, resulting in 2 R, but it should have been 3.

An extra run from any of those situations would have been huge. Had the Twins been trailing by just one run entering the 9th, is there any doubt that Casilla, hitless from the right side, would have been asked to sacrifice Denard Span into scoring position? As it was, he had to try to reach and hit into a DP, clearing the bases in front of Justin Morneau's single.

Perhaps the worst break of the game for the Twins came when Jays starter Jesse Litsch had to leave the game with elbow stiffness in the 4th inning. Up to that point, the Twins had touched Litsch for 4 ER on 7 H, including back-to-back drives off the baggie by Cuddyer and Brian Buscher. No one was up in Toronto's 'pen, so the Twins would have gotten several more chances against Litsch had things taken their natural course. However, the loss of Litsch forced the Jays' 'pen to throw 6 IP after they were out there for 4.1 IP on Sunday. Tuesday's starter is a rookie, so the Twins' objective should be to make him throw a lot of pitches and get back into the bullpen as early as possible. If the Jays' relievers are fatigued, that could be an advantage for the Twins later in the series.

Minor League Notes
1.1 more perfect IP for Jose Mijares at Rochester as he picked up his first save. Luke Hughes made his 2nd error already at 3B. Rob Delaney surrendered a HR to the first batter he faced in New Britain's game, then saw the next batter reach on a fielding error. He retired the next 2, then was chased with an RBI double. Should have just been the one ER.

Oh, the Humanity

Blue Jays 7, Twins 5
Blue Jays 5, Twins 4 (11 innings)
Blue Jays 9, Twins 0

Well, it could have been worse.

The Twins could have lost that first 12 inning game in Anaheim. Denard Span's throw to the plate in the last game in Seattle could have been off line. Or the team plane could have crashed into Lake Huron.

As it was, this dreaded 14-game road trip concluded with a sweep in Toronto and a 5-9 record. 8 of the 9 losses came by 2 or fewer runs. 5 came in the opponent's last at-bat. That three of those losses came because the bullpen's best member, Joe Nathan, blew a save was excruciating. That at least 2 if not all 3 of those blown saves were the result of bad defense was embarrassing.

This was not a good time to be facing the Blue Jays. They have been playing very well over the past several weeks on all sides of the ball. Their defense has made the fewest errors in the league since the All Star break, and their placement, range, and decisive, strong throws robbed the Twins of several potential hits. At the plate, they had a good approach up and down the lineup, and they got an amazing debut from rookie Travis Snyder. I'll be rooting for them to have a great September and knock the Yankees into 4th place.

Joe Nathan, as I mentioned, got no help from the defense in his blown save on Wednesday. All of his blown saves on the trip had 2 things in common: a fielding error, and the leadoff man reaching base. He can't control what his fielders do behind him (unless he's the one doing the fielding), but he can avoid walking the backup catcher with a .230 BA. Get the first one, Joe!

As great as Snyder was for the Jays, the Twins' September callups did not distinguish themselves in this series. Matt Tolbert did a good job at the plate (a couple of hits and some loud outs), but couldn't quite get to several balls at 3rd, plus made a throwing error on a routine play. Jason Pridie's brutal error in the 9th on Wednesday cost the Twins the game. Bobby Korecky and Philip Humber were blown to bits in their one combined inning. I hope Jose Mijares does better whenever he gets out there.

Wednesday night was the third time since the break that Gardy has pulled Nick Blackburn out of a game (when his pitch count was OK) mainly because his defense was making mistakes behind him. With the bullpen struggling as much as it is, I think it would be wise to leave the starter in there as long as he's not giving up a ton of hard-hit balls, which was the case in the 7th inning the other night.

The Twins had better win a ton of games at home now, because they're headed right back on the road for 10 more next week.

Misplaced

Blue Jays 6, Twins 5
Blue Jays 3, Twins 2 (11 innings)

Wellllll, that wasn't so good, was it?

After impressively taking 3 of 4 from the defending World Series champs, the Twins managed to turn this into a losing home stand. And though the Blue Jays pitched pretty well and had many long ABs, the Twins really have their own misplays to blame for the losses. Bad throws, missed fly balls, imprudent baserunning and pitching that was too tentative at times were rampant in the series. Had the Twins been able to clean up even one or two misplays, they likely would have come away with at least one win.

The hitting was actually rather timely. The Twins came back from early deficits in each game and did a good job of forcing the Jays' starters to throw pitches (6.1 IP, for Halladay, is knocking him out early). Sure, a lot of people were stranded, but it usually came on a ball hit well, but right to where a defender could track it down. Another foot here or there and the run column might have looked pretty close to what it was against Boston. Most encouragingly, this series saw the resurgence of Jason Kubel, who, despite his head-down running that got him thrown out at the plate, has re-established himself as someone the Twins can look to to get on base and drive in runs.

Span vs. Gomez vs. Young

I'm not going to quibble too much with Gomez today. Obviously, it was a shame that he got himself caught on the basepaths last night immediately after his speed had forced a hit and error. But I found myself wishing that he was involved in the tight game this afternoon. When he came in late, I was hoping his speed could make a difference somewhere. He gave the ball quite a ride on a 2-strike pitch to end the 10th, and it took a pretty good over-the-shoulder catch by Kevin Mench to keep the game tied.

Every day this week, I check the Rochester box score and throw up my hands in amazement that Denard Span has managed to improve upon his already stratospheric OBP. Tonight he was 2-3 with a BB, raising his season line to a preposterous .369/.470/.536, a 1.006 OPS! He also had an OF assist, though he was caught stealing for the 3rd time. While I suppose Gomez isn't really playing badly enough for Span to take his job over, let me make another proposal:

Delmon Young is hitting .263/.309/.296 for a pathetic .605 OPS. He has played every game this season, and is showing no potential to drive the ball. While Span isn't going to remind anyone of Manny Ramirez, he can surely perform better than Young. Now, with Young being a Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up, he won't be sent to the minors, but he doesn't merit an everyday job, either. So how about a Span/Gomez/Young platoon, with each of them getting about 2/3 of the ABs between LF and CF? The bullpen would probably have to drop to 11 pitchers, which is a dicey proposition at this time, but it's something to think about. Span is just playing too well to stay in AAA much longer.

Speaking of playing well in AAA, Francisco Liriano needed just 93 pitches to complete 8 IP in tonight's game, allowing 7 H and only 1 BB with 4 K. Not enough Ks, but a 1.00 WHIP! Deep into the game! Let's give him a couple more starts to be sure, but it seems like he may finally be starting to put it together.

On to Colorado - how far can Justin Morneau hit the ball at altitude?

Worn Out

Blue Jays 5, Twins 3

This game was great example of how working counts leads to victory. Both starting pitchers went 5.2 IP. Kevin Slowey needed 107 pitches to get there. Jays starter Litsch needed just 70! The Blue Jays relentlessly battled Slowey until he made mistakes. Both of the walks he allowed came on full counts. Several ABs lasted more than 5 pitches, capped by Scott Rolen's 15-pitch marathon that took Slowey over 100 pitches and set up the 2-out HR by Matt Stairs. Overall, Slowey did a nice job, throwing 2/3 of his pitches for strikes, and coming just 1 out short of a Quality Start.

The grinding continued when the bullpen took over, as the Jays forced 37 pitches from Matt Guerrier in 1.1 IP. The only efficient pitcher was Dennys Reyes, who threw just 3 pitches to 2 batters. Unfortunately, both batters got hits, and he finally allowed his first ER of the season. Brian Bass did a pretty good job in his 2 IP, allowing only 2 BB.

The offense couldn't sustain any rallies tonight. It didn't help that Monroe and Young didn't hit. Monroe's 3 K night may finally bring everyone back to reality regarding his likely effectiveness vs. RHP. What a thrill to see Jason Kubel get a pinch-hit HR! Is he ready to break out? The Twins need him hitting the way he did in the 2nd half last year if they're to have any hope of staying in the Central Race.

Span vs. Gomez

2-4 with a HR seems like a pretty good night for Gomez, but his 2 outs were both Ks, bringing his season total to 39. He also uncorked his 5th error when he needlessly sent a throw on a one-out single into the dugout. Still, his line for the season is now .277/.306/.418 for a .724 OPS. As Nick pointed out earlier, since his benching in Oakland, he's hit .345/.390/.582, with a 13/3 K/BB ratio, and 7 SB in 9 attempts, but he's made 4 errors. Still, clearly an improvement.

Yet I'm amazed again to check the Rochester box score and see that Denard Span is performing even better. Tonight he went 2-3 with a HR, BB, Sac bunt, and SB. His AAA line is now .338/.440/.468 for a .906 OPS(!) Since Gomez' benching in Oakland, Span's combined numbers are .348/.451/.493, with a 16/13 K/BB ratio, 10 SB in 12 attempts, and just 1 error. How much longer can he be denied a spot somewhere in the Major Leagues? If you want to argue that Gomez is still playing better, you certainly can't deny that Span is outplaying Delmon Young.