Out of Control

Earlier today, Terry Ryan was interviewed by KFAN's Chad Hartman on the radio (you can get a full synopsis of the interview at Twins Territory, where Twins Geek wrote an article on it). In the interview, Ryan was asked about potential trade options, and he said that he was of course looking for a powerful right-handed bat. Interestingly, he also mentioned that he has recently become worried about the pitching.

Then the Twins came out and played tonight, in a game that featured perhaps the most embarrassing pitching performance I can remember seeing from a Twins team. Joe Mays had to come out before he could even record an out in the third inning, and the bullpen got tagged for 8 runs. By the KANSAS CITY ROYALS, the worst team in baseball. Mays got shredded for 4 runs and 9 hits in just 2+ innings, and then Terry Mulholland, Jesse Crain, JC Romero, and Matt Guerrier combined to pitch 6 innings, walking 6 and allowing 12 hits and 7 earned runs. The most disturbing line comes from Crain, who was charged with FOUR earned runs while failing to record a single out. This caused his ERA to shoot up to 2.50, and basically removing the "elite" tag that he had collected through the season up to this point. He came in with 2 runners on, walked the bases loaded, and then allowed 3 straight singles, scoring 4 runs. He was then "relieved" by Romero, who of course allowed both of his inherited runners to score.

The performance was just absolutely pathetic. Enough of the goofing around and keeping in good spirits by running around the clubhouse naked (Torii), it's time this team got serious. The past three games have been utterly embarrassing, even though they squeaked by last night.