Short Rant

I can't write a whole lot today, if only because I'm sure to punch a hole through anything/anyone if I start getting worked up again. Last night was a pitching and fielding abomination. A complete meltdown. A glimpse of hell.

Our starter, Nick Blackburn, had pitched six very good innings and had a nice 3-2 lead after Joe Mauer cleared the bases with slicing double to the left-field gap. Things felt pretty good at that point... then they turned to crap. Blackburn started the inning off well enough, getting two of the first three batters out, which left Kevin Mench on second base with two down. That's when Nick Punto - normally a sure-bet to make an inning ending play - biffed on a hot grounder to short. The ball bounced off his glove and arm, but somehow he didn't knock it down. Mench came around to score, tying the game at three. Folks, if Punto makes that play, the inning is over and it's possible that none of the following happens.

Five pitches later, Matt Tolbert makes a beautiful stop at third base, but fails to connect with Justin Morneau on the throw. The ball ended up in the stands, which thankfully stopped the runners from advancing. Then, inexplicably, Gardenhire removes Nick Blackburn from the game with just 84 pitches thrown. There is no more ridiculous move that could have been made in that situation. Quick Recap: Blackburn gets (seemingly) two ground-ball outs, then is removed from the game? Was he pointing a gun at Tolbert? Did he lunge at Punto with a knife? Why take him out? He's still effective, the bullpen obviously isn't capable of closing out games... what was the deal? Dammit, I'm getting pissed off again.

As we all know, Matt Guerrier pitched 1 1/3 innings of spotless relief before giving way to the suddenly-helpless Joe Nathan, who once again barfed up a terrible performance when the team needed a pick-me-up. Forget the Pridie error... Nathan hasn't looked good for over a week... he's letting tons of men reach base, and isn't giving himself a chance to close out the game (read: isn't giving the TEAM a chance to win). I'd never suggest a change with the kind of pitcher he is, but this is getting ridiculous. The bats are producing and the pitching can't hold down an opponent? AARRRRGGHHHH!!!!!

Here's a sweet post from someone named "The Wombat" in the CBS.Sportsline.com Twins message board area:

Well, hindsight being 20/20 and all, maybe we should have done more for the bullpen at the trading deadline. Regardless, there's no debating where to lay the losing record from this road trip.

Starters

4-2; 80.9 IN; 89 H; 30 R; 27 ER; 17 BB; 52 SO; 3.00 ERA

Relievers

1-6; 31.8 IN; 30 H; 17 R; 15 ER; 10 BB; 23 SO; 4.25 ERA

1-6?!?!?! Incompetence hardly describes this. I would've been happy with a 7-7 record coming out of this road trip, and we should have been able to accomplish that. Bullpen my ass. Try Pig pen.

My sentiments, exactly.

The 11th inning loss was tough to take, but none of that crap would ever have happened without the earlier bloopers.

Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother to watch. Slowey vs. Litsch tonight at 6:07 p.m... hoping for better things. I'll be watching football.

I'll try to write something more coherent tomorrow... thanks for reading!

Four steps forward, one step back

First thing's first - I'm going to do a live blog tomorrow during the day game since no one beside MLB.tv viewers and people in Oakland can see the broadcast. You can listen to it on the radio, but you'll be able to read my live, in-game comments right here at the Twins Hotspot! Feel free to add you own comments as well - there'll be an easy way to do it right here on the site. On to today's post...

Going into last night's game versus Oakland, I had a bad feeling. The Athletics baffled Twins hitters until the eighth inning, when Joe Mauer tripled in Denard Span and advanced to home plate on a throwing error. It was a disturbing night all around. The team finally got a solid outing from a starter - Blackburn went eight innings and gave up only three runs - and received a decent inning of pitching from Craig Breslow to close out Oakland. Unfortunately, as has rarely been the case of late, the bats failed to come through over and over, leaving 14 men on base (Morneau - 4 LOB).

More than anything, it was an annoying game. How often does everything come together, only to fall short at the last minute? It's a buzzkill, a momentum drainer. But let's take a look at some positives on this dreary Tuesday morning: 

1) Mauer busted out three hits last night, and now has an 11-game hitting streak. He's also batting .360/.443/.520 in the month of August with two homers and 10 RBI. Basically, he's on fire right now. What's more, Mauer is now second to New York's Xavier Nady for the Batting Average lead.

2) Denard Span has failed to hit safely in just two of his past 15 games, and has a current eight-game hitting streak. Span has three multi-hit games in his past four outings as well.

3) In the American League, the Twins offense ranks no. 6 in runs scored, no. 3 in batting average, no. 7 in on-base percentage, and in the bottom five of runners left on base. All very healthy totals.

4) Tonight's starter, Kevin Slowey, has a 2.36 ERA and 0.900 WHIP in his past four starts. 

I hope that helped you get over the loss... it certainly helped me. 

In other news, Twins infielder Matt Tolbert is expected to start a double-A rehab assignment today in New Britain. It's likely that he'll remain in the minors until rosters expand on September 1... Alexi Casilla played his first minor league game with Beloit last night and went 1-for-3 with a single, two walks and a failed stolen base attempt. Looks like he'll be ready to start in Anaheim this weekend... Adam Everett may be a candidate to hit the DL with a sore hand - it'd make room for Casilla, that's for sure... Delmon Young is day-to-day with a "jammed" ankle that he sustained in the fourth inning last night. He walked with a limp after the game, according to Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune.

Minor League Notes: 

• Rochester SP Phil Humber kept the great pitching going as he tossed eight innings last night, giving up just two runs on four hits whlie walking three. The Red Wing bats couldn't support him though, and he lost the decision. Still, Humber has a 2.97 ERA and 1.169 WHIP over the past 39 1/3 innings.
• Over at New Britain, David Winfree continues to tear the cover off the ball - he's got homers in three straight games, and now has a five game hitting streak with 10 RBI over that span. In addition, 3B Daniel Valencia (two games in a row) and OF Dustin Martin homered last night for the Rock Cats.

Poll Update: In our most recent poll, it seems that the majority of you believe Jesse Crain should be the Twins' new eighth-inning man... we'll see which way the management goes once September hits. My money is on Bobby Korecky from Rochester. 

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful day! 

George Michael

I watched the Minnesota Twins take two games out of three versus the New York Yankees today without sending either Scott Baker or Francisco Liriano to the mound even once. Let me tell you, it's a good feeling when your favorite team comes through. Kevin Slowey (9-8, 3.97 ERA) got his season ERA under 4.00 for the first time in a month-and-a-half and the Twins won 4-2 on the strength of Delmon Young's second straight game with a three-run homer.

I'll be the first to say that I thought Young was a life-draining leech the first two months of the season. He came in on a white horse as the Twins' hitting messiah, and we all thought he'd be an adequate replacement for Torii Hunter. Not the same, mind you, but maybe one or two steps below our beloved center fielder. When he decided to go 230 at bats without a home run, and hit a very pedestrian .264/.323/.337 through May, I was sounding the "2007 bust alert" siren. Then something happened - the weather warmed up, and so did he. And now, two months later, he's one of the most productive bats in a lineup that sorely needed a boost. "DY" went 5-for-12 in the series with two home runs and six RBI, and we're all hoping and praying that he's going to make up for 60 days of spring malfeasance with a scorching end to the summer. I guess George Michael and Limp Bizkit were right... you really do "gotta have faith".



Adam Everett didn't play yesterday, but if he would have, he surely would have gotten a hit off Rasner. On my "official" scorecard, I gave him a hit just for showing up to the ball park. I'm sure he hit something out of the infield in pre-game batting practice.

The M&M boys did precious little damage this series... Joe Mauer went a respectable 3-for-7 with an RBI, but Justin Morneau hit just 1-for-11 with only one runner driven in. As a matter of fact, Morneau has been terrible in August, hitting a frigid .154/.314/.205 in 39 at bats since the Cleveland series on August 1. He hasn't homered over that stretch either. Of course, all this means is that he's incredibly due for a hot streak, and if it's all the same to him, I'd like if he saved it for the 14-game road trip starting next weekend in Anaheim.

It's an off day tomorrow, but the action cranks up again Friday night at the Dome when Francisco Liriano takes on former Twin Carlos Silva. I'm predicting a 23-2 Twins win, but I'll probably re-think that by game time.

By the way, the White Sox won again tonight, which - for the first time since last Saturday - meant there would be no daily lead change in the division. The Sox play at 1:10 p.m. vs. Kansas City tomorrow.

Last, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com wrote that Raul Ibanez (Mariners) was claimed off waivers tonight. No word on who got him, but with the news that Cuddyer is going to be out for the balance of the regular season, he'd be a nice addition. Plus, Ibanez is eligible for free agency after the 2008 season, so there's no commitment to him past September/October.

A few more random Twins notes to end the night: Joe Nathan, among closers who meet my not-so-strict criteria of 40 IP and 15 saves, has the best ERA in the majors this season. Only Jonathan Papelbon (BOS), Mariano Rivera (NYY) and Joakim Soria (KC) have better WHIP numbers than the Twins' stopper... Kevin Slowey allowed a first-inning run today for the first time this season... Carlos Gomez is now among the top 10 strikeout kings in the MLB this season with 112. Adam Dunn, in contrast, has 123. I still can't believe this guy was leading off into mid-July. Excuse me while I go throw up.

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Minor League Notes (truncated):

• Rochester Red Wings CF Jason Pridie extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a single tonight vs. Syracuse. 2B/DH Alejandro Machado, however, was unable to extend his 21-gamer, going 0-for-4 on the night. 3B Luke Hughes (3-for-3) and 2B Matt Macri (3-for-3, 2 HRs)provided the fireworks though in the team's 5-3 win.
• Both 2B Brian Dinkelman and SS Steven Tolleson tore the cover off the ball tonight. Dinkelman went 3-for-5 with a double and three runs while Tolleson shellacked a homer and two doubles to go a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBI. On top of that, Tolleson stole his twelfth base of the season.
• After allowing 14 runs in his July 28 and August 2 starts (14.54 ERA), Beloit pitcher David Bromberg has bounced back with a vengeance. In his past two starts, Bromberg hasn't given up a run in 12 innings, and won both decisions. Last night, he went seven scoreless and struck out 10 while allowing just three hits (five baserunners - 2BB) for the Snappers.
  

Enjoy the Twins' off day! See ya tomorrow!