Hope

Twins 2, Mariners 5

Twins 2, Mariners 1

We're 1/4 of the way through the season. This 13-27 stretch is the worst since the 2001 Twins came out of the All-Star break 11-30. But don't write them off just yet. There was some very encouraging news coming out of Tuesday night's recap. First, feast your eyes on this beauty:

7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

For the 1st time all season, Francisco Liriano pitched like he's supposed to. I know the Mariners aren't much better at hitting than the Twins are. But opposing lineups haven't been hitting Liriano too much lately. They've been walking. In this game, Liriano showed both improved control (17/26 batters faced started with strike 1) and a killer instinct once he got them to 2 strikes. Where has that been all season? Well... look at his stats by catcher:

Mauer - 7.71 ERA, 7.7 BB/9, 7.7 K/9

Rivera - 1.29 ERA, 1.3 BB/9, 11.6 K/9

Butera - 6.84 ERA, 6.5 BB/9, 4.4 K/9

Small sample sizes all. Liriano has been horribly erratic, and he'll have to limit the walks if he's going to succeed going forward. But it appears that Butera isn't calling the game in such a way that would elicit swinging strikes. Looking at the staff as a whole:

Mauer - 4.04 ERA, 5.9 K/9, 3.7 BB/9

Rivera - 3.45 ERA, 9.3 K/9, 4.1 BB/9

Holm - 5.44 ERA, 6.1 K/9, 3.3 BB/9

Butera - 5.58 ERA, 5.2 K/9, 4.1 BB/9

When Butera is behind the plate, all Twins pitchers have a terrible K/BB ratio. I actually find that very encouraging. As terrificly as Liriano and Nick Blackburn have done with Rivera behind the plate, I would think Gardy would want to keep that chemistry going. Since Butera and Rivera are both hitting horribly, why not go with the guy who's getting good pitching performances? And Joe Mauer will return some day. When he does, the K/BB ratio will improve, making the pitching better even as the catching spot is transformed from an automatic out into a .400+ OBP. Maybe seeing Butera outplayed by a replacement-level journeyman will help Bill Smith realize how badly the Twins need a proper backup C, and he'll do what it takes to get one.

Jason Repko started his rehab assignment yesterday, and went 2 for 5 with a HR. He will soon take the place of Ben Revere and his .167 OBP. Jim Thome is swinging the bat in Florida and should return within a week. Soon he'll be the one pinch-hitting for Rivera and Butera and Casilla. Delmon Young was rushed back too soon (evidently, a dozen or so PA against Rookie-ball pitching doesn't prepare you to face the likes of Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Michael Pineda), but he'll find his stroke soon enough. Tsuyoshi Nishioka is running in Florida and within a couple of weeks will be sending Matt Tolbert's and Casilla's sub-.250 OBPs out of the starting lineup. Danny Valencia is playing very well, just having unsustainably bad luck. Michael Cuddyer doesn't seem like he's doing much, but look at this:

Cuddyer 2008-2010: .269/.337/.451

Cuddyer since 4/12/11: .298/.360/.439

Once he made up the 30 or so PA he missed in spring training, he's played as well as we had any right to expect. Though his power has been lacking, and he hasn't done much with RISP, he's far from a liability.

This lineup is destined to score more runs, which brings me to the best news of all:

The Twins have been held to 3 or fewer runs in 28 of 40 games, and are 4-24 in those games.

Isn't that fantastic? That means the Twins are 9-3 in games in which they score at least 4 runs. (And 2 of the 3 losses were blown saves!) A .750 winning percentage can turn this season around very quickly, especially with the schedule lightening up a bit. They just have to score one more R/G. And they will.

Every team goes the rough spells. Look at the way the Rays and Red Sox started the season. Look at the way the Yankees are playing now. But every team has periods of prolonged success, as well. The 2001 team that was bad enough to go 11-30 was also good enough to start the season 29-12. A surge like that would get the Twins back over .500 by the mid-point of the season. And the '01 Twins weren't the only ones to have hot streaks:

2002: Beginning on June 30th, the Twins went 24-7.

2003: Coming out of the break, the Twins went 45-20 to take the division title.

2004: From August 15th to September 16th, the Twins went 23-7 to take the division title.

2005: They began the season 35-22 before fading to just over .500 when it was all over.

2006: Beginning June 8th, the Twins finished the season 71-33 to steal the division on the last day.

2007: From May 22nd through July 15th, the Twins had a 29-19 run.

2008: From June 16th to the end of August, they went 45-25.

2009: The Twins went 17-4 over the final 3 weeks to steal the division in game 163.

2010: Starting one game after the ASB, they went 46-17 to wrap up the division with 10 games yet to play.

Every Twins team for a decade has had a period of sustained winning. Any of those periods, applied to the 2011 team, would turn the season around.

The good times are coming. Will it be too late when they arrive?

Missed Trip

Last Monday morning, I took my wife to the hospital for an induction - our OB was going on vacation on Wednesday, and you don't want to go the distance with one guy just to have his sub handle the most important part at the end. There was Wi-Fi in the Labor and Delivery ward, but somehow I never really got around to it.

Our son, Daniel, was born just after lunch on Tuesday. He was 10 pounds even. My wife pushed him out in 5 minutes with no drugs. She is Wonder Woman. Daniel has huge hands and a long frame. Scouts are already buzzing about how projectable he is. Fingers crossed that he turns out to be left handed.

There were Twins games. I only read the box scores and the write-ups. In short:

Twins 0, Rangers 4

Great job by Nick Blackburn: 7 IP, 8 H, 0 BB 5 K. 3 of the H didn't make it out of the IF, and he allowed only one XBH. That's the guy we all know and love.

And least it wasn't a no-hitter.

Twins 3, Rangers 4

Not enough hitting, though still a game the Twins should have won - another ball dropped between OF, extending an inning in which the Rangers scored 2 with 2 out. A microcosm of Denard Span's difficult season: that OF miscue, plus an 0-4 that included a liner to the pitcher and a diving grab of a liner in CF. Not enough balls fall in when he's hitting, too many fall in when he's fielding.

Twins 3, Rangers 4

Needed a big hit from Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young or Jason Repko. Brian Duensing had a rare game in which he couldn't keep the ball in the yard.

Twins 6, Rangers 4

Ah, there were the big hits from Cuddyer and Young. Superb start from Francisco Liriano: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Matt Guerrier still looks a little shaky.

Twins 6, Mariners 3

Everybody hits! (Except Drew Butera.) Another QS from Scott Baker.

Twins 1, Mariners 0

Nobody hits! But neither do the Mariners, as Nick Blackburn comes within 1 out of a 2 H CG shutout. That was 8.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K. I could get used to that. Newly acquired LHP Brian Fuentes gets the save instead of Matt Capps.

Twins 1, Mariners 2

Nobody hits! This time the Mariners bunch 3 of their 5 H together around some shaky defense by the Twins. Another very good start from Pavano wasted.

The Twins scored just 20 R in the 7 games of this trip. Like their week in the AL West in early June, they left their bats at home, yet still came back with 3 wins. Not too bad, considering.

The White Sox finished the week 3-3, meaning that the Twins gave back half a game in the standings, but reduced their magic number by 6 to 28 with 31 games to play.

Streaking

Twins 5, Mariners 3

The Twins capitalized on a couple of extra outs the Mariners gave them early, getting a 2-out dinger from Jim Thome in the 2nd after Michael Cuddyer reached on an error, then another run when JJ Hardy scored on what should have been the 3rd out of the 3rd. Alexi Casilla continued to play like Orlando Hudson, smacking a 2-run HR in the 5th.

The addition of Matt Capps to the bullpen paid immediate dividends. Scott Baker didn't exactly cruise through the first 5 innings, but he hadn't allowed a run, and his pitch count was in great shape. But when the 6th inning started double-single-walk-strikeout-double, Gardy gave Baker a quick hook at 86 pitches. He didn't have to bring in a rookie or a middling long reliever. He brought in Jesse Crain, usually a 7th or 8th inning guy, to put out the fire in the 6th. He, Jose Mijares, Matt Guerrier and Capps combined to complete the game with just 2 H allowed in 3.2 IP with 3 K.

As for Capps' debut: 2 quick outs, a baserunner, then finish the job. Kind of like what Jon Rauch often did.

Twins 4, Mariners 0

Just as they did against Zach Greinke on Monday, the Twins ambushed Seattle ace Felix Hernandez in the 1st inning. Just 12 pitches and 8 swings into the game, the Twins were ahead 3-0 thanks to a sequence of triple-single-triple-double from Casilla, Joe Mauer, Delmon Young and Thome with 1 out. Unlike Monday, Hernandez recovered, and the Twins were pretty much stymied the rest of the way.

That early outburst was plenty, though, because the Mariners are terrible at hitting, and Kevin Slowey was really on his game. He cruised through 8 scoreless innings, giving up just 3 H and 0 BB while striking out 5, including Ichiro 3 times. With his pitch count at 103 and a 4-run lead, I was disappointed to see him lifted for Mijares in the 9th. It's not that I don't believe in pitch counts, but I don't think there's a lot of evidence that 100 should be the cutoff. And I certainly think managers should be ready to extend them when someone is pitching as well as Slowey was. Especially when the score isn't terribly close.

Twins 5, Mariners 0

Francisco Liriano has found his groove, and it's a beautiful thing to see. For the 3rd straight game, he went 7 IP with 0 R allowed, this time with just 2 H, 2 BB and 11 K. And when the Mariners did put the ball in play, they beat it into the ground for 9 of 10 outs. Rauch and Guerrier joined in the fun, each pitching a perfect inning with 2 K to complete the 2-hitter with a team total of 15 K.

I was worried for a while that it would be for naught, as the Twins were kept off the board for 5 innings by nondescript LHP Luke French. He had allowed just 3 H heading into the 6th, but the Twins finally caught him the 3rd time through the order. Once again, Casilla keyed the rally, as 5 straight reached: single-double-IBB-double-single. The 2nd double came from Jason Kubel, a drive off the wall in deep right center. Interesting decision for a manager putting Cuddyer on to face him. He has a lot of trouble against lefties (.662 OPS), but kicks ass with the bases loaded (1.146 OPS). Much bigger sample against lefties, of course.

This concludes a string of 13 straight games against the four worst teams in the league. The Twins came through it awfully well, going 10-3 while outscoring their opponents 80-32 with 4 shutouts. Good teams have to clean up against bad teams, just as the Tigers and White Sox did in June. Next, the Twins get to see how they fare against the very best in Tampa. They head there on an 8-game winning streak and 13 games over .500, both season highs.

One is the Loneliest Number

Twins 5, Mariners 4

Twins 1, Mariners 7

Twins 1, Mariners 2 (10 innings)

Twins 1, Mariners 4

Living in California, you'd think it'd be easier for me to follow the West Coast games in detail. Nope. Between eating dinner and getting the baby bathed and ready for bed, most of the time between 7-10 PM Pacific Time is already spoken for. So I was only able to give cursory attention to these games. Here's what struck me:

• 6 of the 8 R the Twins scored in this series came on HR. The Mariners scored 6 R in the series on outs, wild pitches and IF H. Odd to see the Twins get so completely out small-balled. The Mariners made them look like the White Sox.
• What does it say about Target Field that the Twins could come to a pitcher's park like Safeco and rip 5 HR in 3 games - more than they managed in 9 games on the last home stand?
• Wednesday night's game was pivotal. The Mariners have been a disappointment this year, but not because they haven't delivered outstanding pitching and defense. With back-to-back games against Cy Young caliber pitchers like Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, every run is crucial. Not just on the scoring side, but on the prevention side, as well. Obviously, the game ended on a bad call, and the Twins should have had an opportunity to win it with the top of the order coming up in the 11th. But they could have won it 1-0 in regulation had they not allowed Milton Bradley, who had 1 SB coming into the game, to steal 2nd and 3rd in the 5th inning. He came home on a SF, so all they had to do was keep a guy who isn't much of a base-stealing threat from running his way into scoring position and Slowey and the gang could have had a combined shutout. That was a bit of a mental letdown, and against a pitcher like Lee, those can be costly.
• Great to see Slowey complete 7 IP, though. Now, do it again.
• The Twins game wasn't the only one that ended on a missed call by the umpires. The Tigers' Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game on a similar play in Detroit. I've never seen the harm in expanding instant replay. Some say it will lengthen the games, but the players and managers already waste a bunch of time arguing close calls, so I doubt getting an official ruling from the replay booth would add much to that. Especially if they add a 5th umpire to the crews so that the other guys wouldn't have to leave the field. I can think of 4 losses since last year's All-Star break that might have gone differently for the Twins with replay in effect. If it's implemented quickly, there would be some kinks to work out, but I bet the system would be running pretty smoothly by next year and routinely by 2012.
• Michael Cuddyer finally got a day off because he needed to be with his wife's family after the passing of his father-in-law. Really, it will be four days off. I guess that means that, when he comes back, he'll be good until the All-Star break.
• Danny Valencia was called up to replace Cuddyer on the roster. Like everyone else this year, he collected a H in his first PA.

It doesn't feel good to lose to a team with as crappy a record as the Mariners. But the Twins are without one of their primary table-setters in Orlando Hudson, while Denard Span is going through a cold spell. And they were facing some of the best pitching in the league. And they can say with some plausibility that, if it hadn't been for the umps, they might have walked away from Seattle with a split. Let's see how the offense does in Oakland against a similarly good pitching/weak hitting team. With a strong weekend, there's still time to make this into a good road trip.

Catching Up

A lot has gone on since my last post, so I'll try to hit the highlights quickly:

Despite allowing just 7 R in 28 IP vs. the Mariners, the Twins dropped 2 out of 3 games, thanks to scoring only 5 R themselves. That can happen when Denard Span, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau combine for just a handful of hits in the series and the rest of the lineup is weak.

Another tough outing for Anthony Swarzak as he lost all control on Monday night in Oakland. Meanwhile, Glen Perkins pitched 7 shutout innings in his last rehab start with Fort Myers, so it's a foregone conclusion that he'll be recalled next week. However, since Perkins' scheduled game was rained out on Monday, it looks like Swarzak will get one more chance on Saturday against the Cubs. I'm sure he'll fare better than he has in his last 2 outings. Either way, I don't think it's been any worse a first stint in the Majors than what Kevin Slowey was able to do in June of 2007, and he's turned out OK.

Alexi Casilla has surely banished himself to the minors again with his shaky fielding in Tuesday night's horrible 9th inning. It makes more sense for him to get regular playing time in Rochester and have Matt Tolbert be the bench guy when Nick Punto returns on Friday anyway. It looks as though Punto will slide over to 2B in order to keep Brendan Harris' bat in the lineup. It should be an upgrade over Casilla or Tolbert, so I guess we can live the limited range.

I hope Span isn't out too long with his dizziness. There is no obvious replacement for him at the top of the lineup.

Carlos Gutierrez was promoted to New Britain last week, the third high-profile promotion within the system after Rob Delaney and Steve Tolleson moved up to Rochester. There are still others that need to move, however: Anthony Slama and Danny Valencia ought to get the call to AAA, and Spencer Steedley and Joe Testa should advance a level as well. A lot of these names are relievers who are old for their levels - they ought to be placed in a league that challenges them, moving through the system more aggressively than some of the younger guys.

There is a dearth of middle-infield depth in the Twins' system, especially at SS, but the Twins used their 4 early-round draft picks on college pitchers. Most analysts were keen on the picks, particularly first-rounder Kyle Gibson, a top-10 (if not top-5) talent who slid to #22 because of a stress fracture in his forearm that cost him significant velocity in his final college starts. The Twins' doctors believe that he will make a full recovery in just a few weeks. (Of course, they also didn't initially think that Francisco Liriano or Pat Neshek would need surgery, and look what happened there.) Still, if all goes well, the Twins could wind up with the steal of the first round. The other guys have the potential to move quickly through the system. And the Twins drafted plenty of MI on day 2, including Gopher 2B Derek McCallum.

25 Good Innings

Twins 11, Mariners 0
Twins 9, Mariners 6
Mariners 5, Twins 3

The Twins came within 2 innings of a weekend sweep in which they never trailed - quite a departure from the first couple weeks of the season. Some observations from the series:

Last season I predicted that Joe Mauer would have a breakout year in the HR department because, with his legs back under him, all those warning track outs to left-center would have just enough extra on them to carry into the seats. It didn't happen in 2008, but so far he has 3 HR in his first 33 AB of 2009, all of them just over the wall in left-center. Mauer has been all-around awesome since coming off the DL. He'll cool off, of course, but there's no reason to think that this can't be his best ever OPS season. Provided he stays healthy, of course.

Right behind him is Justin Morneau, who twice followed Mauer's HR to left with blasts to RF, and came very close to having a 3rd straight game with a HR when his 3rd-inning drive on Sunday hit the top corner of the baggie in deep right-center. (That makes 2 balls from Morneau so far this season that would have been out just about everywhere but the Metrodome.)

As well as those two are swinging, I think it's time to move Cuddyer up in the order, if not between them, then certainly right after Morneau. For Cuddyer, the signal of whether or not he's seeing the ball well is his walk rate, which has been through the roof in recent weeks.

Scott Baker finally put it all together. He was so close to that level in his previous start - his failure last Sunday was in allowing all his hits consecutively - that I feel pretty confident that he's ready to resume his position as the Twins most consistent starter.

Did Francisco Liriano's outing on Saturday remind anybody of Baker's the previous week? He only made it once through the order without a hit, but it still fell apart awfully quickly. Thank goodness he got plenty of run support.

Nick Blackburn has, for the most part, been pretty good about following a poor start with a good one. That was the case again on Sunday, when he pitched his best all-around game of the season, allowing only 5 H and 1 BB in 7 IP with 6 K - nearly matching Baker's outing. I was impressed with how Blackburn was able to pitch out of a runners at the corners with no out jam early in the game.

With Blackburn at 99 pitches and lefties Ichiro and Griffey Jr. due up in the 8th, it made sense to go to the LHP 8th inning guy, Jose Mijares. He was scored upon for the second straight outing, in this case on a game-tying HR to Griffey. Griffey, by the way, is slugging .611 vs. the Twins this year, and just .317 vs. everybody else. Jesse Crain came on and failed to retire a batter, including sending a run home on a WP. The first batter he faced was Adrian Beltre. He's sluggling .680 vs. the Twins, but just .243 vs. everyone else. So what does everybody else know that the Twins pitchers don't?

Sunday was a rare example of a game in which the team that threw drastically more pitches managed to win. I love that the Twins, having chased Seattle's starters early on in the first two games of the series, were able to grind Erik Bedard out of the game with 110 pitches thrown in just 4.2 IP. It's a credit to Bedard's abilities that he was able to limit the damage to just 2 runs. Anyway, that kind of patient approach is going to pay dividends if the Twins will keep it up in future games.

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.

Stay 'til the End

Twins 6, Mariners 5
Wow, what a comeback! Trailing 5-3 with the bases empty and 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, 5 straight Twins batters reached, capped by Alexi Casilla's walk-off, 2-run single to center (reminiscent of the last game of the White Sox series last fall). Gardy made judicious use of his bench, getting PH walks from Jason Kubel (for Jose Morales) and Brian Buscher (for Nick Punto), and sending in Brendan Harris to run for Kubel. The inning was made possible thanks to marvelous AB from Carlos Gomez and Buscher, each of whom fouled off a few tough 3-2 pitches while managing to lay off everything out of the strike zone.

After scuffling through an anemic spring at the plate, did anyone need a couple of Dome-ball infield choppers more than Denard Span? I still haven't seen him hit a line drive, yet he's managed to open the season reaching base in 5 of 9 AB, with a sacrifice, SB, and a couple of RBI. He's also made a difference in the field.

The biggest break the Twins got in this game came in the 5th inning, when plate umpire Chuck Merriweather elected to call Erik Bedard's 2-2 pitch to Michael Cuddyer a ball. It looked to me like it had the inside corner at the belt. I couldn't tell the difference between that pitch and the first strike to Span in the 9th. Anyway, the AB continued, and 2 pitches later Cuddyer lined a 2-run single to get the Twins back in the game.

On the pitching and defense side of things, it obviously wasn't a very good night for Nick Blackburn command-wise. He walked 3 batters, something he did in only 5 of his 33 starts last season, and he went to 3-ball counts on several other hitters. He seemed to be overly reverent of Ken Griffey, Jr., especially since he was able to pop him up with RISP in the first inning. A lot of the hits Blackburn gave up were merely well-placed, with Franklin Gutierrez' double in the 1st the only big mistake that comes to mind.

Blackburn was victimized by some poor tactics in the 3rd and 4th. Endy Chavez reached with one out in the 3rd, showing that Span wasn't the only speedy leadoff hitter who could take advantage of the bouncy Dome turf. Nothing anybody could do about that bouncer over Justin Morneau's head. On the other hand, it came on an 0-2 count, so why was Morneau still playing even with the bag? Did they think Chavez would bunt with 2 strikes? Chavez got huge jumps on Blackburn on consecutive 1-2 pitches to Gutierrez back in the first inning, so somebody in the Twins dugout should have been expecting him to run. And run he did, taking off just as Blackburn began to lift his foot. No throw over to keep him honest? Then, with 2 out and Chavez on 2nd, Blackburn basically pitched around Griffey to get to Adrian Beltre. Again, I'm not sure he needs to be so chicken of Griffey there. Beltre lined the first pitch into CF for an RBI single.

In the 4th, after 2 were quickly retired, Blackburn gave up a check swing groundball single and a floater just over the head of Punto into short left. Delmon Young attempted to get the runner advancing to 3rd, rather throwing to 2nd to keep the batter at 1st. Both runners advanced into scoring position, and Chavez was able to squeak another ball through the IF for a 2-run single.

The defense saved the day in the 5th, however. After another wussy walk to Griffey leading off, Blackburn got Beltre to pop out, then gave up a liner down the RF line to Russell Branyan. Span streaked into the corner to cut it off, not only preventing Griffey from scoring, but keeping Branyan at 1B. That kept the DP in order, which the Twins managed to turn when Punto ranged about 4 steps to his right, then fired immediately behind him to Casilla for the force, and Casilla unloaded just as quickly to Morneau for the 3rd out. If anybody hesitates at all, a run scores there. The defensive play of the season (so far)!

White Sox 4, Royals 2
Two things happened in this game that I predicted we would rarely see in 2009: the Sox got a late game-winning HR, and the Royals lost a game they were leading after 7 innings. Of course, KC manager Trey Hillman didn't exactly use the formula I was anticipating when I made that prediction.

His first mistake was pulling veteran workhorse Gil Meche after 7 IP. Meche had allowed just 1 R on 7 H with 0 BB and 6 K, and had thrown just 91 pitches, an average of 13/IP. Over the past 3 seasons, Meche has averaged about 104 pitches/GS, right where he was on pace to be after 8 IP, and he said after the game that he told his manager he was OK to pitch the 8th. But Hillman has some sparkly new bullpen guys on his roster, so why not try out your lockdown 8th-9th inning duo of Juan Cruz and Joakim Soria. Wait a minute, that's not Cruz coming into the game, it's...

Kyle Farnsworth?

Whoops.

Farnsworth has a 4.54 ERA and 1.44 WHIP while allowing 1.54 HR/9 over the last 3 seasons. Did he get the call because he's a Kansas native? Who knows. After allowing 2 men to reach, Farnsworth did manage to strikeout Carlos Quentin for the 2nd out, bringing up Jim Thome. Even in the twilight of his career, Thome has managed to put up a 1.053 OPS vs. RHP over the last 3 seasons. Don't the Royals have any lefties in the 'pen? Sure, they've got Ron Mahay, who's allowed only a .681 OPS vs. lefties since 2006, and part of that was in the hitters haven of Texas. How about bringing in Soria for a 4-out save? He's allowed only a .495 OPS vs. lefties in his brief career.

Nope, let's stick with Farnsworth.

Ding!

Dumb, dumb, dumb. The Royals have a tough enough hill to climb this season without their manager screwing things up. As I've said to myself so many times over the last several years, I'm glad I'm not a Royals fan.

Opening Night

Mariners 6, Twins 1
Seattle starter Felix Hernandez is a good pitcher. Even worse, he's in the habit of pitching extra well in April. That meant that Francisco Liriano's margin of error for this game was going to be very thin. And he was good, on the whole, allowing only 4 baserunners in 7 IP with 3 K and 0 BB (I'd love to see him get in the habit of avoiding walks). Unfortunately, all four baserunners he allowed scored, thanks to 2 HR and a leadoff double in the 2nd. One of the HR came from Ken Griffey, Jr. That's a nice feel-good story for baseball fans, but seeing Liriano yield a HR to a guy who slugged .350 vs. LHP last season made me feel bad.

We got our first look at the Twins' bullpen, and it was more of the same. Luis Ayala's debut with the club went fine, but Jesse Crain walked the first batter he faced before retiring the next 2 in the 9th. Gardy decided to try out Craig Breslow in his new, Dennys Reyes role vs. Griffey Jr, and the result emulated the worst of Reyes' outings: 4 straight balls, walk the lefty, hand the ball to Gardy. I was perhaps unfairly nervous to find Matt Guerrier coming into the game at that point. Mike Redmond allowed a passed ball to put both runners in scoring position, and Jose Lopez bounced a single through the left side to put the game out of reach.

Offensively, I wasn't expecting a lot, but the game got off to a great start with a walk from Denard Span and a single from Alexi Casilla. After Michael Cuddyer struck out (oh, if only Mauer had been there), Justin Morneau was robbed of a hit when his bouncer up the middle was deflected by Hernandez to Lopez and Morneau was incorrectly called out at first. What a different tone that might have set for the game - even if Jason Kubel's subsequent AB had proceeded exactly the same way, the pitch he struck out on would have been a WP scoring Span with the game's first run. Morneau hit again with the bases loaded in the 5th, following Cuddyer's RBI single, and promptly hit into an inning-ending DP. The Twins wouldn't get another baserunner vs. Hernandez.

My biggest positive from the game was the performance of Denard Span. He drew 2 BB and laid down a sacrifice, and looked great covering ground in LF. A few more games like that and I can forget about his March struggles. And Joe Crede got his first hit, a gift from the official scorer on a ball that should have been handled by Adrian Beltre.

Not the way I wanted to see the season start, but Hernandez is well on his way to being an elite pitcher. Liriano was just out-pitched tonight.

Blue Jays 12, Tigers 5
What's happened to Justin Verlander? How demoralizing to get 5 runs off Halladay and still lose by 7.

Rangers 9, Indians 1
Cliff Lee my butt.

Down and Up

Mariners 3, Twins 2
Twins 6, Mariners 5
A's 3, Twins 2
Twins 12, A's 2

I missed most of the last 4 games while burying myself in research on childhood vaccinations (my daughter will be 2 months old next week) and the Democratic National Convention (mostly boring, though I really liked Bill Clinton's speech). Looks like I missed out on a whole bunch of excruciating Twins baseball!

What's most frustrating is this: thanks to tonight's blowout, the Twins actually outscored their opponents 32-29 over the last week, but went just 2-5. Couldn't they have had just one of those 12 runs tonight moved to last night, when Joe Nathan could have pitched the 9th inning instead of the reeling Jesse Crain (who has been on the mound when the winning runs scored in 3 of the 5 losses this week)? How about moving one of them over to Monday, giving Joe Nathan enough cushion to overcome Adrian Beltre's leadoff double? If you've ever wondered how the Indians could be (until very recently) so far under .500 despite having a positive run differential, this past week is your answer. What a drag to have to endure that for 5 months instead of just one week!

Thankfully, Denard Span came up with a big throw to the plate on Wednesday afternoon, or this road trip would already be a total disaster. As it is, the Twins are still running uphill at 4-5. But the A's are a terrible offensive team, and the Twins' starting pitching has been solid (2.78 ERA in 58.1 IP on the trip so far), so it shouldn't take too many runs to get a couple more wins this weekend.

One of the reasons the Twins struggled to score runs earlier in the week was the disappearance of Joe Mauer. Coming into Friday's game he was just 6-28 on the road trip. He busted out with a career-high 5 hits, knocking in 4 runs while he was at it. He's got to be productive for the offense to work. The other key is Justin Morneau, and he appears to breaking out of the slump that bewitched him for most of the month. He's hitting .443 over the last 6 games, with at least one double in each.

One very encouraging sign: despite their troubles over the past week, the Twins remain just 0.5 games behind the White Sox, who have an identical 30-36 road record. That means that, for all the time away from home the Twins have to spend the rest of the season, the White Sox will match them game for game. They also have to play the Angels - baseball's winningest road team - at home. It's been a bad week on the road for the Twins, but it's not a disaster yet.

Extra Tough

Mariner 4, Twins 2 (11 innings)

As I was on my way to logging into MLB.TV last night, I saw the headline that the Twins had acquired our old friend, Eddie Guardado, from Texas in exchange for minor league pitcher Mark Hamburger. Eddie has been solid for the Rangers this season, posting a respectable ERA and BAA in one of the better hitting environments in the league. I hoped he would be able to make it to Seattle in time!

He did, and trotted out to protect a 1-run lead in the 8th inning - the situation the Twins have had so much trouble with since Pat Neshek was lost to injury. Eddie did his job, needing only 11 pitches (9 strikes) to set the top of the Mariners' lineup down in order on 3 pop-ups. At last, the bullpen had held the lead for Joe Nathan in the 9th!

So, of course, Nathan blew the save. After getting Adrian Beltre right where he wanted him at 1-2, he left an outside slider too far up, and Beltre blasted it to the gap in right center for a leadoff double. The Twins needed a strikeout of Jose Lopez, and Nathan gave it everything he had, but Lopez spoiled quality pitches away, up and in before finally hitting a slow roller to short. Beltre boldly headed for 3rd, and I don't think Nick Punto could have thrown him out there even if he'd fielded the ball cleanly. Lopez beat out an IF hit earlier in the game, so I don't know that Punto would have been able to get him at first either. Anyway, Punto bobbled the ball, and Beltre trotted home with the tying run as the next batter hit into a DP.

I don't know why the Mariners should be kryptonite for the Twins' bullpen, but they've done some damage in just about every game this season. Beltre had been 2 for 22 vs. Nathan and 1 for 7 vs. Jesse Crain, but last night he was able to tag them for a double and HR, respectively. Ugh.

Francisco Liriano pitched another solid game, allowing just 1 R on 5 H and 1 BB in 6 IP. He only had 3 K - he didn't seem to have much of a slider working, and the Mariners were able to foul off a ton of pitches. But once again, he kept the Twins in the game. The only run he allowed never should have happened: the Twins had catcher Jamie Burke caught off first in a botched hit and run. A good throw to first from Alexi Casilla would have beaten him easily. Instead, he short-hopped the throw, and it skipped off Morneau's glove and into the stands for a 2-base error. With the corner infielders pulled in, Miguel Cairo's grounder over third scooted past Brian Buscher for an RBI double.

There was not nearly enough from the Twins' offense in this game. Miguel Batista came into the game with an ERA around 6.50, yet was able to hold the Twins to just 1 R in 6 IP. He was abetted by home plate umpire James Hoye's absurdly wide strike zone: none of the 6 pitches in Joe Mauer's 6th inning K was within 3 inches of the outside corner, yet the first 2 were called strikes. Ichiro Suzuki also made a perfect throw to the plate on Brian Buscher's 2-out single in the 5th to cut down Delmon Young trying to score. The three hitters who have been the hottest for the Twins over the past couple of weeks, Denard Span, Punto and Mauer, combined to go 0-13 with 2 BB and 3 K.

It only took the front office 130 games, but the acquisition of Guardado finally addressed the last of the Twins' needs. They have 5 quality starters, a solid back end of the bullpen, and a productive lineup. The team is now, on paper, the best it's been all season. It should be enough to keep them in the running - they've just got to quit making so many mistakes.

This Seattle series is the softest piece of this road trip. It's very difficult to win 3 of 4 away from home, and they can't expect to win 2 of 3 at Toronto the way the Jays have been playing lately. That makes the next 2 games must wins for the Twins.

Did We Win?

Twins 9, Mariners 3
Twins 7, Mariners 6
Twins 11, Mariners 8

First, the good news:

The Twins completed a home sweep of the AL's worst team, improving to 17-11 since the All-Star Break, and 12-4 at home. They need to rack up all the home wins they can right now, and so far they're 5-1 on the home stand with Oakland about to come stumbling in to town. Must win that series as well.

The offense scored 7 or more runs on 12 or more hits, including a HR, in each game. Altogether there were 27 runs, 40 hits, 11 doubles, 3 HR and 17 BB against just 7 K. That is a monumentally awesome performance, and they needed every bit of it.

Jason Kubel led the onslaught by going 8-10 with 2 doubles, a HR and 6 RBI. His pinch-hit RBI single in the 8th inning on Saturday night brought the Twins back to even, setting up the winning rally in the 9th. He was so hot Gardy even gave him a start against a LHP on Sunday - and he went 2-2 off the guy!

The series also brought some signs of life to some of the folks in the lineup who'd been slumping recently. Nick Punto went 6-14 with 3 doubles and 2 BB to raise his August OPS up to .675. Justin Morneau went 4-9 with a double, HR and 4 BB to raise his August OPS to .676. You might say, "Those OPS totals aren't that impressive." Yeah, well, you should have seen them three days ago!

Francisco Liriano had his best start of the year so far. He finished 7 innings, allowing 0 ER on just 2 H and 2 BB with 5 K. So far, he hasn't fallen off too far from the sort of performances he was putting up in AAA.

Scott Baker and Glen Perkins were great, too. For 5 innings.

And now, the bad news:

Baseball games last 9 innings, and from the 6th inning on, the Twins allowed 15 of the 17 runs the Mariners got in the series - 14 just on Saturday and Sunday. After cruising through 5 IP, both Baker and Perkins hit the wall hard in the 6th. Baker allowed 3 H and a BB to the first 5 batters of the inning before being replaced by Jesse Crain. Perkins managed to finish the 6th, but not before allowing 3 HR. His location drifted from the corners to the center of the plate, and even the Mariners know what to do with that.

So, bring in the bullpen (gulp!). Crain struck out the first man he faced, then gave up a walk and double to allow the 4th run of the inning. Craig Breslow came in with 2 men in scoring position and allowed the only hit of his otherwise solid relief stint, letting 2 more runs come in. Suddenly, in one trip through the order, a 5-0 lead had turned into a 6-5 deficit.

On Sunday, Boof Bonser was given a 10-4 lead to start the 7th inning. As is all too common with him, he allowed the first 2 batters to reach, and they came around to score, cutting the 6-run lead to 4. After 3 days off to "clear his head," Matt Guerrier was brought in to pitch the 8th. He got one out, but then BB, double, BB and he was off to the showers leaving a mess for Dennys Reyes. I won't criticize Reyes for allowing 2 infield hits (one a bunt single from Ichiro) - at least he didn't throw any wild pitches. Joe Nathan had to come in with the bases loaded and 2 out to finish the 8th (and he had an unusually eventful 9th, allowing a couple of scorching drives to the outfield and a BB to go with a scabby IF hit, loading the bases himself before getting Ichiro to end it).

Here's where I get really concerned: the Mariners are 12th in the league in runs and OPS. Yet they managed to score on the Twins' bullpen in each game, and chase the starters in the 6th in 2 of the 3 games. The starters are, on the whole, much better than the bullpen, so it's critical that they pitch deep into each game in order to minimize the outs needed from the increasingly shaky bullpen. If the 3rd worst offense in the league can do this to the Twins' pitching at the Dome, what's going to happen on the road over the next 2 weeks? I shudder to think. Will the offense be able to offset the damage while facing 3 of the 5 best pitching staffs in the league?

The Twins better rack up a couple more wins at home this week - while the racking is good...

Road Trip (and Fall)

Mariners 11, Twins 6
Mariners 8, Twins 7
Twins 7, Mariners 3

Well, that could have gone a lot better, huh? It was funny to look at some of my other favorite blogs and see that most of them, like myself, were in no mood to comment on the disastrous results from Monday and Tuesday night. The Twins put up 6 or more runs in each game of this series, and so with even average pitching should have been able to come away with a sweep.

Before I go into my disappointment with their performance, however, a word about the Mariners. I have said many times that winning baseball games isn't just about who you play, but when you play them. Overall, the Twins are a much better team than the Mariners. But, in this series, the Twins' pitching and defense was not up to its normal level of precision, and the Mariners' entire lineup was absolutely locked in. In other words, we caught Seattle at the wrong time. Hopefully, the results will be different when the Twins face them 6 other times later in the month.

On to the disappointments:

Glen Perkins was giving up his share of hits (9) through 6 IP on Monday, but had kept the damage to just 1 R. Entering the 7th with a 5-run lead and very low pitch count (71), it made sense to send him out for that inning. After quickly retiring the first batter, Perkins allowed an 0-2 single to the #9 hitter, issued his first walk on 5 pitches, fell behind Willie Bloomquist before allowing a single to load the bases, then missed his spot by about 2 feet on the grand slam to Raul Ibanez. Perkins has often gotten stronger as the game goes along, so this sequence was extremely disappointing, especially compared to the solid numbers he put up in July.

And then, the bullpen came in. Starting with the bases empty and 1 out, Brain Bass, Craig Breslow and Matt Guerrier proceeded to allow 6 R on 5 H and 3 BB, combining for 38 pitches (17 strikes). They were abetted in their awfulness by 2 throwing errors and a passed ball from the defense. Even the Mariners can kick your ass if you fall behind everybody and give away tons of extra bases.

I'm not sure the Twins could have scored enough runs to overcome their abysmal 7th inning, but it should not be forgotten that Justin Morneau's 2-run double to put them ahead 6-0 in the 4th occurred with nobody out. That means that they had runners at second and third with nobody out and failed to get them in, thanks to a Mike Lamb strikeout and Brian Buscher GIDP. Granted, those guys were in the lineup to face RHP Miguel Batista, not LHP Jake Woods, but they need to be able to hit the ball out of the infield in that situation.

Scott Baker allowed himself to be lit up on Tuesday night, throwing too many fastballs to an aggressive swinging team. The 6 R and 11 baserunners he allowed in 5.1 IP made it easily his worst game of the season. He ran into a little bad luck in the 6th, when the rally began on a strikeout-wild pitch - even the Mariners can burn you when you give them an extra out - and the scorching hot Ibanez was able to pick up another 2-run single off LHP Breslow.

The offense bailed Baker out, thanks to a couple of HR from Jason Kubel and a big 2-out, 2-run, pinch-hit double from Mike Lamb. In the bottom of the 8th, with 3 straight lefties due up for the Mariners, Gardy brought in Guerrier, who had thrown 31 pitches over the previous 2 games, allowing 4 ER on 5 H and 2 BB in 1.1 IP. LHP Dennys Reyes did not pitch on Monday, and had thrown just 10 pitches in a perfect 9th inning on Sunday. Lefties are hitting .200/.246/.283 vs. Reyes, .253/.344/.361 vs. Guerrier. Ichiro hits about 60 points lower vs. LHP, Jeremy Reed over 100. I realize that Gardy wants Guerrier to be the 8th inning guy, but he's clearly tiring, and there was a better matchup available for this particular situation.

After Guerrier allowed 2 of those 3 lefties to reach, Gardy did something a lot of folks have been clamoring for for months: he brought in Joe Nathan in the 8th inning.He got cleanup hitter Adrian Beltre on a liner to short, then quickly got ahead of Jose Lopez 1-2. Nathan could not induce Lopez to swing at any sliders out of the zone, so on 3-2 he gave him a slider in the zone. Lopez lined it into the gap in left center, and with the runners moving on the full count pitch Ibanez was able to score from first with the winning run.

Nick Blackburn was also knocked around a bit, surrendering 9 H and a BB in just 6 IP, but he was able to limit the damage thanks to a couple of DPs. This time Reyes was allowed to face Ichiro/Reed/Ibanez in the 7th, allowing only a 2-out infield hit to the hotter than the flames of hell Ibanez. Jesse Crain then came on and served up a home run ball to Beltre.

(Now for the good news)

Denard Span to the rescue! Beltre's HR did not land in the seats, but was stolen by Span with a leaping catch over the wall in RF. Span also went 3-5 with a triple, SB, and career-high 4 RBI. Gardy confirmed after the game that Span will remain in the leadoff spot when Cuddyer returns next week. Hallelujah!

Lamb, despite striking out with 2 in scoring position on Monday, made a huge contribution in the series, going 3-6 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. He's showing that the Twins may have been wise not to give up on him yet.

And how about that line from Adam Everett on Wednesday? 1-1 with a BB, RBI, R and 2 sac bunts. If his defense is back to 100% and he can give the Twins productive ABs like that, I think I'd rather see him at SS than Harris. Seems like there will be room for him in the #9 spot pretty soon.