Just What We Needed

Twins 4, A's 3

Carl Pavano had a pretty shaky game, allowing 10 H and a BB in 6.1 IP. He was just about constantly in a jam, and the A's were able to take advantage of his slow delivery to steal 3 bases. But he made good pitches when he had to. Also, the A's are terrible at hitting. Some combination of those elements enabled the Twins to hold them to 2 ER.

The A's have a rotation full of talented young pitchers, most of whom came into the series on a roll. The Twins could muster only 5 H off Gio Gonzalez and a pair of relievers. But they took advantage of some giveaways by the A's. A leadoff E and 3 BB led to two 1st inning runs - it should have been at least 3, but Jason Kubel was thrown out at 3rd before Michael Cuddyer could score on Danny Valencia's 2-out single. Another leadoff E in the 4th enabled Delmon Young to advance to 2nd - from there he could score Valencia's ground-rule 2B. Gardy then called for back-to-back sacrifices from the bottom of his order - Alexi Casilla got Valencia to 3rd, and Drew Butera brought him home with a squeeze.

That was it - 4 R on 5 H and 5 BB - but it was just enough. The Twins even had enough margin to survive a 9th inning E from Casilla that extended the inning and produced an unearned run. Credit Gardy for recognizing in the 4th inning how dear runs were going to be in this game. The 2 straight bunts were also a good, honest assessment of how to get a run in from 2nd base with 3 relatively weak hitters due up. Good managing.

Twins 2, A's 0

Runs were at a premium again on Saturday with the Twins facing Trevor Cahill, one of the top ERA pitchers in the league. This time, Gardy zeroed in on the importance of a single R in the 3rd inning. After Casilla led off with a 2B, Gardy had Denard Span bunt him over to 3rd, putting him in position to score on Orlando Hudson's SF. It's normally a sequence you'd expect to see much later in the game, especially since Span singled in his first AB. But the Twins basically never had another threat off of Cahill, so it was crucial to make that one count.

Brian Duensing made it stand up. He pitched his best game at the major league level: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 104 pitches. Also, the A's are terrible at hitting. The only runner who got as far as 2nd base was promptly picked off. That was the closest Duensing ever came to being in trouble. He also got 2 DPs, meaning he was able to complete the game having faced just 2 batters over the minimum.

The Twins got an insurance run they didn't deserve off Craig Breslow in the bottom of the 8th. Span led off with a ball that should have been caught, the ump should have called Span out advancing to 3rd on Hudson's grounder, and Mauer's fly to LF should have been caught. For the season, Breslow has a 3.23 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 53 IP. He's held lefties to .214/.276/.386 and righties to .195/.277/.341. It still amazes me that the Twins allowed him to slip out of the organization last spring.

Twins 4, A's 2

Once again, runs were at a premium, though in this game the Twins had plenty of chances. They finished the day with 10 H and 5 BB, leaving a total of 12 men on base. Jason Kubel got one big hit - a ground-rule 2B to finish a string of 3 straight H with 2 out in the 3rd. Jim Thome got the other - a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 7th. Giving the veteran Thome the green light on 3-0 against a LHP with 2-out, rather than letting him try to work a BB to load the bases for the rookie Valencia, was another astute decision by Gardy. (Though Valencia ripped a 2B in the subsequent AB.)

That was it, but it was enough. Kevin Slowey had one of his best days as a big leaguer. I won't say it was his best - he walked 3, and he's pitched CG shutouts before. But 7 no-hit innings is a pretty good effort, to be sure. Also, the A's are terrible at hitting. The most memorable part of Slowey's performance was when he picked up Casilla, who air-mailed a routine play leading off the 5th for a 2-base E, by striking out the next 3 hitters.

There was some inevitable controversy when Gardy lifted Slowey after 7 innings and 106 pitches. But, like just about everything else Gardy did this weekend, it was the right move. Had this been an ordinary trip through the rotation, I'm sure they would have sent Slowey out for the 8th, just to see how it would go. But when a guy just got held back 4 extra days to rest his elbow, you don't leave him out there to throw more pitches than he's ever thrown in a game in his career. Slowey has been pitching well over his last 5 GS, averaging nearly 7 IP with a 2.10 ERA and 0.70 WHIP. If he gets hurt, we're into Nick Blackburn/Glen Perkins territory. Gotta think of the big picture: win the game, keep Slowey healthy. Done and done.

The Twins managed to sweep the A's despite scoring all of 10 R over 3 games. They were able to do so because of a combination of poor play by the A's, terrific work by the Twins' pitchers, and timely execution by the offense. If things keep going the way they are, Gardy will get some consideration for manager of the year, as he does almost every year. When that talk surfaces, remember this series. From the small ball strings he pulled to the way he used his players, Gardy did his part to make the Twins successful.

Meanwhile, the White Sox' bullpen blew late leads against the Tigers on Saturday and Sunday, extending the Twins' division lead up to 3 games. The Sox had won something like 21 of 24 home games, but they lost 4 of 6 this week. Could it be a sign that some cracks are beginning to show? The pressure is squarely on them as they come to play the Twins this week. A series loss for the visitors will push them 4 games back with 41 to play, and will clinch the season series for the Twins. Those will be difficult obstacles for the Sox to surmount over the final 1/4 of the season.

Hit Your Spots

Twins 2, White Sox 5

Kevin Slowey is in the big leagues not because he has overpowering stuff, but rather because he has elite command of his pitches. His ability to locate his pitches is as exceptional, in its way, as Francisco Liriano's filthy slider - very few pitchers can match it. So it drives me bonkers when Slowey loses a game because he fails to hit his spots.

His problem through the first few starts of 2010 has been inefficiency: too many pitches in each AB are preventing him from getting through 6 IP. That was not the case on Tuesday, as he flew through the first 4 innings with under 40 pitches. He faced one batter over the minimum and appeared to be on track to go deep into the game. He became much more deliberate in the 5th, but that was appropriate for the situation he was in. Alex Rios led off with the a single, stole 2nd and moved to 3rd on a missed catch error by Orlando Hudson. With a runner on 3rd and nobody out, a pitcher is wise to approach things differently than when the bases are empty. And the results were excellent, as Slowey struck out righty Carlos Quentin, walked lefty Mark Teahen (who had touched him for a 2B earlier), then struck out righty Gordon Beckham.

He was one good pitch to the #9 hitter away from escaping the jam. Alexi Ramirez wouldn't chase anything out of the zone early in the count, and Slowey found himself behind 3-1. Walking Ramirez to load the bases for the light-hitting Juan Pierre, who came into the game with an OBP under .300 and 0 XBH, would hardly be a disaster. (Sometimes I wonder whether Slowey understands that, with RISP, it can be better to put a guy on 1st than to let him hit his way to 2nd.) The next pitch caught the heart of the plate, and Ramirez drilled it into the gap for a 2-RBI 2B. Pierre legged out an IF hit, then Slowey grooved one to AJ Pierzynski for another 2-RBI 2B. Then, with Andruw Jones batting, what was for me the worst pitch of the game: an 0-2 fastball smacked into right center to bring home Pierzynski. What is that pitch doing in the strike zone? Jones has struck out in over 25% of his AB this season - get him to chase something. I don't approve of the cookie to Ramirez, but I can understand it when the count is 3-1. On 0-2, the pitcher has to throw his pitch, but Jones couldn't have asked for better.

Three of the 6 straight H with 2 out in that inning were IF singles, including one from Paul Konerko. He's slower than some catchers, but Brendan Harris, playing short in place of JJ Hardy, was lucky to knock the ball down. With Hardy's superior range, I have no doubt that the inning would have ended there, and maybe Slowey could have stayed in to start the 6th. As it was, he was knocked out after 4.2 IP, and really has only himself to blame.

The game was lost in that inning, and not just because the Sox put up a 5-spot. Nick Punto and Denard Span had 1-out singles to start a rally in the bottom half. The lowest OBP of the next 3 batters was Hudson's .380, yet both he and Joe Mauer struck out swinging to end the threat. I'm not sure Freddy Garcia threw 2 pitches in the strike zone in those 2 AB combined. Hudson and Mauer flailed away at pitches well out of the zone. Just as annoying as a control pitcher missing his spots is when hitters with good plate discipline expand the strike zone. Those 2 got themselves out. Had one of them been more patient, maybe Justin Morneau's HR leading off the 6th could have come with some men on base.

Twins 3, White Sox 2

Now this is how it's done. Carl Pavano adjusted quickly after a rocky 1st trip through the lineup, allowing only 2 baserunners out of the next 18 hitters. 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB and 4 K on 96 pitches. He threw strike one to 20 of the 27 batters he faced. And they were quality strikes. The difference between a pitch on the corner and one 4 inches closer to the center of the plate is the difference between a lazy fly ball and a ringing double. I hope Slowey is learning something from watching Pavano go about his business. The veteran is averaging 6.2 IP/GS so far in 2010.

The baseball gods gaveth and tooketh away from the Twins' offense. The tying and winning runs score on 6-hoppers through the IF from Morneau and Span. But Michael Cuddyer's booming drive to left-center was pulled back onto the field by Alex Rios with a leap at the bullpen fence. The ball sounded good when he hit it, but I immediately found myself trying to help blow the ball over the wall. It's only been 18 rather cold games, but CF is looking like somewhere you don't want to hit the ball at Target Field.

Next, 3 at Yankee Stadium, and 2 each at Rogers Center and Fenway Park. I think the Twins might have won 1 game between those three locations in 2009. This next stretch is where they have to prove that they're for real this year. The Tigers just held the Yanks to 12 R over 4 games, and half of those came in the 9th of the one game the Tigers lost. The Yankee hitters better keep scuffling against Baker and Liriano this weekend.

Notes:

• Hardy was put on the DL retroactive to last Wednesday, so he'll be eligible to play in the final game of the road trip next Thursday. Meanwhile, the Twins chose to recall utility IF Matt Tolbert, though they already have 3 utility IF on the roster in Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla and Harris. This at the expense of Luke Hughes, Danny Valencia - who still doesn't have any HR but has been warming at the plate - and Trevor Plouffe, perhaps the most obvious replacement for Hardy. Plouffe is, after all, the everyday SS for the Red Wings, he has a reputation as a good defender, and he's been hitting very well since the middle of last summer. Plus, he was a 1st-round pick in 2004, and has been at AAA for the equivalent of almost 2 full seasons. You'd think they'd want to give him a little taste of the big leagues here. But no.
• The Twins decided to add an extra reliever for the East Coast swing. They sent Wilson Ramos down to get regular playing time. They chose to call up not Rob Delaney or Kyle Waldrop or Anthony Slama, who have been kicking ass down there, or even Jeff Manship, but rather Jose Mijares, who has made 2 appearances on his rehab assignment and been rocked in each. He looks no kind of ready to face the ultra-patient hitters of the AL East powerhouses. But here he comes.
• There were a flurry of moves made after I posted on Monday. 2/5 of the awful Rochester rotation has been replaced by Cole DeVries and Deolis Guerra. That opened the door for Kyle Gibson to move up to AA. Liam Hendriks moved up to A+, and threw a gem in his first game on Wednesday.

The Games Begin

At last, the Twins have a game in the books, and we can start talking about how people are performing against real competition. Well, as real as spring training games get. During the first half of March, I just want to see players showing signs that they're going to be ready to do their thing once the regular season starts. Are the pitchers hitting their spots? Are the hitters having good PA? Is everyone making the plays in the field? For the guys that have a legitimate shot at breaking camp with the Twins, the answers to those questions were almost uniformly positive.

Denard Span led off the game with a single off Josh Beckett, and scored what would be the Twins' only run of the game. Alexi Casilla went 0-2, but had a hit taken away by a diving Marco Scutaro leading off the 4th. Jason Kubel drove in Span with a single off Beckett, then drew a walk against tough LHP Hideki Okajima. Michael Cuddyer went 1-2. Jacque Jones struck out after a lengthy AB vs. Beckett, but he made a nice diving catch in LF. Only Brendan Harris failed to do something memorable - and he was only around for 4 innings.

The pitching side of things was just as encouraging. Nick Blackburn worked 2 scoreless IP, allowing just an IF single to Dustin Pedroia, and getting 4 of 6 outs on the ground. Kevin Slowey followed with his first appearance since July. He raised some doubts about his readiness in an interview earlier this week, suggesting that his wrist wasn't feeling right. However his wrist felt, it didn't seem to effect his pitching. He also allowed just 1 H in 2 IP, while striking out 2. And, of course, walking no one.

Perhaps the best story of the night was the return of Pat Neshek, absent from the Twins' bullpen since early May of 2008. In his first inning back, he set down Scutaro, Jeremy Hermida and prospect Josh Reddick in order, striking out Reddick. The 2 balls put in play were weakly hit. No signs of struggles with command, a typical side-effect for those trying to recover from TJS.

That the folks who will be filling out the Rochester and New Britain rosters failed to muster any hits (save one single by Luke Hughes) doesn't trouble me in the least. Nor does the fact that Mike Maroth couldn't handle the top of the Red Sox order, or that Jose Lugo lost the game in the bottom of the 8th. The minor leaguers will have plenty of chances to win or lose games late over the next couple of weeks. I'm just glad to see the big leaguers put their best foot forward in their brief appearances in this first game.

That's More Like It

Twins 7, Indians 1
Kevin Slowey's best games last season all came in his final start of the month: CGs at the ends of May, June and July. Saturday night's game was his last start of April, and it was easily his best start of the year so far. He took advantage of a generous strike zone to strike out 8 and carry a 5-hit shutout into the 9th inning before being chased with three straight hits to open the final frame. Luis Ayala came on to get a strikeout, RBI single and DP to end the game. Slowey's ERA has now joined Nick Blackburn's in the reasonable mid-4.00 range.

Carl Pavano did a serviceable job for the Indians. He threw quite a tantrum when he was pulled with nobody out in the 6th, but he shouldn't feel too badly about how he pitched. Though his final line wasn't pretty: 5 ER on 11 H and 1 BB with 3 K, most of those hits were nothing to write home about. This game was the equalizer for Wednesday night's game, when several liners were caught by the Red Sox. Here in the first, the Twins scored on a grounder up the middle, stolen base, 4-hopper through the right side. In the 4th, it went single off the 3rd baseman's glove, grounder over 3rd for a double, 4-hopper through the left side for an RBI single, 6-hopper through the right side for an RBI single. After Jason Kubel's HR in the 5th, Pavano was chased with a ground-ball single to LF, BB, and bunt single. Plenty of hits, but I thought the Twins had better swings against Brad Penny.

What a relief to see the Twins lead pole-to-pole for 2 straight games. And great that they kept piling on, adding back-to-back HR in the 9th from Kubel and Joe Crede. A series win against a division rival on the road!

Indians 4, Twins 2
This was more like what I was expecting from Glen Perkins this year. He had a much tighter strike zone to work with than Slowey did, and his control wasn't what it had been in his first three starts, so he wound up allowing 4 ER on 7 H and 2 BB with 4 K in 5 IP. The bullpen did a pretty nice job behind him as Matt Guerrier, Craig Breslow and Ayala finished the game with three scoreless innings. Perhaps the biggest news on the defensive side of things came when Jose Morales managed to throw out Mark DeRosa attempting to steal second - the first time a Twins catcher has thrown out an attempted base stealer this season.

Morales also had his best career day at the plate, going 4-4 with a double. He raised his BA to .375 over the weekend, and for once made me feel like the Twins wouldn't have done a lot better had Joe Mauer been there instead. Unfortunately, he was the only RH batter who was able to do anything against Aaron Laffey. Still, the Twins got back into the game in the 7th, as Denard Span pinch hit for Carlos Gomez and drove in 2 with a single. After Brendan Harris walked, the Twins had a golden opportunity to tie the game, but Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel, the Twins' two best hitters this month, both struck out against rookie Tony Sipp with the bases loaded.

And still the Twins had a chance to tie things up in the 9th after Morales reached for the 4th time and PH Brian Buscher drew a 4-pitch BB off of Indians closer Kerry Wood. Gardy had pulled all the right strings up to that point, but missed an important call during Span's AB. He was right to take a strike following the 4-pitch walk, but he should have been bunting on the next pitch. In that situation, the bunt accomplishes 3 important objectives: it moves the tying run into scoring position, it eliminates the groundball DP, and it all but ensures that Morneau will bat with a chance to drive in the tying run. Instead, Span was allowed to take strike 2, nullifying the bunt and enabling Wood to induce Span to hit into a 4-6-3 DP. Harris struck out to end the game with Morneau in the on-deck circle.

Still, a good series win on the road, and an encouraging conclusion to a road trip which began with 2 embarrassing losses in Boston. Now the Twins will have another tough test vs. Tampa Bay at the Metrodome. Hopefully, Scott Baker is ready for a Slowey-style adjustment.

Minor League Notes
Mauer, feeling normal soreness after his 2 straight days of catching 7 IP, went 2-4. Not bad, but maybe not quite in Morales' league. And Shooter Hunt delivered a line for the A- Beloit Snappers that Nuke LaLoosh would've been proud of:

2+ IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 1 K, HBP, 2 WP

Yikes! Watch your back, mascot! Looks like someone needs to tie this kid to the bedposts and read him some Whitman. Breathe through you eyelids, Shooter!

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.

A Split with the Mariners

Twins 6, Mariners 5
Last August, the Twins pitchers had a hell of a time with the Mariners' lineup, yielding an average of 5.7 runs/game. That lineup included Ichiro and Raul Ibanez, though. I really thought the Twins would have an easier time in this series. But there they were again, putting up 5 runs in the first 4 innings against Kevin Slowey.

I was disgusted with the Russell Branyan AB in the 2nd - after getting such a K-prone hitter 0-2, Slowey should have been able to put him away. Why not stay upstairs, where he missed for the second strike? Instead, Branyan was able to work the count to 3-2 while Slowey tried to get him to chase some pitches in the dirt. At that point, I was reminded of an AB Shin-Soo Choo had against Slowey last September, and I heard myself saying what I said back then: "Now, first base is open, so don't do anything stupid here."

Ding!

Aaargh! Slowey is such a better pitcher than Branyan is a hitter. I think I hold Slowey to a higher standard than the other Twins pitchers. His control is normally so great, I don't have any patience for him having a tough night with his location. 7 of the 9 H Slowey allowed came either when he was ahead in the count or had let someone recover from 0-2. And he let a run come in on a wild pitch. Slowey throws wild pitches? Bah!

Luckily, his mound opponent was not one of the better starters in the league, as had been the case the previous 2 nights. Rather, it was our old friend Carlos Silva, trying to regain his 2004-2005 form and justify his enormous contract. Not this night, as the Twins were able to alternate the expected ground ball hits with drives to the gaps - and over the fences. Justin Morneau got his first 2 H, a double and an upper-deck HR, collecting 3 RBI in the process. Denard Span had another good night at the plate, finally hitting the ball hard as he lifted a 2-run HR over the baggy down the RF line. Jason Kubel had a couple of knocks, including the RBI double that turned out to be the game-winner.

To Slowey's credit, he settled down after the 4th and managed to complete 6 IP, saving the bullpen somewhat. Craig Breslow, Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan each threw a scoreless inning to finish the game. That sequence of pitchers is pretty much what I was hoping to see on nights when the starter only goes 6 IP, so it was encouraging to see that Gardy is still willing to give Breslow a full inning rather than save him for lefties in another situation that may or may not arise.

Seattle 2, Twins 0
You know I don't like to see the Twins losing well-pitched games, but I can tolerate it when it's somebody awesome who shuts them down, like Sabathia or Matsuzaka. When it's Vicente Padilla, or Radhames Liz who's throwing up the zeroes, I find that pretty grating. Jarrod Washburn is in the latter category.

As tough a time as the Twins had squaring him up, a lot of credit has to be given to the M's defense, especially new CF Franklin Gutierrez. The catch he made on Alexi Casilla's drive to the left-centerfield gap in the first could not have come any closer to the turf without being a hit. In addition to the 5 H the Twins were able to accumulate off Washburn, there were probably just as many balls that might have fallen in against a lesser defense.

I started to get that sinking feeling that this was going to be one of those days when everything seems to break the wrong way in the top of the 3rd, when Endy Chavez led off with a grounder just out of the reach of the diving Casilla. The previous inning had seen a hit carry just over Casilla's leap. When their hits are just sneaking through, and yours aren't quite, it might not be your day.

The confirmation came in the bottom of the inning, when Mike Redmond's sharp grounder up the middle hit Washburn and caromed over to the third baseline. Ronny Cedeno hustled in and threw out Redmond by a step. It was bad enough luck that the ball didn't miss Washburn and go into CF, but consider this: the only player in the Major Leagues who wasn't capable of beating that play to first base was a nearly 38-year old right-handed hitting backup catcher with a pulled groin. I'm sure a healthy Redmond would have been safe there.

A shame to waste the first quality start of the season. That's probably about as good as Perkins is going to be this year. Of all the Twins starters, I feel like he's the most determined to throw inside, and I love that, but he's also the most likely to miss his spots and get hammered. Still, it was great to see Gardy leave him in there to pitch the 8th. He might have had a CG had he not run into consecutive 11-pitch ABs in the 7th.

On to Chicago, where the White Sox were able to muster just 5 runs in 3 games vs. the Royals.

Minor League Notes
In the season opener for Rochester, the 'Wings were able to slug their way to victory behind 2 pairs of back-to-back HR, 1 each from Luke Hughes, David Winfree, Trevor Plouffe and Dustin Martin. And in AA, stud relievers Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama made impressive season debuts: each allowed no runs on 1 H. Delaney got 2 K and Slama struck out the side. I'm hoping both of those guys will pitch well enough to get to Rochester by mid-season.

Home Stretch

Rays 11, Twins 1
Rays 7, Twins 2
Twins 4, Rays 1

Obviously, it wasn't a great weekend for the Twins - losing 2 of 3 while being outscored 19-7 ensures that. However, the Rays are easily the best home team in the league, so for the Twins to split the 4 games overall was a good accomplishment. Tuesday's failure (on so many levels) in Cleveland was the difference between the .500 road trip the Twins were hoping for and the 4-6 mark they actually achieved.

What was disconcerting about this weekend was the performance of the starting pitchers. When Francisco Liriano rode to the rescue on Sunday with 7 strong IP, he surpassed the combined innings total from the previous three starts. I thought Nick Blackburn was kind of unlucky in the first inning on Friday, as a couple of the Tampa hitters sliced fly balls into the opposite corners just out of reach of the outfielders. But he completely came apart in the 2nd, walking 3 (one intentionally), including walking in a run to finish his outing. The only out Kevin Slowey was able to get in the 5th inning of his start was a throw-out by Joe Mauer on an attempted steal.

While Blackburn and Slowey (and select members of the Twins' bullpen) were being ground down by the Rays' lineup, the Twins hitters were completely befuddled by the Rays' starters. Edwin Jackson and Scott Kazmir combined for 13.2 IP, 1 ER, 12 H, 2 BB, 10 K. In the two games, the Twins' offense mustered just 14 H (1 double) and 6 BB. Once again, the Rays brutally outslugged the Twins, collecting 10 more XBH out of 21 total, including 3 more HR.

Liriano restored order with his 7 IP, allowing just 5 H (1 double) and 1 ER while striking out 7. He did allow 4 BB, the highest total since his ill-advised call-up in April, but given the abnormally high BB totals for Blackburn and Slowey, I'm going to write that off as a credit to a very patient Rays offense. Jose Mijares and Joe Nathan combined to finish the game with 2 perfect innings.

Mauer led an opportunistic Twins offense on Sunday. While Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel were going 0-8, it was Mike Redmond, Adam Everett and Carlos Gomez who drove in the runs. Mauer led off the 4th with a walk, beat out a force attempt at 2nd off the bat of Justin Morneau, and scored on a single from Redmond. After Brian Buscher flew out, Everett beat out a dribbler to 3rd, scoring Morneau and Redmond when the throw from 3B Evan Longoria skipped up the RF foul line. With Everett now at 3rd, Gomez pulled off a push bunt single, demonstrating again the only appropriate time to dive into first base.

For the series Mauer was 8-15 with 2 BB, and, with a 6-point lead in the batting race, is now in the driver's seat for a second batting title. Morneau still leads the RBI race by 3. Both of them need to have good final weeks, for lots of reasons.

The Twins finished their road schedule with a record of 36-45. I can think of 4-5 of those games just in the past two months that easily could have (should have?) been wins, and could have given the Twins an essentially .500 road record. Oh well, they'll have to do better next year.

The final series with the White Sox is upon us. Beginning 2.5 games back, the Twins will need to do everything right from here on in if they're to overtake their rivals.

Stand and Deliver

Athletics 3, Twins 2
Twins 13, Athletics 2
Twins 3, Athletics 1

OK, not too shabby. The Twins won the rubber game with the A's yesterday to finish their 11th straight series win at home. Overall, they were 7-2 on the home stand. They must dominate like that at home if they're to stay close to a playoff spot. And not only are they just 1 game behind the White Sox for the division lead, they're now only a half-game behind Boston for the Wild Card. 2 teams to keep track of over the final 36 games.

Nick Blackburn, as usual, bounced back from a rough start against the Yankees with a very good start against the A's. He completed 8 IP, allowing 3 ER on 6 H and 2 BB. Unfortunately, he got touched for a leadoff HR for the 2nd straight game, and he allowed one hit with RISP. But, mostly, he did his job, and just didn't get the run support he needed. The Twins caught a tremendous break when AL ERA star Justin Duchscherer had to leave the game in the 3rd inning with an injury. But they failed to do any better against recent AAA call-up Kirk Saarloos.

The offense more than made up for it on Tuesday night, launching a 13 R, 16 H, 5 BB onslaught led by Brian Buscher and his career-high 5 RBI. Those RBI came on 3 different hits for Buscher, capping a game in which the 6-9 hitters combined to go 8-15 with 6 R, 2 HR, and 11 RBI. Even Carlos Gomez connected for his first HR in over 2 months (funny, it was the same crazy swing he always takes - the one where he falls down when he misses - but if you throw the ball right into it...).

That was plenty for Kevin Slowey, who delivered his 4th start out of the last 5 of at least 5.2 IP and only 1 ER allowed. What stood out in this start, of course, were the strikeouts, a career-high 12 of them. The A's are terrible, so we probably shouldn't read too much into that - Slowey isn't going to suddenly turn into Johan Santana. However, his season WHIP is down to 1.06, and he's giving the Twins easily as much as Francisco Liriano right now. He'll need to keep it up down the stretch if the Twins are going to hang in there.

Speaking of Liriano, he didn't look all that great on Wednesday. However, as much as he didn't have the command he wanted, I should mention that I thought home plate umpire Brian Knight had a very small strike zone. An ump who calls pitches on the black or at the bottom of the knees balls can turn even a low scoring game into a tedious affair. That's particularly true when one of the offenses involved is full of guys who like to take walks. Anyway, in spite of allowing a baserunner or more in every inning, Liriano left the game without having allowed an ER. That's one of the things that makes him better than, say, Boof Bonser. (The ineptitude of the A's offense undoubtedly helped.)

The bullpen was actually rock solid, for once. In 7 IP over the series, they allowed 0 R on 2 H and 3 BB. That included back-to-back 2 IP scoreless stints from Brian Bass and Boof Bonser (has that ever happened before?). Bass' effort wasn't enough to keep him from being outrighted to AAA, as the Twins finally elected to reduce the staff to 11 pitchers when Alexi Casilla was recalled yesterday afternoon.

Why Bass and not Boof? Well, Boof has allowed just 3 ER in his last 7 appearances (spanning 9.2 IP) with 9 K, despite allowing 10 H and 3 BB. Bass had allowed 3 ER in his last 9 appearances (spanning 10.2 IP) with 7 K, despite allowing 11 H and 3 BB. Basically, Boof's stuff is much more overpowering, so even though he's recently been just about exactly as hittable as Bass, Boof stays with the team. And I'm fine with that - I've been saying for awhile that the Twins could afford to have one or the other in the 'pen, but not both. Only took them 2-3 months to come to the same conclusion.

One thing that was particularly disconcerting in this series was the defense. 5 errors led to 3 unearned R (3 of the 6 total runs!). If the Twins are going to have any hope of coming home from this gigantic road trip in decent shape in the standings, they're going to have to play tighter defense. The Angels will tear them to pieces if they give them extra outs.

A lot's been written about how this 14-game trip will be a defining moment for the Twins, and I can't disagree. The only place they've struggled since the middle of June is against non-divisional opponents on the road. That's what they're going to get in every game of this trip. They're also going to get it in 7 of 10 games on the subsequent trip. 24 of the last 36 games are on the road now, and the Twins have to outplay Chicago and Boston by at least one game over that stretch to make the postseason. I'm hoping they can go at least .500 on this monster trip.

I Wish They All Could Be Interleague Games

Twins 5, Brewers 0

That's a song by the Beach Boys, right?

I can't remember the last time the Twins had any trouble in Interleague Play. Generally, they finish up at least a few games over .500. This year, as in 2006, they wound up with the Majors' best interleague record at 14-4. According to Blyleven's California math, that makes the team 2 games under .500 vs. the AL. Since that's who they'll be playing from here on out, they'd better do something about that.

Today's game was a pleasure to watch on so many levels, but I have to start with Kevin Slowey. In his last start, he was just as good, but he had trouble finishing guys off, allowing a lot of foul balls that lengthened ABs and got him over 90 pitches in just 6 IP. Today, his stuff and location was just a bit better, and those fouls turned into harmless fly balls and strikeouts. He did a great job of moving his fastball around and hitting his spots, only using his secondary pitches about 25% of the time. This was his 2nd career CG, and first career shutout. It leaves him with a string of 16 consecutive scoreless innings. Over his last 4 outings, he's thrown 29 IP, 19 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 24 K for a 0.93 ERA and 0.72 WHIP. He's quickly finding himself at the big-league level, and should be a steady performer for the remainder of the season.

Everybody in the lineup got at least 1 H today, except for Brendan Harris, who managed to get himself called out looking at three straight pitches in the same spot on the outside corner in the 3rd. When is he going to start trying to protect that part of the zone?

Ben Sheets looked awesome early. Thanks to a couple of double plays, he faced the minimum through the first 3.2 IP, throwing 43 pitches to that point with 5 K. When Alexi Casilla flailed at his curveball for strike 3, it was Sheets' 5th K in a span of 7 hitters. But the next 3 hitters changed the game with their superior patience at the plate. With Cuddyer heading to the DL, Jason Kubel moved up to the #5 spot, putting the Twins' 3 most disciplined hitters in a row. After quickly falling behind 0-2, Joe Mauer worked sheets to 2-2 before getting a curveball a little up that he could pull into the RF corner for a 2-out 2B. Justin Morneau followed with a 5-pitch walk. Kubel also hung in there after an 0-2 start, battling to 2-2 before getting a curveball up that he could serve into LF for an RBI single. Those 3 ABs cost Sheets 20 pitches, getting him off the CG track he'd been on early.

Brian Buscher led off the 5th with a hit similar to Kubel's, and scored 2 outs later when Carlos Gomez grounded one just inside the bag at 3rd for an RBI 3B. It was only Gomez' 2nd XBH in the past 18 games, so he was overdue for one to find a gap. In the 6th, after Kubel walked, Delmon Young pounced on a hanging curveball for his 2nd HR of the season. It was great to see him open up and pull a ball like that. Finally, it was nice to see Mike Lamb get a hit in the 7th - it was his first start since June 13. He came around to score when Brewers RF Corey Hart failed to hold on after diving for Casilla's drive in the gap; it fell for a 2B.

With their stupendous interleague run over, the Twins must now turn their attention to a difficult stretch of games before the All-Star break. They finish up this home stand with 3 games each vs. Detroit and Cleveland, then travel to Boston for 3 and Detroit for 4. The Tigers are charging up behind the Twins, so these head-to-head games will be an important test to see if the Twins can keep a division power in their rear-view mirror.

Denard Span will join the team in place of Cuddyer beginning tomorrow. I think this is long overdue. He should be given the opportunity to start in CF tomorrow night vs. RHP Armando Galarraga - Gomez hasn't had a day off in a while anyway. I'd like to see Span get every opportunity to prove that he belongs in the leadoff spot for the Twins, as Buscher has been able to do at 3B. This is the first step in upgrading the team for the 2nd half.

Sweep Relief

Twins 2, Nationals 1
Twins 11, Nationals 2
Twins 9, Nationals 3

I'm a little off my schedule this week - I was supposed to have reconstructive knee surgery on Wednesday afternoon, but it was postponed due to an electrical problem at the hospital. My mom flew in to help me in my recovery, and since she is also a big Twins fan, we sat down to enjoy the rest of the game when we got home after dinner, then watched the Thursday finale together before heading off to my rescheduled surgery. I was in the hospital most of the day yesterday, deciding whether my pain was manageable enough to send me home (it was). I suspect I may have the time to blog a little more often in the coming weeks.

Coming home from a tough road trip, isn't it great to be able to face the worst team in the NL? You know you've got a chance for a sweep when Livan Hernandez can hold your opponent to 1 ER on 5 H in 7 IP. He needed just 77 pitches to reach that point, but Gardy perhaps remembered how quickly Livan's last good start (vs. CO) got out of hand in the late innings, and wisely turned the game over to Guerrier and Nathan. John Lannan pitched a very strong game for the Nationals, allowing just 2 R on the huge homer to Morneau. I hope Mauer and Morneau find their way into the All-Star game starting lineup - they have certainly been wonderfully consistent about getting on base and driving in runs.

Kevin Slowey delivered another quality start, despite not having his best stuff. He allowed another HR, but it was a solo shot, and otherwise he was able to work out the jams he got himself into. After walking the leadoff man in the 7th, Jesse Crain came in and loaded the bases with a BB and HBP, but also picked up 2 K and escaped unscathed. Then the Twins offense went off on the Nats' bullpen, lighting up 3 relievers for 8 ER on 8 H and 4 BB. There were bunt hits, triples, SFs, 2-out hits and walks. With Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer playing much better in June, the offense is very good when either Gomez or Casilla get on. It should be noted that Boof Bonser pitched the 9th inning, and, of course, allowed a run.

In the finale, it was great to see Gardy just let Perkins go for 8 IP. He wasn't having the greatest game, but the team built him a huge lead, so it wasn't too risky leaving him in there so long. I think it benefits him to be out there on the mound learning how to work with OK stuff and tiredness. He got hit pretty hard - Cuddyer made a couple of nice catches on liners to keep things under control, and he still missed his spots a lot, but I've got to think he's only going to get better. The Twins' 3-6 hitters went 7-15 with 3 BB and 7 R. Buscher is making a strong contribution in his first few games - I don't know whether the Twins will go back to Lamb or try to trade him. I like that Casilla, even though he's not getting hits the last few games, is still having productive ABs - drawing a walk, laying down a sacrifice, hitting a SF.

Span vs. Gomez

Denard Span has come back from his broken finger and picked up right where he left off at Rochester. In his first 3 games back he's gone 8-13 with 3 2B and 3 BB. His OPS continues to be in the high .900s. Gomez, meanwhile, has been quietly below average. In the month of June, he's hitting just .259/.292/.329 with 1 SB in 4 attempts. He's made the catches in CF, but made 2 awful throws over the cutoff man in Thursday's game, and has been bobbling the ball a lot recently even though he hasn't always been charged with an error. This month he has 4 BB and 18 K.

I'm hoping that, over the next week, Span will continue to produce at AAA, and the Twins' young rotation will continue to carry the team through the 6th inning every night. It's just about time to go down to 11 pitchers, cutting ties with Bonser. Once the Twins are ready to have 5 bench players again, I think Span deserves his shot.

Go Young

Twins 10, Brewers 2
Twins 9, Brewers 4 (12 innings)
Brewers 4, Twins 2

The road trip that began with a 4-game sweep in the unquenchable hell-fires of the South Side ended rather well this weekend with a series win vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. After being absolutely immolated by the Sox (12.12 ERA, 4.1 IP/start) to culminate a string of 11 games without a quality start, the starters have been quality in 5 of the last 6 games, including all three this weekend. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the pitcher who failed to deliver a quality start was none other than veteran "innings-eater" Livan Hernandez. Kevin Slowey (age 24), Glen Perkins (25) and Scott Baker (26) all did what Livan could not - they went at least 6 IP while keeping the team in the game.

Slowey was brilliant on Friday night, facing just one hitter over the minimum through 6 innings. 4 of the 5 hits he allowed were for extra bases, so eventually he gave up some runs, but he finished 8 IP with only 2 ER allowed. I hope this illustrates that Slowey is an actual Major League pitcher: in his last 7 starts, he's gone 5.2, 5.2, 6, 9, 6, 3 and 8 IP. Which game doesn't belong? Of the 8 starts in which he didn't get hurt, he's come within 1 IP or 1 ER of a quality start in 7 of them. His WHIP is at 1.14, tops among Twins starters with at least 8 starts. His K/BB ratio is 35/7. He's allowed 9 HR, most of them in his final inning of work, so he has an important adjustment to make in order to survive his 3rd trip through the order. But it's a relatively minor one for the International League's best pitcher of 2007. He'll be one of the steadiest members of this rotation for the remainder of 2008 and years to follow.

Perkins backed up his solid outing on Monday with another on Saturday. He got touched for 3 ER on 8 H (including a tremendous HR from Ryan Braun - but there's really no shame in that), but walked only one while striking out 6. I feel pretty comfortable for the most part when I see that he's going to start a game. He should get better as the year goes along.

Scott Baker looked solid in his two starts on the road trip. The 2-run HR by Mike Cameron spoiled his afternoon yesterday, but he tied his career high in Ks (4 in one inning!) and otherwise matched Perkins' line against a team that had been swinging the bats very well coming into the series. I'm even more confident when he's on the mound than Perkins.

Nick Blackburn, age 26, not seen in this series, is averaging 6.1 IP over the 13 starts in which he wasn't hit in the face with a line drive. I'm feeling pretty good about him, too, though he's the true rookie in the rotation. So it does not please me to see that he will skip his turn in order to rest some sore muscles. I was rather hoping they'd be skipping the old man, Livan, age 33 (or so). Though his former team, the Washington Nationals, are dead last in the Majors in runs and OPS, I don't know that Hernandez will be able to stop them. Please, Bill Smith, get him off the team soon!

The Nats aren't a great pitching team either, so hopefully the offense will be able to keep Livan in the game. I'm definitely looking forward to having the team back home, where they are above .500, and where Joe Mauer has an OPS about .200 points higher. Throw that in with the steady hitting of Justin Morneau and some occasional table-setting wonders from Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla and things could get interesting. It was great to see Delmon Young go 6 for 10 over the weekend, though he still needs to calm down a bit out there. Brain Buscher had a terrific re-introduction at 3B - I wonder if Lamb's job is in trouble?

The best part of the weekend for me, other than the pitching, was the performance of Jason Kubel. He went 5 for 13 with 1 walk, and 2 of his hits were HR, giving him 4 on the road trip. He looks fantastic at the plate, showing no inclination to chase bad pitches early in the count. Basically, he looks like the guy who was the Twins' best hitter during the second half of last season. Through the first half of June, he's hitting .325/.426/.700 with a 6/7 K/BB ratio. Yummy!

The Twins weren't playing particularly well when the road trip began, but the White Sox would have beaten just about anybody the way there were playing a week ago. Having weathered what will likely prove the most brutal stretch of games this year, the Twins are still in second place, just 4.5 games back. As the GM continues to trim the under- and non-performers from the roster, I feel good about where the Twins are right now. They have an excellent chance of being a better team in the second half.

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.

Streaking

Twins 4, Royals 3 (12 innings)
Twins 9, Royals 8 (10 innings)
Twins 5, Royals 1

What an amazing road trip. The Twins went 5-1 despite allowing as many runs as they scored (36). Always a good thing to concentrate the sucking into a single game!

I feel really bad for the Royals and their fans. We've been there, at least those of us who loved the Twins through the '90's. That the Royals renaissance has yet to take hold must be unbearable for their faithful. And after showing signs of being much improved just a couple weeks ago, to now be in the midst of yet another double-digit losing streak, how awful. And to have that streak prolonged after being comfortably ahead with 2 out in the 9th inning must be utterly soul-crushing. No wonder Guillen snapped.

Delmon Young made things a lot harder than they needed to be. Clearly, his attempt at a sliding catch in the 9th on Tuesday was ill-advised. I do appreciate the enthusiasm, but I would have flipped my lid if another game had been thrown away by defensive ineptitude. Incredibly, he was even worse on Wednesday. Kudos for Gardy for having the good sense to finally sit him down and end his undeserved consecutive-games streak. With that out of the way, he can more easily sit out several times over the remainder of the season.

Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey both took shutouts into the 9th inning. I know the Royals haven't exactly been lighting it up lately, but one has to be impressed with their progress this season. Livan Hernandez, meanwhile, got blown to bits once again, by the afore-mentioned team that hasn't been lighting it up. Who's eating the innings now? While the Twins talk of sending Boof to the bullpen and potentially releasing Bass or Rincon to make room for Scott Baker, I wonder when the conversation will turn to releasing Livan. Surely, the optimum time to trade him has passed us by.

Michael Cuddyer has been in a horrible slump, but it was easy to see why the hits were so difficult to come by on Tuesday and Wednesday. He went 3 for 11 in the two games (good for him, lately), the hits coming on fastballs knee-high on the outside corner that he poked into right or right-center. The Royals pitchers did a very good job of spotting their fastball in that location, then mixing in sliders or splitters that start in that location before diving out of the zone. With two strikes, it's difficult for Cuddy not to try to protect out there, but he ends up looking bad when the breaking balls land in the dirt. He may have to determinedly take 2 strikes in order to try to force pitchers to come back up and over the plate.

Gardy looked pretty good on Wednesday night, didn't he? He received a ton of criticism over the last week or so for using Joe Nathan so sparingly in close or extra-inning games. I agreed that after throwing just 10 pitches in the 9th on Tuesday, it would have been sensible to send him back out for the 11th. The Royals used their closer for 2 innings and 31 pitches. For some reason, that made him absolutely unavailable for Wednesday, and when the 9th spun out of control, they didn't go to Soria. I doubt he would have needed more than 3 or 4 pitches to dispatch Craig Monroe. Anyway, Monroe came through, and there was Nathan, fresh as a daisy, to collect the save for the Twins in the bottom of the 10th.

Carlos Gomez has had a much better May. I'll go over the numbers after Saturday's game is complete, but I don't think there's much he can do in the next 2 games to diminish his accomplishments this month. His overall approach at the plate has been better, and he's played much better defense. He's still got a ways to go, so I hope the trend continues throughout the summer. I won't say putting him on the team out of spring training was the right decision, but it doesn't look like such a bad decision right now.

Lamb Slaughters Tigers

Twins 9, Tigers 4
Tigers 19, Twins 3
Twins 6, Tigers 1

That's what I love about baseball. Your team can endure its most lop-sided defeat of the year, and yet you can still feel good when the weekend is over. Though the Twins were battered for 24 runs over the 3 games (8.31 ERA!), they did all their sucking in the middle game, and came away series winners. Though they've allowed 16 more runs than they've scored this season, they're 25-25, and only 3 games out of first place.

The Twins have pretty well settled who will be leaving the rotation when Scott Baker is ready to come off the DL in about 10 days. Kevin Slowey finally got the last out of the 6th inning, and has now averaged almost 5.2 IP with a 3.63 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 4 starts since returning from the DL. Glen Perkins was great in his first 3 starts, but topped them all on Sunday. After allowing just 1 ER in 7.2 IP, he is now averaging over 6.1 IP with a 2.77 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. As for Boof Bonser, well, it hadn't been going very well, and Saturday was as bad as it can be. He allowed 8 ER in 3+ IP; over his last 4 starts, he's averaging just under 5 IP with a 10.37 ERA and 1.71 WHIP. This is not a difficult decision - Boof will almost certainly be sent to the bullpen.

To make room, someone else will have to go. That will be either Brian Bass or Juan Rincon, who joined Boof before the firing squad on Saturday. While Bass' line (1.1 IP, 7 ER, 7 H) may be more spectacularly horrid, he came into the game with a respectable 3.90 ERA, and had been doing a pretty solid job in the long-relief roll up to that point. Juan Rincon (2.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB) was brought in to bail Bass out, and failed to do it. In his last 9 appearances, he's had just one perfect inning, walking 11 and allowing 10 H in 11.2 IP. That's all since Neshek went down and the Twins needed him to step up. One of those two is going to be DFA by the end of next week.

Dennys Reyes had a rough weekend as well, although I'd like to put his outings in context. It was always doubtful that he would be successful outside of the situational lefty role. In this series, he was asked to face 7 righties and 1 lefty. He got the lefty out. The righties went 4 for 6 with a BB. On Friday, though he was unable to retire anyone, he didn't pitch badly. The hits he allowed were:
*a 2-hop grounder 1 inch fair and 1 inch over the glove of Mike Lamb,
*a soft liner off the end of the bat that barely had enough mustard to clear the infield,
*a booming triple on a 3-2 pitch after Pudge had fouled off 4 good 2-strike pitches.
15 pitches, only 1 was poorly located. 93% were good! Still, let's try to keep him facing just lefties as much as possible.

Offensively, the star of the show was Mike Lamb, who went 5-7 with 4R, 2B, 3B, 2 BB and his first HR as a Twin. He still has time to cement his place in the lineup if he can keep raising his average over the next 2 weeks. If not, Brian Buscher is playing too well in Rochester to be denied much longer. And Jason Kubel delivered a clutch grand slam to win Sunday's game, capping a weekend in which he went 3-8 with a BB and 2 R. With Craig Monroe just 1 for his last 24 and a bunch of RHP taking the hill in the next few days, I suspect Kubel will get plenty of chances to build on solid numbers over the past week.

Mile Low

Twins 4, Rockies 2
Rockies 3, Twins 2
Rockies 6, Twins 2

My wife and I were furiously working on curtains for the nursery this weekend, so I didn't get to watch any of the Twins/Rockies "action" after Friday night. My condolences to all the poor bastards who did. How excruciating to see so many men left on base, while quality pitching was being wasted. It's amazing to me that these two teams combined for just 19 runs in 3 games. Neither one is playing very well right now.

The Twins went 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position on Friday (+2 SF). Backed by Nick Blackburn's strongest start in almost a month (7 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 5 K), decent relief pitching (OK except for the walks) and a Kamikaze catch from Gomez to end the game (I never said he couldn't go get it out there!), they came away with a win.

I was peeking at the scoreboard every now and then on Saturday. "Wait a minute," I thought, "is that Livan Hernandez with a no-hitter into the 6th inning? The Rockies must be in worse shape than I thought!" Amazing how quickly that 0 R on 0 H turned into 3 R on 8 H, huh? Still, given his typical run support, that should have been win number 7 for Livan. (Anybody want him?) It should be noted that the Rockies started each of their last 3 innings of this game with XBH - all of those guys scored. The Twins' offense managed just 2 R despite putting 12 men on base, going 1 for 7 with men in scoring position and stranding 9.

On Sunday, the Twins began each of their first 2 innings of batting with XBH, and had a 1-out triple in the 3rd, but none of them scored. 0 for 8 with RISP right there. For the game, they went 1 for 12. Kevin Slowey came one out short of a Quality Start, but allowed the last 4 batters to reach (after allowing only 4 to reach in the first 5.2 IP). Once again, the penultimate hitter ground out a long AB (10-pitch walk to Brad Hawpe) - maybe something to watch out for in the future.

The best news of the weekend came from Delmon Young, who doubled his season XBH total from 4 to 8, raising his season line to .287/.328/.348. A couple more series like that, and maybe we can all relax about his power potential.

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.

Up and Down

Twins 13, White Sox 1
White 6, Twins 2

As the runs started pouring in during the 9th inning on Wednesday night, I thought to myself, shouldn't we be saving some of those for tomorrow? Sure enough, those 6 tacked-on runs could have helped the Twins a lot more on Thursday afternoon.

Livan Hernandez had a ridiculously good game, the likes of which I don't expect to see very often again. Anybody want him? I have a feeling the Red Sox are going to be a little harder on him next week.

Kevin Slowey made his first appearance since the first week of the season, and was very sharp for 4 innings. He gave up 3 XBH in the 5th, including 2 HR. I would have liked to see him come out for the 6th, see if he could make the adjustment and rally for the Quality Start; he was only at 83 pitches. However, the ball was definitely up on both homers, so maybe the 6th would have been a disaster.

Speaking of disasters, Pat Neshek's elbow "tweak" is of great concern. The Twins can ill-afford to be without their door-slamming setup man for very long.

The Cycle

Oh, for Heaven's sake.

It was fore-ordained that, hours after I ripped him again, Gomez would lead-off the game with a HR (just like last time). His statistically spectacular evening prompted some bloggers I respect very much to ask rhetorically: "Still want to send him down?"

Yep.

Some impartial observers at ESPN have the right perspective, especially this from Jayson Stark:

On the one hand, as he proved Wednesday, he's a cycle waiting to happen. On the other, it took that cycle to nudge his on-base percentage to a measly .306. In terms of defense, one scout said, "I don't see a whole lot of difference between him and Torii [Hunter], other than name and reputation." But in terms of offense, the same scout said that he's "like a toolbox without a key."

You can't say it much better than that. If the fact that he hit for the cycle demonstrated that he had found the key, I'd change my mind about him. But he's the same guy he's been all spring. The hits just happened to fall in for him.

Of the four hits he collected on Wednesday night, the HR was the most impressive: Gomez quickly turned on a knee-high, inside cutter (probably didn't cut enough for Buerhle's taste), and hit it really hard. The triple was an absolutely flat changeup up in the zone, and he crushed it. He was sawed off on the double, the LF took a bad route to the ball, and it would have been a single if he hadn't dove for it. The single was deflected by the pitcher, and the dugout waited with baited breath for the official scorer's decision. A better fielding pitcher makes that an easy come-backer.

Gomez smacked a couple of poorly located pitches, and he had a couple of bleeders fall in. And there's your cycle. No indication that he's made any adjustments, no reason to think another big slump isn't in his future. Meanwhile, there's a guy at AAA who gets on base 44% of the time and hits the cutoff man. Until I see a change in his approach, I don't think Gomez is the most effective guy in the system to be getting more ABs than any other player. No matter how good he looks when he's hot.

Livan on the Edge

Twins 5, Royals 0

Tonight's game was a lot closer than it appeared, though the Twins were leading big from the 2nd inning on. The Royals helped them out with a misplayed fly ball in the Twins' 4-run inning. Had Teahen made a routine catch, the only run that inning would have scored on Span's first Major-League RBI. Instead, Gomez got a 2-run double, and scored on a single from the white-hot Matt Tolbert. All 3 RBI hits came with 2 outs.

On the other side of the ball, Livan was very fortunate to get through the first 5 innings with no runs allowed. This was especially true in the 5th, when the Royals loaded the bases with one out. Teahen's single was so hard-hit right at Span that the Royals elected not to send the runner home from 2nd. Hernandez then got Guillen to chase a curve ball out of the zone, and retired Billy Butler on a weak grounder. Scouts take note: apparently, the only way to get Butler out is to throw him 60-MPH curve balls.

Luckily, things worked out for the Twins, and they're back to .500 and within 1 game of the division lead. Hopefully Boof Bonser can get more than 1 run of support tomorrow in a re-match of last Sunday's loss.

Span vs. Gomez

Pretty good night for both guys, though, as it was in spring training, Gomez comes out looking better. As I said, Teahen really helped him out in the 2nd, but he hustled all night and hit some balls hard on 2-strike pitches, something we've seen very little of so far. He came within a borderline call of making it 2 games in a row in which he and Young both drew walks. Span was a borderline call away from a 1-3 line. But he picked up his first RBI and OF assist (Butler needs to just be happy he's on first base vs. our OF), and he had another couple of 6-pitch ABs. Gomez had some longer ABs tonight, and Young, for that matter. Maybe Tolbert and Span are rubbing off on them.

Other thoughts:

Lousy night for Mauer, Kubel, and Lamb (2 of whom are on my fantasy team), although Mauer had a couple of hard-hit balls.

Jesse Crain wasn't out there very long, but he looked fantastic. His fastball was in the mid-90s, and his slider was sharp. He's back!

Kevin Slowey was finally placed on the DL, and Liriano is coming up to start on Sunday. He'll probably be a little rough at first, command-wise, but the Royals aren't walking very much, so maybe they'll help him out. It will be exciting to have him back in any event!

I hope Slowey is able to make a quick recovery. He was the best pitcher in AAA last season, and looked ready to take the next step this spring. When he's finally healthy, the Twins will be in great position to deal Hernandez at the top of his value and perhaps upgrade one of the infield positions.

For as sluggish as the Twins have started, they find themselves in better position than some of their more formidable rivals. With their best baseball still ahead of them, it's not a bad position to be in.

Really Not That Bad

I was watching today's game on MLB.TV, an interesting hybrid cast between Dick & Bert and the Pirates' commentators. They interviewed Mientkiewicz in the dugout, and it was fun to hear him say that he sometimes ribs Pierzynski: "You're good, but you're not worth Nathan, Bonser and Liriano." So true.

Kevin Slowey was really good today. Never mind the box score line (5 IP, 4 ER, 6H). He retired the first 11 batters before Jason Bay served a 2-strike single into center. The next batter, LaRoche, hit a line drive to CF that was utterly misplayed by Monroe - he took a step forward, froze, then recovered enough for the ball to just get over his glove for an RBI double. I've seen Gomez miss that play this spring, but I'd like to think he would have caught it. The next batter grounded a single to right, and Cuddyer came up throwing, so I figured the inning was over. But the throw was about 15 feet up the third baseline, so the run scored, and the batter advanced to second. A normal Cuddyer throw would have easily had LaRoche at the plate. The next batter lined a single to right, scoring the man from second.

In the 5th, our old friend Luis Rivas led off with a blooper to center that just dropped in between Punto, Harris and Monroe. Punto tipped the ball just after it bounced, knocking it away from Monroe and allowing Rivas to reach second. Pitcher Ian Snell was next up, and he bunted hard back to Slowey, who whirled and threw to third, but Rivas was already there. He really should thrown it to first. With runners at the corners and nobody out, Slowey struck out McClouth looking with a terrific fastball tailing over the inside corner (a la Greg Maddux). Then the Pirates put the squeeze on, and the Twins had to take the out at first while Rivas scored.

Slowey has had pretty shaky defense behind him for three starts in a row and it finally caught up to him. Without the Twins giving the Pirates extra outs and bases, Slowey could have very easily gotten through his work today with no runs allowed. It certainly should have been fewer than 4. Basically, I'm not concerned, and I think he's going to be dynamite in the rotation this year.

Most of the Twins hitters were smacking it around pretty well today. The exception, alas, was Nick Punto, 0-4 with a walk and 3 strikeouts, 2 of them looking. I heard that Morneau had stayed behind today to get extra ABs with the minor leaguers - maybe Punto should do that too.