Out of Their Depth

Twins 5, Orioles 3

Francisco Liriano pitches into the 7th inning for his 1st QS of the year. But I actually liked his previous performance better. Until the 7th, the O's didn't hit the ball any harder than KC did, but managed just 2 H as the BABIP gods smiled on Frankie for a change. But he had a brutal 2/5 K/BB ratio for the game, and only one of the ball-four pitches was even close to being a strike. The 2 HR in the 7th came on hangers way up in the zone. Why can't he locate? Nice to get a win from him, but he's still not where he needs to be to carry this team.

You know it's your night when you get 3 RBI on 2 H from Drew Butera, Alexi Casilla draws a BB to load the bases, and an insurance run comes home on a WP. And they needed every bit of it, as the Twins' closer came on and served up yet another HR in the bottom of the 9th. Spectacular debut for Jim Hoey as the setup guy, though. Hopefully he can build on that.

Twins 0, Orioles 11

If you're going to give up 11, you might as well not score any.

Joe Nathan is starting to remind me of Superman after he gave up his powers. (Did I just date myself?)

Twins 4, Orioles 5

I had a notion to pin a couple of the losses in Tampa on the Twins' pathetic bench players. But with 2 losses coming on blown leads in the 9th and the other not particularly close, I didn't think the charge would stick. This game, though, is on their hands. With Joe Mauer and Tsuyoshi Nishioka on the DL and Justin Morneau and Delmon Young out with the flu, Gardy was forced to start both Jason Kubel and Jim Thome against a LHP, plus fill out the lineup with Jason Repko, Luke Hughes, Steve Holm and Matt Tolbert. That foursome combined to go 1 for 15 with a BB, and the H was a bunt single. Kubel, Michael Cuddyer, Thome and Danny Valencia all reached base twice, so the bottom of the order had plenty of chances to extend rallies and knock in runs. But they didn't, because most of them don't belong in the Majors, or if they do, it's because of something other than their (in)ability to hit. Zach Britton was apparently battling an illness during the game, but even in his weakened state he was too much for the Twins' scrubs.

And still, with all that working against them, they came within a few feet of a game-tying HR on the final swing of the night. Argh! I'm going to remind you of this loss when the tight race rolls around in September.

Twins 3, Orioles 1

Until everybody gets healthy and the bats wake up, this is what it's going to take for the Twins to win. Scott Baker was at his best: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. That's 2 very good starts in a row for him, lowering his ERA to 3.24 and his WHIP to 1.12, with nearly 9 K/9. Those are the ace-type numbers that he's capable of, and will need to continue to put up, especially with Liriano still struggling with his control.

2 HR in the same game! 2 straight days with a HR has Cuddyer's OPS up over .700! Now, if we could just start hitting them with somebody on base...

Heating Up

Twins 5, Orioles 0

Another day, another 9 IP from Carl Pavano. It's becoming almost routine to see him on the mound in the 9th inning. He was in total control in this game, never allowing more than one baserunner in an inning, and allowing only 2 men to reach 3rd base. He gave up just 5 H and 1 BB with 4 K, and needed only 102 pitches to get 27 outs.

Another day, another huge hit with RISP from Delmon Young. The Twins ambushed Kevin Millwood with 2 outs in the 1st inning, filling the bases on a Joe Mauer 2B and back-to-back BB to Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer. Young promptly emptied them with a drive to the gap in left center, and Pavano would have all the run support he needed before ever taking the mound.

Twins 2, Orioles 3

This was the first start for Brian Duensing, and it went extremely well. He gave up a run in the 1st on 3 singles, but 2 of them were little bleeders. He allowed only one other baserunner in the next 4 innings, completing 5 IP in just 66 pitches. Since he wasn't stretched out yet, that was plenty, so Anthony Slama was brought in to pitch the 6th. He gave up 3 H, 2 of which were scabby little bloop jobs. But there was nothing cheap about Luke Scott's game-winning HR. Slama got to see that, in the Majors, the difference between a knee-high pitch on the outside corner and a knee-high pitch on the inside corner is about 400 feet.

The Twins couldn't muster much offense against Jeremy Guthrie, scoring both of their runs on Mauer's 5th HR, which was their only XBH. Not shown in the box score, however, were a multitude of loud outs, including a couple of drives to the wall, a couple of sparkling plays by the O's defense, and a liner to CF on what looks to be Orlando Hudson's last swing for a couple weeks. The guys swung the bats well enough to score some more runs - the Orioles just made all the plays in the field. Shrug.

Twins 7, Orioles 2

Good Scott Baker started this game, a particularly welcome sight on the road. He went 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, HR, 1 BB, 8 K in just 89 pitches. (The heat was oppressive in Baltimore all weekend, so he was pulled despite being in great position to at least start the 8th.) This Scott Baker, if he shows up on a regular basis, makes the Twins into true contenders this year, because he gives them a 3rd above-average starter to run out after Pavano and Francisco Liriano. Let's see if he can build off this one.

The Twins' first 3 R came in thanks to Young (SF, 2-R HR). But it was the little guys who put the game away. Alexi Casilla, getting his first start at 2B in place of Hudson, had an RBI single and a SB. Danny Valencia, Jason Repko and Denard Span all had RBI H in the 7th. Young finished the game 4 for 4, Valencia 3 for 5. As a team, the Twins racked up 14 H.

Twins 10, Orioles 4

Good Kevin Slowey showed up for this game. He outdid his performance from last Tuesday, finishing 6 IP with 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and just 2 K, and he kept the ball in the yard. He would have pitched the 7th, but there was a torrential, heat-wave breaking downpour that delayed the game for an hour.

At that point, the Twins were up 9-1, thanks to an offensive onslaught that saw every starter get at least one H on the way to accumulating 19 as a team. Kubel hit his 2nd GS of the season in the 3rd. Young and Jim Thome went back-to-back in the 6th. Valencia had his 2nd straight 3-H game. Joining him with at least 3 knocks were Casilla, Kubel and Nick Punto. Even Drew Butera had a multi-hit game.

Alas, the series ended on a sour note when Nick Blackburn came in to mop up in his 1st appearance out of the bullpen. He got through the 8th OK, but was touched for 3 R in the 9th, leading to another ugly line overall. I still think he'd be better off working through his troubles as a starter at Rochester.

The Twins did what a good team ought to do when facing a very bad team, even on the road. They won 3 of 4 by a combined score of 24-9. It's not so hard to see how the Tigers and White Sox went on their runs in June, is it? Now the Twins get to enjoy that poor competition while the Tigers are foundering against the AL East. The Sox finished their road trip by dropping the last 2 games against the A's, bringing the Twins back within 1 game of 1st place. Bring on the Royals.

The Way the Ball Bounces

Twins 0, Orioles 2

Carl Pavano turned in his 5th QS in 6 GS. This one was perhaps even better than his CG loss to the Tigers last week. He cruised through another 8 IP, allowing 2 ER on 6 H, 3 BB (and it looked like he got squeezed on the 3-2 pitch to Wieters) and 8 K. He made just one mistake all night - a hanging slider to Ty Wigginton, one of the guys tied for 2nd in the AL in HR. Oops! Make that all alone in 2nd in the AL in HR.

The Twins failed to score 2 or more R in the 1st inning for the 1st time since they were shut out by Dontrelle Willis in Pavano's last start. That's a shame, because if they'd scored 2 R there (or anywhere), they wouldn't have lost the game. O's starter Brad Bergesen came into the game with a ghastly ERA. He's a Nick Blackburn, pitch-to-contact type, and so far had allowed a BABIP of around .400. Those things tend to even out. Bergesen didn't strike out a soul, allowing 27 of the 29 batters he faced to put the ball in play. Instead of getting 11 or 12 H, the Twins got just 6.

Denard Span's liner to CF to open the game was an omen of things to come. Not only did the Twins hit just about everything where it could be fielded, they hit more than their share straight to a defender. I mean, a coach with a fungo couldn't have hit easier grounders. Wigginton rates as a poor defender at 3B, which can't bode well for his range at 2B. It was barely tested. The only times the defenders had to move, it was with super-slow runners at the plate like Jim Thome or Wilson Ramos. An offense will run into games like this over the course of the season. You hate to see it on a night when Pavano pitched so well (now 2 straight starts with 0 run support!), but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Twins 3, Orioles 7

Friday night's game was called fairly early in the day, setting up a double-header on Saturday. I have to commend the Twins for making this decision in plenty of time to give everyone who works at the stadium or purchased a ticket an opportunity to change their Friday night and Saturday afternoon plans.

The bad BABIP karma continued for the Twins in the matinee, only now it was affecting the defense. Francisco Liriano didn't have his best stuff - lower velocity on the fastball, less break on the slider. That led to fewer swings and misses, and more balls in play. It could be that he was still weary from throwing 120+ pitches in his last outing, or it could be that he didn't have a good feel for his pitches in the cold. Whatever the problem, he still threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of 29 batters and allowed hardly any hard-hit balls. There were simply a couple of innings in which a ton of those flares and bleeders found holes. I get annoyed when lazy analysts look at the box score and say that Liriano got roughed up. Just because a team scores a bunch of runs doesn't mean they swung the bats well.

The Twins' offense was listless all day, with the exception of HR from Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer which accounted for all the runs. The hitters struck out 5 times against O's starter Jeremy Guthrie, and they drew just 1 BB. The lineup was reminiscent of early last year, when the bottom of the order couldn't hold a candle to the top. Ramos, Brendan Harris and Nick Punto combined to go 1 for 11 with a HBP. Orlando Hudson collected 3 H, including a 3B. The other guys didn't put up much of a fight.

Twins 6, Orioles 1

Eek, a losing streak! Enter 2nd-tier Ace Scott Baker. He allowed just 1 ER (a solo HR) on 3 H with 0 BB and 8 K in 8 IP. After a rather poor first month, he's off to a terrific start in May: 2 QS, 15 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 14 K.

Delmon Young was the big hero on offense, going 3 for 4 with 2 2B, 2 R and 2 RBI. He picked the team up in the 6th after they failed once again with the bases loaded - Cuddyer's GIDP got the eventual winning run across, but that's not what you're hoping for when you start an inning with 3 baserunners. Young's 2-out knock made it a crooked number in the 6th, and his booming ground rule 2B to CF in the 8th made it a 3-run game.

After that, things took a turn for the surreal: Nick Punto was intentionally walked to load the bases for Alexi Casilla. Joe Mauer came out to PH, his first appearance in over a week. He struck out for the 2nd out. Drew Butera, playing in his first game since Ramos was brought up last Sunday, then delivered a 2-run single to put the game away. It was his 2nd hit this season, raising his BA to .118. I take that as a sign that the Twins' terrible fortune with the sacks full is about to change.

Twins 6, Orioles 0

What goes around, comes around, and the Twins got their payback for Thursday night in the finale. Nick Blackburn turned in just about exactly the same performance the O's got from Bergesen: 0 ER on just 4 H and 2 BB with 0 K. The Orioles hit .167 on balls in play, and all 4 H were singles. The O's aren't much of a hitting team so far this year, but it seems evident that the adjustment Blackburn made to his delivery during his recent time off has him back to being as good as a pitcher of his skills will allow.

The piranhas made a big comeback this afternoon. Hitters 8-2 in the lineup, Harris, Casilla, Span and Punto, began the day with a combined SLG% well under .350. On Sunday they went 10 for 15 with 2 2B, a 3B, all 6 R and all 6 RBI. The rest of the lineup combined to 2 for 19. Way to bunch those hits!

For the series, the Twins outscored the O's 15-10 and didn't commit an error. The offense didn't really show up until about halfway through the 3rd game, although some of that is understandable. They were without Joe Mauer and JJ Hardy, and those 2 add a lot. Obviously, you'd like to see the Twins win a home series against the worst team in the league. But they're still 5-2 on the home stand and on pace to win 106 games this season, so I'm not gonna get bent out of shape about it.

Notes:

• At the end of Saturday's game, Young's OPS was .800. I believe that's the first time he's gone to bed with that mark after any significant number of PA as a Twin.
• The league appears to be catching up to Alex Burnett. Over his first 5 appearances spanning 7.1 IP, he allowed just 2 ER on 3 BB and 10 K. But he's allowed a R in each of his last 4 appearances: 6.1 IP, 5 ER, 7 BB and 5 K. It shouldn't surprise anyone. Burnett hasn't pitched at AAA yet, and is still only 22. He was called up in sort of an emergency situation, pitched well enough to stay for awhile, but now ought to head back to the minors to get the seasoning he needs to sustain MLB success. When he's recalled in September, he'll be the better for it.
• To replace him, why not give a shot to Rob Delaney? He was impressive enough last year to earn a spot on the 40-man roster, but not enough to get much of a look in spring training. In 47.2 IP at Rochester last season, he kept his BAA about where it had been at AA, but saw a huge surge in his BB/9 and HR/9 and a dip in K/9. He's made the adjustment so far this year: in 19 IP, he's allowed just 17 baserunners, 1 HR, and has a 21/5 K/BB ratio. At 25, he's paid his minor league dues and is much more ready to be a steady big league contributor than Burnett.
• The Rock Cats are having a miserable season so far, and this weekend really rubbed some salt in their wounds. They lost 2 straight games they were leading going into the 9th, one of which was the result of an error, then lost 2-1 on Sunday and dropped to 6-23. Keep your heads up, boys...
• It was indeed Osterbrock who was promoted to A+. I hope there will be a series of SP promotions throughout the system, so the Red Wings can get rid of the filler they've got as 3/5 of their rotation. Yoslin Herrera, Glen Perkins and Charlie Zink have been horrendous, each with WHIPs north of 1.80. Surely there's somebody in New Britain who can do better than that.

Rainy Days in Baltimore

Orioles 4, Twins 1 (6 innings)
Orioles 5, Twins 4
Things did not go the Twins' way on the back half of this road trip. Where their earlier rain-shortened game in Boston was merciful, coming with the score 10-1 Red Sox with 2 men still in scoring position, Wednesday's early finish was frustrating. The Orioles don't have nearly the bullpen depth that the Sox do, so there was still plenty of time for the Twins to make up a 3-run deficit.

The weather turned it into a game where the team that started fastest was likely to win, and the O's got 3 runs in the first off of Kevin Slowey. Most of the pitches they hit were down in the zone, but the O's raked them for line drives anyway. A grounder over 3B, a HR off the foul pole, a 2B on a play where Michael Cuddyer's throw to second arrived in plenty of time but was off line. I wonder what kind of game Slowey would have been able to make it had he been able to throw more than 3 IP, but the repeated delays caused him to be removed early. At least the shortened game meant that the Twins bullpen didn't have to throw 6 innings.

I thought Glen Perkins did a creditable job on Thursday, lasting 6 IP despite being unable to throw his offspeed pitches for strikes. That enabled to the O's to sit on the fastball, and they opened up and turned on a few for some key hits, especially the 2-out RBI single from Cesar Izturis (which followed Greg Zaun's swinging bunt single to 3B).

The Twins offense, meanwhile, reminded me of the second game against Boston 2 weeks ago, but this time they actually got the 14 H. But 4 R on 14 H + 2 BB is not a good ratio. The Twins hit into 2 DP and saw Delmon Young caught stealing second (he picked the right pitch to run on, and the throw was way off the mark on the 1B side, but Young's jump was so poor that he was still tagged on the hand a few feet from the bag). In addition to that, there was the tumbling catch of a liner hit by Matt Tolbert, the diving catch of a slicing drive hit by Justin Morneau, the leaping catch of a liner hit by Joe Crede. Morneau also drove a ball to the wall in right center. The O's D kept them in the game until the 8th.

In the bottom of that inning, Jose Mijares threw a ton of strikes: 14 of his 18 pitches. But 2 of them missed his location within the zone: a belt-high fastball that Melvin Mora lined into left for a 1-out single, and the 0-2 pitch to Ty Wigginton. Having got ahead with 2 good curveballs, Joe Mauer set up for a fastball low and away, but it drifted over the plate where Wigginton could ground it past Nick Punto for a 2-out hit. Lou Montanez then did a good job going down and lining a 1-2 curveball into LF. Denard Span would have had a good shot at Aubrey Huff at the plate, but he couldn't get a handle on the ball right away, so Crede elected to cut off the throw home and get Wigginton on his way to 3rd.

Second Base Swap
The big news of the series was the demotion of Alexi Casilla to AAA and recall of Tolbert. Tolbert had also started pretty slowly for Rochester, but was starting to get hot in the past week, so the timing may be good here. It's almost certainly an upgrade - it would be tough for Tolbert to fail to exceed Casilla's .167/.231/.202 line, and I can't imagine Tolbert ever losing focus as Casilla often has recently. We'll see whether Casilla can get it going and come back stronger as people like Scott Baker and Jason Bartlett have been able to do.

While we're on the subject of demotions, it might make sense to send Carlos Gomez down to Rochester, where he can get 4-5 PA every day and refine the missing pieces of his game. Jason Pridie, like Tolbert, has heated up recently, and is also a fleet OF and good baserunner. He could fill the role Gomez currently has just about as well, enabling the higher-upside player - Gomez - to get in better position to fulfill his potential.

Minor League Notes
Luke Hughes has also been hot lately for the Redwings; his season line is up to .279/.376/.547 with 5 HR - too many Ks (23 in 86 AB) and E (6) so far, but on the right track. Top 10 prospect Anthony Swarzak has a 2.03 ERA and 0.94 WHIP with a 23/6 K/BB ratio in 31 IP through his first 5 GS. That might put him ahead of Kevin Mulvey on the depth chart (2.96 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 22/12 K/BB in 24.1 IP).

Hangin' In

I'm not just a fair-weather blogger. We were traveling earlier this week, and I had to take care of the baby when we got back as my wife prepares to return to work. Babies are a lot of work on their own. I haven't had a chance to watch or listen to a game in awhile, but here's what I'm thinking:

Orioles 7, Twins 3

Just as I suspected, the Twins followed up their 24-run double-header by failing to score at all in 8 IP vs. a rookie who began the game with an ERA over 7.00! Nick Blackburn, meanwhile, gave up a million HR. Well, 4. And Philip Humber served one up for good measure. All 7 Orioles runs scored on HR. 5 of their 11 H were for extra bases - the Twins had 1 XBH out of 8 total H.

Indians 3, Twins 1

Here the Twins were shut out for 6 IP by a rookie making his 2nd MLB start. Kevin Slowey allowed 2 HR, accounting for all three Indians runs. Matt Guerrier loaded the bases without retiring a batter, but Dennys Reyes bailed him out. The 9-5 batters went a combined 1 for 21 with 2 BB.

Indians 12, Twins 9

This game encapsulates everything that has been troublesome about the Twins since July. It begins with Francisco Liriano having his first bad start since being recalled from AAA. But he was aided in his suckiness by a critical throwing error from Nick Punto, resulting in 4 unearned runs. The Twins rallied from an 8-1 deficit to retake the lead, thanks to the 9-3 hitters going 7-19 with 5 BB, only to see the bullpen immediately give up the lead. The offense went silent in extra innings, and Joe Nathan took the loss when he allowed a 3-run HR to Victor Martinez, who had only 1 other HR in his injury-plagued season.

How many different ways could the Twins have one that game? And yet, they found a way to lose it. By the way, 6 of the Indians' 14 H were for extra bases, including 4 HR. 2 of the Twins' 13 H were for extra bases.

Indians 6, Twins 4

Hoping to salvage the finale, the Twins needed to beat Cy Young front-runner Cliff Lee. Though he lasted into the 7th inning, the Twins managed to score 4 runs off him, battering him for 10 H (only 2 for extra bases) and 3 BB. Scott Baker was not good on 3 days' rest, failing to complete 5 IP while allowing 4 R of his own. So, having just tied the game against Lee, the Twins' bullpen promptly gave the 2 runs right back. Jose Mijares took the loss, but Guerrier was the culprit once again. Entering with a man aboard and 2 out, he allowed 2 doubles and a walk before getting the last out. The Indians had 9 H in the game - 5 for extra bases, including 2 HR.

Twins 11, Rays 8

And now we come to the happy ending. Jason Kubel finally hit his 18th HR to put the Twins up 3-0 in the top of the first. But Glen Perkins was once again blown to bits by the Rays (aided in his suckitude by a throwing error that led to 3 unearned runs). Trailing 8-6 at the start of the 9th inning, the Twins did something they almost never do - they rallied to take the lead. The offensive outburst came in part thanks to multi-hit games from the 9-3 hitters, and 5 XBH out of 15, including 2 HR. Nathan came on to earn his first save since August 27th, over 3 weeks ago. The Rays, for their part, scored 7 of their 8 runs on their 5 HR, and 7 of their 9 hits were for extra bases.

Now, here's where things are:

The starting pitchers may well be fading as they reach innings totals they haven't yet experienced in their young careers. I think Liriano and Baker will be fine, and though Slowey's outing was bad for him lately, it was still a quality start. Blackburn will hopefully be able to bounce back from an unusually bad start as he has all season. But Perkins has had it. He's allowed 9 HR in his last 5 starts, and 3 or more R in each, while his innings have been declining. It would be suicide to send him out there against the White Sox next week. In what will most likely be a must-win game for the Twins, they can't afford to send their most homer-happy starter out against the most powerful lineup in the league. They should use Monday's off-day to skip Perkins, setting up a rotation for the Chicago series of Baker, Blackburn and Slowey. Perkins can pitch in the KC series - they probably won't be able to take him deep too many times. I know that puts the two lefties on consecutive starts, but at this point in the season I don't think it's a big deal.

Matt Guerrier has absolutely had it. If he's not physically burned out, he is mentally. Sit him on the bench and forget about him, unless the team is up or down by 5+ runs.

When Gomez, Span, Casilla and Mauer are getting on base, the Twins score a lot of runs. When they don't, the Twins aren't going to do much. This is because the Twins have been brutally out-slugged this season, especially over the past week, when they've allowed 18 HR in a span of just 5 games. The Twins mostly get singles, so they've got to have their speed guys on a lot, or a rally just isn't going to come together for them.

Nathan picked up his 35th save on a Thursday night 4 weeks ago in Anaheim. Why did he only collect 2 saves in 4 weeks? Because the Twins have to win close games for him to get a save, and that just hasn't happened. I'll define a close game as one in which the winner earns a save or scores the winning run in their last at-bat. In the last 4 weeks, the Twins are 2-14 in close games. That's almost unbelievably awful. Imagine if they'd gone 4-12 - still awful, but they'd be in first place right now.

But that's the amazing thing - for as bad as things have been - this week, this month - the Twins are still just 1.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. If they can just match Chicago over this last road weekend, they'll be right where they need to be to begin the final home stand against their rivals.

Happy When It Rains

Twins 12, Orioles 2
Twins 12, Orioles 6

I was upset when Friday night's game was rained out. First of all, with 10 straight games scheduled, it means a disruption to the rotation: Scott Baker either has to pitch on 3 days' rest vs. likely Cy Young Cliff Lee in the finale of the Cleveland series (a game that might be very important for the Twins), or the bullpen will have to do it. Neither option is that appealing. Second, playing 2 games in one day usually precludes using certain players in each game (Joe Mauer, for example), and would require the Twins to use more of their bench than they might ordinarily like (Adam Everett makes an appearance, for example). Then there's also the way double-headers tend to go - as well as you might play in the first game, it's hard to continue it into the second game.

Game one was certainly everything I could have hoped for. Scott Baker was solid once again, allowing just 1 ER on 4 H and 3 BB in 6 IP (why all the walks, all of a sudden?). The offense provided abundant run support, led by Denard Span's 2 HR and 4 RBI, Justin Morneau's 4 H and 2 RBI and Carlos Gomez' 2 H and 4 RBI. As the Twins were piling on in the 9th, I thought to myself, "Shouldn't you guys be saving that for the first inning of the second game?"

Not to worry. The Twins batted around in that inning as well, and Gomez had one more 2 RBI double in him as the Twins jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Matt Tolbert, invisible on the recent home stand despite swinging the bat very well in Toronto, kept it up with 2 triples, a BB, and 3 R. Morneau knocked in 2 more to tie Josh Hamilton for the AL RBI lead. Even Mike Redmond, necessarily catching instead of Mauer, had 2 RBI singles. The offense matched the output from the first game, eventually tallying 12 runs.

This was especially important because Glen Perkins has suddenly become the shaky piece of the rotation. Spotted a 6-0 lead before he took the mound, he gave 2 R right back. After the offense extended the lead to 10-2, he served up another 4 R to the O's in the 3rd. What should have been an easy win #13 for Perk turned into another disappointing ND. Over his last 4 starts, Perkins has thrown just 20.2 IP, allowing 17 ER on 32 H (including 7 HR) and 7 BB for an ugly 7.40 ERA and 1.89 WHIP. Needless to say, that's got to change immediately, particularly since his next 2 starts are against playoff contenders Tampa and Chicago.

Incredibly, the bullpen swooped in and gave the Twins 9 solid IP between the 2 games, allowing only 1 ER on 9 H and 4 BB. I hope they've saved a little bit of that for today. Because, as you all know, now that the Twins have blown the O's out in the first 2 games of this series, they're only going to score 2 R in the finale. That's been the pattern, anyway. I hope I'm wrong!

Michael Cuddyer was activated from the DL and pinch-hit late in the first game. I'd like to see him get as many ABs as possible over the last 2 weeks of the season - get him up to speed. If the Twins do wind up in the playoffs, my preference would be to see Cuddy in the starting lineup instead of Gomez.

Also of note: the 24-8 combined score of the 2 games raised the Twins' run differential for the season to +100. For the first time, that number exceeds the White Sox' total.

As inconvenient as the rainy weather was for the Twins this weekend, it's been even worse for the White Sox. They weren't able to make up their rainout yesterday, meaning they must now try to play 2 games on what should have been a get-away day for them, getting their 10-game road trip off to a late and weary start. And they'll now have to make up the 3rd game some other time, perhaps on the Monday after the season ends, potentially using up a starter they might have wanted for a 1-game playoff with the Twins. We'll see what kind of impact this weekend's wetness has on the remainder of the AL Central race.

Location, Location, Location

Orioles 5, Twins 3
Twins 7, Orioles 5
Orioles 3, Twins 2

Once again, a Thursday afternoon loss leads to an ultimately disappointing home stand. After hanging with the Yankees for four games, the Twins couldn't cash in against the slumping O's. I thought Baltimore played an all-around good series - they got solid starting pitching, dependable work from the bullpen, made a lot of plays in the field, and were pesky at the plate. They did a great job of hitting mistake pitches. And my goodness, there were a lot of mistakes from the Twins' pitchers.

The Orioles hit 6 HR in the series, accounting for 7 of their 13 runs, including the game-winner on Thursday. I was pretty amazed by the dinger Mora hit off Kevin Slowey in the 6th inning on Tuesday night - he turned very quickly on a low-and-in fastball down 0-2 in the count. All the other HR hit by the O's were off pitches belt-high over the plate. Even an unimpressive BA team like the O's can hit those.

Slowey and Scott Baker had similar starts: each easily got ahead of most hitters, but then struggled to put them away. Slowey in particular gave up several 2-strike hits, and Baker seemed to need 6+ pitches in each AB, reaching a pitch count of 99 through just 5 IP. I was frustrated by the HR Baker allowed - he'd thrown 8 pitches already to Markakis, 7 of them fastballs. With first base open and a right-handed batter coming up, I felt that was a time to be careful with the 3-2 pitch, maybe locate a breaking ball just off the plate and see if he'd chase, or try an off-speed pitch. Nope, belt-high fastball over the plate. Ding!

This brings up an interesting side-effect to the wonderful lack of walks from the young starters Slowey, Baker and Blackburn: they're so determined not to walk people that they offer too good a pitch when they're ahead in the count. Radadmes Lis was getting 4-6 inches off the plate from Tuesday night's umpire - Slowey could hit that spot, why not try to stretch the strike zone? This may also be a problem with still relatively young catcher Joe Mauer. If he sets up outside and they hit the glove, maybe they get the call. If he sets up on the corner and they hit the glove, maybe the hitter hits it hard!

This makes two straight starts in which Glen Perkins was utterly unable to command his stuff. Pitch after pitch right in the sweet spot. I hope it's only a slump. Good work from Boof Bonser out of the bullpen - keep that up!

The 13-man rotation resulted in some creative managing from Gardy late in Thursday's game: Kevin Slowey was used as a pinch-runner for C Mike Redmond, Kubel pinch-hit for DH Craig Monroe, and Mauer pinch-hit for LF Delmon Young. That meant Mauer had to catch, Kubel had to go to left, and Slowey became the DH. I thought Gardy would use Brendan Harris instead of Mike Lamb to start the 9th against LHP closer George Sherrill, but Harris was needed to pinch-hit for Slowey if it got to him (he was on deck when Casilla made the final out). With Punto back to the DL and Morneau dragging with a bum knee, I don't think the Twins can sustain a 3-man bench for very long. They have to decide to drop someone from the bullpen. Either Rincon or Bass would be the likely choices.

Carlos Gomez had a hit in each game, but overall was 3-14 with 3 K in the series. For the homestand, he was 6-34 (.176) with 9 Ks. If he doesn't start having better ABs soon, I'm going to start harping for Span again.

The Twins drafted a toolsy HS outfielder and 2 college pitchers in the first round on Thursday. One pitcher was a stretch, the other fell into their lap. Pretty typical draft, I'd say.