Royals End Streak

Those words were pretty hard to type. What an awful way to end a great winning streak. The Royals? A 28-54 team? Probably the worst in baseball? Why did the Twins lose this game? For starters, the pitching wasn't too great.

Boof Bonser continues to show why he should be in the minors and Scott Baker should be in the bigs. Bonser can be a good back-of-the-rotation guy, but his control hasn't been great as of late. He doesn't have particularly great weapons to get hitters out with and he gets into trouble when guys get on base. Familiar? The Twin most famous for that issue replaced him, although Kyle Lohse didn't really do all that bad.

Willie Eyre, who pitched the 9th and didn't factor into the decision, probably also showed why he needs more seasoning in the minors. Allowing a few runs to the measly Royals offense isn't something to be proud of. And with Pat Neshek waiting in Triple-A, this move has been put off far too long. You don't need two mop-up pitchers on a team.

What other reasons are there for last night's loss? How about the more obvious one: no Joe Mauer. With a .391 average, 1.004 OPS, as one of the best hitters in the league, let alone on the team, it's obvious his presence was missed. He was apparently sidelined with hamstring pain and stomach problems. If the Twins are to bounce back from their loss, they need him back in the lineup ASAP.

Otherwise, it seemed to be an off night for the offense, with Lew Ford's two-run home run doing the only scoring. Light-hitting guys like Terry Tiffee didn't seem to muster much against the scary likes of Jimmy Gobble and Joel Peralta.

The loss came at a bad time, since Detroit finally lost 2-1 to the A's. The Twins need to pick up every game they can and sadly, one loss is too many if they plan to do anything this year. What hurts the most is that it had to be the Royals. Lets hope with Brad Radke on the mound, the Twins can start another streak tonight.