"Livan" the rotation?

So I sat in the "Family Section" last night at the Twins game and watched as Livan Hernandez threw nearly 80 pitches in four innings, essentially blowing one of the biggest games of the season so far. He didn't even give them a chance to win. From my lofty perch in section 216, I could see that both he and the fans have had just about enough of this nonsense. The question is whether the management feels the same way. I never dreamed I'd be pining for Kyle Lohse over this guy. 

Anyway, the Twins dropped last night's game 8-3 in front of a crowd of over 42,000 paying customers. The White Sox fans got their money's worth, but we got hosed. Denard Span looked good leading off again with a couple of hits, and both Morneau and Delmon Young were good for RBI doubles. Thing is, when Livan is pitching, you need more. And that's a problem. Oh, and the White Sox were close to locking up Ken Griffey Jr. last night too, so that's great.

Speaking of problems, I decided to rank them last night because I was so frustrated. 

1. Livan Hernandez - Everything about him makes me want to punch a wall.
2. Third Base - Buscher is cool and all, but we think we can contend for a division with the guy? Really? We need a real hitter in this spot.
3. Bullpen - I'm not sold on our relief situation, but it's not shockingly terrible, so it gets ranked #3.
4. Second base/Shortstop - When Brendan Harris and Nick Punto take the field, my stomach turns. Defensively, they're fine, but looking at Punto in the no. 2 slot is maddening. 

If I keep talking about this stuff, I'm going to go berserk, so let's talk trade... as of 9:35 a.m. CST. Stay up-to-date on all rumors here. 

• The Twins are in the market for a second baseman, and have been talking to KC and Baltimore about Mark Grudzielanek and Brian Roberts, respectively. Word is that Roberts is basically untouchable. 
• The Mariners want Denard Span or one of our "Radke Clones" - Perkins, Baker, Slowey or Blackburn - for Beltre. Sounds like the Twins don't wanna bite. I'm a little miffed about their whiny attitude about moving pitchers in light of our terrible 3B situation, but maybe they'll budge before the end of the day.
• Boof Bonser is being "dangled" (and I use that term VERY loosely) along with Craig Monroe. We'll see if the Rangers or Tampa Bay Rays try to acquire one of them today. 
• Best of all, it looks like Liriano could be coming up in a matter of days.

Minor League Notes: 

• The Rochester Red Wings pounded Pawtucket 8-3 last night, and RF Garrett Jones was a big part of the scoring surge as he bombed his 14th homer of the year. Jones is riding an eight game hitting streak right now, and has batted .419 during that stretch with two bombs and 10 RBI. 
• Rock Cats Luke Hughes, Daniel Valencia and Steven Tolleson each had multi-hit games last night in New Britain's win. Hughes has now hit safely in seven straight games, and looks locked once again after some injury problems earlier in the year. Valencia smashed his second home run in seven days, and is starting to look very comfortable in double-A ball. 
• Fort Myers RF Eli Tintor just keeps on hitting... he went 2-for-5 with two singles, and his streak is now at 13 games. 
• Daniel Osterbrock now has two ridiculous starts in a row for Elizabethton (Twins Rookie team), as he once again struck out 12 Greeneville batters last night. This time, he gave up three runs on six hits instead of shutting them out, but still managed to pick up his fourth win of the season. 

Thanks so much for reading, and enjoy your (hopefully) trade-filled day!

Series win... Sox looming

It was a nice end to a crappy road trip, but we'll gladly take our two wins at "the Jake". Nick Blackburn looked great for seven innings, then Dennys Reyes promptly gave up the lead before the bats roared back and Nathan nailed it down for his 28th save. A win's a win...

It's not so much that I don't care about yesterday's win - it's more that the next four games are extremely important in comparison. Consider: The Twins are 4-7 so far this season against Chicago, and thankfully they won't have to play them at U.S. Cellular field again. However, Minnesota only gets seven more opportunities to take full game chunks out of "pale" Sox' lead from this point forward. It starts tonight when Kevin Slowey (6-7, 4.41 ERA) faces off against Mark Buehrle (8-8, 3.56 ERA, and killed the Twins his last time out). 

It figures to be a tough series for a few reasons: 

1. The Sox are sending lefties to the hill just about every night; our best hitters are left-handers
2. Chicago is scoring an unbelievable 6.8 runs per game over their past 11 outings. They average 5.04 a game for the season, so we know the bats are hot.
3. Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins and Livan each had pretty spotty outings last time they pitched.
4. Jim Thome. The guy has a lifetime .315 batting average against Minnesota and hits a homer every 11.8 at-bats against the Twins. He ALWAYS gets his.
   
5. The Twins' bullpen has been awful lately. Never good against an offensive powerhouse. 

Other than all this, I'm pretty confident going into this pivotal series. To be honest, I'd feel a lot better if Liriano were up. Speaking of...

Francisco Liriano pitched yesterday, and I finally caught a radio broadcast! He pitched wonderfully through 5 2/3 innings before giving up a three-run dong to Scranton/Wilkes-Burre in the sixth. He finished with nine Ks and gave up four runs on eight hits overall. If you look at the box score, it really doesn't do him justice. He was in complete control for most of the day, but missed on some pitches and Scranton made him pay. I still say the kid is ready, and it looks as though the Twins need him now more than ever. 

Other Minor League notes: 

• My guy Jason Pridie smoked another home run for Rochester last night, his 12th of the season. He continues to be one of the favorites for a call-up this September. If not for the sub-.270 average, he'd get more press.
• After coming up big in his previous outing with a seven-inning, 8K performance, Cole Devries was swatted back to earth by Dunedin, who tagged him for eight hits and five runs in just five innings of work. 
• Another Elizabethton pitcher is on the radar - Daniel Osterbrock. Despite some up-and-down outings (given up 6 and 4 runs before last night), he's managed to strike out 52 batters in 40 1/3 innings thus far. Last night, however, Osterbrock was downright filthy as he punched out 12 batters in a seven-inning stretch of shutout mastery. He'll likely be up in Beloit or Fort Myers next year. 

That's all for now... thanks for reading!