Hello Again Kyle

I guess Lohse is back in the rotation for the rest of the year. Carlos Silva will likely be taken out for the rest of year with knee surgery, so Fransisco Liriano likely will start in his place. So, although Lohse's start was good tonight, I doubt he'll be around past this September unless something derails Liriano or Baker.

Seven innings of solid work, giving up six hits and two walks with three Ks isn't bad at all. In fact, its what we've expected out of Lohse and have only gotten so often. He's had times of greatness, but he is never consistent. Other than that, Nathan had a good inning, with two Ks and his 37th save. Nathan should end up with around 45 like last year with an ERA of about 2.50. I dont see him giving too many more runs this year, but its too bad that wont make a difference.

As to hitting, the two runs came on (surprise) a Chris Heintz RBI double and the bat of Joe Mauer, who had a great four-hit night with an RBI single. It would be great, and give fans a reason to pay attention, if Mauer could go on a tear to finish the season with a .310 average or so.

Its nice to see a win, obviously, but its too late and its also against the hapless Tigers, who despite a growing payroll and stars on the roster are still below .500. I just want to see the most out of the future stars as we look foward to 2006.

Blasted Again

It's become pretty evident that the Twins' starting pitchers have simply given up. After Kyle Lohse and Brad Radke got shelled and had to come out early last week, leading to broken doors and reports of "suicidal" feelings, Carlos Silva came out tonight and lasted only one inning, allowing the Indians' first four batters to hit for the cycle in a four run inning. Joe Mays came in in the second but provided little relief as the carved him up for 6 more runs.

Triple A call-up Travis Bowyer pitched a couple innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out one. That was really the only point of interest in this embarrassing 12-4 blowout.

Santana's Loss

That statement may be bold or misleading, cause as usual, they Twins offense didn't do too much tonight to help win, but two runs should be enough with Johan Santana on the mound. But tonight he didn't look like the dominating, Cy Young contender he has been lately. His line: 5 IP 8 hits 4 ER 2 BB 2 Ks. Thats not Santana at all. Too many walks, hits, and of course, runs. He didn't dominate hitters or control the strike zone at all. It was a very dissapointing start and it likely will cost him the Cy Young as the seven losses won't look to well against the competition.

There isn't much to say about the offense. Mauer managed to hit a hit on a 1 for 3 night, as he sits at .296. It would be nice to see him finish about .300. That would be a bright spot on the year. Morneau continues to slack wherever his is, as he now is batting a miserable .236. Our only offense came off of Jacque Jones and Matthew LeCroy, who both had two hits, and a RBI Juan Castro single.

Otherwise, the Twins lost and are now back 6 1/2 games in the wild card chase. One more lost should make basically official. Its Baker's start, so anything could happen. On a kinda-positive-but-not note, Lohse and Gardy "cleared the air" today in a meeting. Thats too bad really, cause I really want Liriano to get a start and yea, I want Lohse out of town too. At least Mays and Radke can take the heat like respectable guys.

Bye-Bye Kyle

If Francisco Liriano is looking for an opportunity to start, this would seem to be it. Ron Gardenhire said the rookie southpaw would not make a start unless the Twins were out of the race, and after losing their latest home series against the Rangers, they are out of it for all intensive purposes. Furthermore, it seems a spot in the rotation may have become available after Kyle Lohse's temper tantrum following a performance on Tuesday in which he allowed 5 runs in the first two innings and was subsequently pulled from the game. Lohse apparently went on a tirade after the game that left a few doors in clubhouse damaged, including that of Gardy.

Explaining his frustration after the game, Lohse said, "I would have liked to have somebody stand behind me and say, 'We've got your back, go out there and shut them down from here on.' That didn't happen today, so whatever." Gee Kyle, it's hard to feel too sympathetic to you considering you allowed two home runs including a grand slam in the first two innings of the game. What reason could anyone possibly have to feel like you're going to go out and "shut them down" for the rest of the game?

Gardenhire defended himself by labeling Lohse's argument as absurd, stating that he has quite clearly had his back for the past three years. This is completely true. Kyle has done nothing to deserve a regular spot in the Twins' starting rotation over the past three years, posting ever-increasing ERAs of 4.23, 4.61, and 5.34. Last season, the case could be made that he was the worst starting pitcher in the Major Leagues to hold down a spot for the entire season. But Gardy stuck with him, and now Lohse has the nerve to come out and bitch about being pulled after giving up a grand slam? It's not like he could argue with the results... the Twins' bullpen pitched well and the team actually almost came back to win if not for a Joe Nathan ninth-inning meltdown. With all that said, it's hard to imagine just what Kyle is whining about. If he's trying to make the case that his self-esteem is damaged, I don't think he'll get much support; thanks to his greedy agent Scott Boras, Lohse is making $2.4 million this year to put up some very mediocre numbers.

Pin down Monday, September 12, at Detroit on your calendar. It is the date of Lohse's next scheduled start, but I'd be very surprised if he actually makes it. The Twins are officially labeling him as questionable due to a sore finger, but I'm thinking it might have more to do with a sore relationship between player and manager. I think there is very much doubt that Kyle Lohse will be pitching for the Minnesota Twins next year, and I for one am not all that disappointed by that.

Radke Rocked, but Twins Come Back This Time

Well, Joe Nathan wasn't exactly great this time around either, but he did get his 35th save and he didn't give up any runs. Just two hits, one a double. So he was close to blowing another game. Thats three close calls and one screw up in four appearences. Not good. But alas, the Twins did actually manage to avoid a sweep at home by the Rangers. A win is good and so is some offense. But lets remember two things: One, its the Ranger's pitching, so we should be scoring a lot and two, the season is essentially over after losing two on the count of poor pitching on the Twins part even when the offense came alive. They are too far behind now to ever make it, so it may be time to insert Liriano into the rotation and REALLY look to 2006. The best the Twins can get is having the bats come alive a little to get in position for a more steady 2006 and to get their new pitchers (Liriano, Baker, Bowyer) as much experience as possible.

But back to the game. This time around, Radke got rocked and was out after two innings of work. Like Lohse, he gave up five runs early and cause the Twins to fall behind early. Amazingly, it was the long relief of Joe Mays (3 and 2/3 scoreless innings) that likely helped the Twins stay in position to come back. Rangers starter Chris Young, who has pitched very well against the Twins, was out after an inning with arm fatigue, so the Twins had all day to mash on the Texas bullpen.

All the Twins runs came off of aging Texas journeyman Doug Brocail, with eight runs, two unearned on a Brocail error and a Michael Young error. Offensive stars for the night included Mike Redmond, recently recalled infielder Luis Rodriguez, Juan Castro, and Jacque Jones. Jones and Castro both went 2 for 4 on the night, setting up run scoring situations for Redmond and Rodriguez, who both drove in two. Redmond has been doing great lately and is now hitting .303, a very good sign. Maybe the Twins should have had Redmond play a little third, but a little late for that argument, eh?

Another three game series starts with Cleveland on Friday, with Cy Young contender Johan Santana starting. I'd like to think this is a last-ditch effort for the Twins, but I think they ruined any chance this week. What they need to do now is score runs for Johan, who is leading the AL in pratically all AL pitching categories except wins. Come on guys, don't ruin it for him. Save us something to watch this September.

Lohse, Nathan Rocked in Another Loss

When it's not the hitting, it's the pitching. Tonight Kyle Lohse went out and had a miserable outing, lasting only 2 innings while allowing a solo homer and a grand slam, but the Twins' offense showed uncharacteristic resilience, fighting back against a pitcher who has dominated them in Kenny Rogers. Juan Castro had big hits in his first couple at bats, ripping a double to left and eventually scoring in the first and then hitting a 2-run homer to tie the game at 5 in the second. The Twins continued to score runs, and entered the 9th inning with a 7-6 lead for Joe Nathan. However, Nathan was hit for the third time in as many outings, and tonight was the worst as he was absolutely pulverized. Joe gave up the lead on a Michael Young RBI single, and then in the next at-bat gave up a mammoth 3-run homer to Mark Teixeira to lose it. Nathan's recent troubles have put a supreme blemish on a second-half performance that had been near spotless, and his ERA has shot back up over 3.

In all, the game was just another sad chapter in what has become a terribly disappointing 2005 campaign for the Twins. With playoff hopes eradicated and the lack of run support preventing Johan Santana from having much of a shot at capturing the Cy Young award, there is little reason to watch this team anymore this season. It doesn't help that we really don't have any call-ups of interest on the offensive side of the ball and Francisco Liriano is being used in a meaningless long relief role that really won't give us much of a picture of what kind of success he is going to have in the Bigs.

Silva Speaks Out

First Brad Radke was "suicidal" about his run support, and although that was out there, I understand his frustration. But the most agreeable comments on the Twins offensive wooes came from Carlos Silva, speaking to the Star Tribune this morning. Silva nearly pointed fingers, but he certainly singled out the position players and their lack of effort. "The only thing I know, man, is that every time I go out there, I give 100 percent because I like to win and I hate to lose. It looks like a lot of guys in here don't want to play the game the right way," said Silva. "For me, I hate to see losses like that, and it is not easy for us... every time we go out there, we try to do the best we can do. ..."

But hit hardest with this comment: "I'm not going to mention any names, but I know this team, and I know we can play better than this.If you throw nine innings with one run and lose 1-0, you lost. That's nice to say, 'I pitched nine innings and only gave up one run,' but what happens the other times? If someone thinks that way, and I know a lot of guys think that way -- just worried about pitching and worry about yourself -- it is not going to work."

I couldn't agree more. I'd like to be the first to praise Carlos for his words. I know he'll get bashed for it, by Gardenhire, Anderson, and commentators, cause he needs to not call out his manager and such. But to me, its just like the Ford situation a while back. And Ford was right then. These guys aren't playing fundamental baseball the way the Twins are supposed to. And excuses aren't working. You can't just go out and pitch and expect to win. Santana had a great game this weekend, striking out 10 Indians, but one mistake, one homer, and no win. The lack of fundamentals, execution, professional hitting, patience, and good defense is killing this team, their chances to do anything this postseason, and yes, Santana's second Cy Young Award that he clearly has earned these past two months.

Not every team has an honest player who puts it right, but Silva choose well. Jim Souhan wrote a good article in Sunday's paper that I feel summarizes the situation: The pitching is there. We have plenty of it and its some of the best in the majors. But it doesn't matter. Because our hitters have no patience. The presence of one or two (that would be better) professional batters would change everything for this offense. One or two more runs a game and all the sudden we have 95 wins and a great team. It doesn't have to be Soriano. Souhan mentioned free-agent-to-be Bill Mueller. His name came up in possible trades and he may work. Good light hitter with a good on-base percentage. And that would mean we could move Cuddyer to his natural position of second. Two birds down. There's the possibility of a Brian Giles as well, who could protect Mauer and Morneau and take pressure off of them. We have the money and we need to spend it right. I know I shouldn't concede yet, but we gotta start thinking 2006.

Offensive Ineptitude again

Kameron Loe...gulp....does it again except for this time, with no late-inning Twin rallies. Loe threw eight shutout innings against the Twins today, giving up five hits and making the Twins look pathetic again against a staff with a 5.01 ERA. A few hits from Morneau, who is having a decent last month, and that was about it.

Other than the usual complete lack of offense, the defense blew the game open as well. A terrible attempted catch by Jacque Jones in the fourth brought a run in (after he embarrassed himself on a slightly more difficult play earlier in the inning) and a Nick Punto error helped Texas break the game open with a four-run seventh.

Starter Carlos Silva didn't help, giving up several doubles, but he only ended up getting charged with one earned run, keeping his ERA at a low 3.27. He did, however, walk a batter, which may hinder his pursuit of Cy Young's record for walks/nine innings. His is at .48 now while the record is .62, so he still is looking good to pass the record, which would be an amazing feat.

On a brighter note, Fransisco Liriano finally debuted and it was a biplar debut. On one hand, his first batter, Gary Matthews Jr, crush a fastball for a home run, but Liriano proceeded to strike out the next two batters on nasty sliders and got his fastball up to 97 mph. The homer was a little unnerving, but his strikeouts certainly showed the possibility of dominance in the near future. Tommorow, we face Kenny Rogers, which means we will probably lose the series and watch the playoff hopes fade farther away. If Mays was only pulled from the rotation sooner....

Twins Win Series

Scott Baker pitched another good game today, adding to an impressive Major League resume. Baker allowed just one run through 5 innings (a Travis Hafner solo homer) before getting hit around a bit in the 6th and being taken out. His final line for the day still was quite impressive: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 K, 1 BB. The Twins did garner enough offense to get the victory 7-5, with Lew Ford going 3/4 and Mike Redmond (who's now hitting .300, he's been a nice addition) knocking in 3 runs.

It was a nice little victory for the Twins, but they themselves admitted at the beginning of this series that in order to keep any realistic hope of catching the Wild Card they needed a series sweep, which they were unable to accomplish thanks to a putrid effort on Friday night.

Santana loses, but the Twins Win

I, of course, say that because Santana pitched another wonderful game. With tonight's two-hit, 10 K performance, he brought his ERA down to 3.07 and his major-league leading strikeout total to 205. Seems awfully reminiscent of last year, doesn't it? Except, of course, the wins. He should have a few besides this game and at least 17 or 18 by now (just as Radke and Silva should) but he remains at 13-6. Like Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens in the NL, he has been very dominant and amazing, but his team often lets him down. They did again tonight.

Santana didn't walk a man in his amazing game, but he made one mistake, giving up a solo homer to Cleveland's big bat, Travis Hafner. To the surprise of everyone, Santana had a lead when he left the game. The Twins managed two runs off of Cleveland starter Kevin Millwood (which is really good in terms of recent "hitting") and look poised for a win. When Joe Nathan came in to close the game, it looked like a sure thing. But Nathan finally gave up a run, breaking his scoreless streak he has had since the All-Star break. A Casey Blake double, Grady Sizemore sacrifice, and Coco Crisp sac fly created the run, sending the game into extras and taking a win from Johan

But Nathan got the win as the Indians made not one, but two errors in the bottom of the ninth. Juan Castro lead off with a bunt single and advanced to second on a Aaron Boone throwing error. Then Nick Punto bunted down the third base line and Castro scored as the pitcher Bob Howry threw the ball down the first base line, allowing the Twins to win.

It was the usual route to a win or a potential loss. The offense was there for hits, but as usual, didn't fair well in scoring situations. 12 hits, two earned runs. Its an improvement over 13 hits, no runs, but thats about it. Joe Mauer had two hits, bringing his average to a very good .305, while Castro and Punto had three hits a piece and Lew Ford had two. It was, for all purposes, enough for the win. Now all we need is another Carlos Silva start for the books.

* On a side note, it appears last night's game was so bad, Nelson didn't want to comment on it. I think thats fair. It was just beyond words once again. Lets hope tonight was a better indicator of things to come, although it wasnt the best either.

Cy... Silva?

The American League Cy Young race is without definitive studs. While the National League is sporting some of the top pitchers in the game (which, in fairness, may relate to the lack of a DH) in Dontrelle Willis, Roger Clemens, and Chris Carpenter, among others, the AL has a lot of great but flawed pitchers. Mark Buehrle has been good, but inconsistent in the second half. Jon Garland has a lot of wins, but unspectacular peripherals; the same goes for Bartolo Colon. Roy Halladay had phenomenal numbers through the first few months of the season, but he's out for the year. Johan Santana sports some impressive numbers, but might not get enough wins to gain significant consideration due to his paltry run support and a good but not great first half. The question I will pose is this: if the Twins' offense were actually competent, would Carlos Silva be in this discussion as well?

Silva is 9-6 with a 3.34 ERA this year. He has started 25 games this year. In those games, he has thrown NINE in which he has allowed 2 or fewer earned runs and received either a no decision or a loss. A decent offense should be winning almost every time their starter gives them a performance like that. If the Twins had given him decent run support and allowed him to win 7 of those starts (which I think is quite reasonable), he would have 16 wins and probably fewer than 6 losses. That would tie him with Garland at second in the AL in wins, one behind Colon.

Now, granted, a few of Silva's peripheral numbers aren't necessarily eye-popping. Opponent's are hitting .288 against him. Also, he has only 68 strikeouts on the year (Garland has only 86, so he's not as far behind everyone as one might think).

Still, he has the best control of any pitcher in the Majors, as he's walked just 8 men in 180 innings, and he's on his way to setting a record for the best BB/9 rate in baseball history. He's been a workhorse, as he should easily reach 200 innings pitched for the second straight year despite missing a couple starts in April.

With the way he's pitched this year, Silva should be on a 20-win pace. Unfortunately, it's September and still has yet to reach double-digits in wins. With a 3.34 ERA and 16 games in which he has gone at least 6 innings and allowed 3 or fewer runs (quality starts), that is just ridiculous. It is unfortunate that Silva's fantastic season will fly under the national radar because the Twins' offense is just so damn bad.

Is it Time to Give Up?

I think we've discussed the essential concending of the season by the Twins many times this year, but never was it so apparent as it was yesterday that the season is likely over. It doesn't matter who we play, how great our pitching is, we can lose to a team as bad as the Kansas City Royals 1-0. And get 13 hits. And have 16 baserunners. And nearly break a baseball record, which happens to be 14 hits in a shutout loss. (That hasnt happened since 1928) As the Royals Terrence Long put it, "That's something we do." Yeah, it is. The Royals are known for inept offense and bad pitching. That's why they are in last place and lost 19 straight games this year.

But the Twins have had an amazing run of pitching. Behind the Athletics, their 2.40 ERA for the month of August is sparkling. But the 16-14 record that accompanies it isn't. The last two teams we have played were they Rangers and the Royals, two teams with some of the worst pitchers in the majors. We were shut out twice in that time and when we scored, it was against a guy like Jose Lima, who may be the worse pitcher in the bigs. We can't score against the worse staffs, so how can we face the Indians this weekend (who have some very good pitchers in Cliff Lee, Sabathia, and their bullpen) and expect to win? When you have thirteen hits and opportunities at every corner to score and NEVER come through, there isn't a big problem. Its catastrophic. Guys like Nick Punto either need to be sent down, let go, or need to be developed more. But that doesn't seem to happen with the Twins. The problem is no one learns from their mistakes.

Justin Morneau still chases bad pitches and allows pitchers to run all over him. (He had a good week, yes, but that's not convincing to me) Brad Radke still has first-inning wooes. Terry Mulholland is still a Twin and is still used in big situation. (Why, oh why, was he in last night to hold the lead??) Nick Punto still lacks all the fundamentals beyond bunting. Terry Tiffee still can't play defense. So it comes down to either the talent really was never there (that may be possible with some of these guys) or the coaching staff has failed. I think the latter may be more to blame. At this blog, we haven't been too hard on Gardenhire, but maybe we should be. I can let Radke's wooes go because it seems that Anderson does a good job. He knows the guys from his days in the minors and the staff has a 3.58 ERA. He must be doing something right. But Gardenhire constantly makes bad decisions and puts the wrong guys in the doghouse while letting the real problematic players just keep on players.

Guys like Punto, Mulholland, Cuddyer, and LeCroy seem to get his blessing, while Ford (not great at plate, but he tries) or Guerrier seemed to be thrown in the doghouse with the first problem. Remember when Ford failed to bunt LeCroy over to third and he protested to Gardenhire? He was right the whole time, but Gardy can't see his mistakes. When Guerrier gave up a hit and Tiffee made a huge error, he took out a guy who seems to have good stuff, but is seldom used in exchange for a guy who has no stuff and is always used in the wrong situation. I don't completely hate Gardenhire, but I think he needs to go. And Ulger needs to pack his bags with him. Clearly the attitude that they inspire isn't working. We need to develop guys and we need to start now.

Beyond that, the season is clearly over. Even if Ryan and Gardy smarten up enough to bring up Liriano and Bowyer, its probably too late. We already gave away games by letting Mays continue to start and we haven't spark anything with the offense. There are no great hitters waiting in the wings, so we need to change gears as a club. Its sad that we won't make the playoffs and we probably won't be in contention anytime soon with the way things look. Without any "midlevel" free agents who can contribute, without any budding offensive superstars, we are left to try and salvage things from within. And we won't do it with Gardy around.

Most Pathetic Performance I've Ever Witnessed

I can't say anything positive. Not even remotely. I am trying my hardest, searching my brain for a time I have been more disgusted by a Twins' performance, but even in the ugly years I fail to find an effort as pitiful as that of the Twins' offense today. It's getting really difficult to be a fan of this team right now. I can't even appreciate the contributions of the pitching staff because they go to waste on a nightly basis. This offense is utterly EMBARRASSING. I don't care if our starting rotation was comprised of Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Walter Johnson, Christy Matthewson and Nolan Ryan; this still wouldn't be a playoff team. And yet everyone involved with the team and the broadcasts still constantly speaks about the "playoff hunt." Get the hell out of here. I hate to speak this badly of the team I have loved my whole life... but the level of play of these guys right now is such that nothing but furious rants of criticism can do it justice.

Today the Twins lost 1-0 to the Kansas City Royals. The worst team in baseball shut out the Twins. And that wasn't even close to the worst part. The Twins literally had a scoring opportunity in every single inning of the ball game. Observe:

First inning: Runners on first and second with one out. Jacque Jones grounds into a double play to end the inning.

Second inning: Runners on first and second with one out. Mike Redmond grounds into a double play to end the inning.

Third inning: Runner on second with two outs. Joe Mauer grounds out to end the inning.

Fourth inning: Runners on first and second with one out. Terry Tiffee grounds into a (weird) double play to end the inning.

Fifth inning: Runners on second and third with one out. Nick Punto grounds out to first, Mauer is walked, Jones grounds out to end the inning.

Sixth inning: Runner on second with one out. Tiffee and Redmond fly out to end the inning.

Seventh inning: Runner on first with one out. Punto strikes out; baserunner Mike Ryan gets picked off trying to go to second to end the inning.

Eighth inning: Leadoff single by Mauer. Jones grounds into another double play. Lew Ford singles and moves up to third on an error. Justin Morneau fouls out to end the inning.

Ninth inning: Runners on second and third with one out. Brent Abernathy pinch-runs for Redmond at third. A pitch gets past the catcher, Abernathy contemplates going home, then slowly heads back towards third and gets thrown out trying to do so. Ryan strikes out to end the inning.

13 hits, zero runs. Against KANSAS CITY. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Over this whole unbelievable stretch of ineptitude, the Twins pitching staff (Kyle Lohse for seven innings, Juan Rincon for one) managed to keep the wimpy Royals lineup scoreless, but in the bottom of the ninth Matt Guerrier, Terry Mulholland, and a ridiculously ugly error by Tiffee helped KC bring in a run and salvage a win in a serious that should have easily been swept.

I wonder how many times in baseball history a team has gotten 13 hits and failed to score a run. I know for a fact that it is a Twins record. Oh, and the Twins also drew two walks and had one guy hit by a pitch, so that's 16 baserunners left out to dry if you're keeping track.

Sure, these guys kicked some paper cups around and cursed a few times in the dugout as they walked out with slumped shoulders after the game, but there's really no doubt that this weekend they'll go out and continue to do the same thing. I fear the month of September is not going to be a very fun one for the Minnesota Twins.

Offensive Spark

Well, lets not go too far with this post, considering that this offensive coming happened against the hapless, overconfident Jose Lima and the dreadful Kansas City bullpen. But, the Twins did managed to put up runs early, in the first to be specific, and a total of seven in the game. Michael Ryan double to start the game up and despite an idiot baserunning mistake, Nick Punto managed to get in the same position on a poor play. What followed was a Joe Mauer triple and Lew Ford RBI double after a Jacque Jones flyout. From there, Lima seemed to go right back to what his done to the Twins all year, actually getting them out the way he can't do against ANY other major league teams. But in the sixth, he walked Nick Punto and Mauer followed with an RBI double, giving him all but a homer in the cycle. Jones followed with an RBI single up the middle (Jones isn't the best, but a good choice over Morneau to give some protection to Mauer in the lineup) and Lima quickly hit Ford with a fastball. After Matthew LeCroy's weak at-bat ended in a usually pop fly, Lima was replaced by left-hander Jimmy Gobble to face Justin Morneau.

After my fellow blogger's tirade yesterday, its clear that we are dissapointed with Morneau's season and his lack of execution that lead us to believe he doesnt have much of a future in the majors. Justin looked good most of the game, putting good swings on Lima fastballs and driving them before he creamed a Gobble curveball over the wall for a three-run homer in the sixth. The positive? It was the difference that gave the Twins a win and it should that Morneau still has some power in that swing of his. The negatives? Well, a Lima fastball isn't too much (he has a 6.56 ERA, so its like a Triple-A fastball, which Morneau did well against) and Gobble isn't too great either since he can't make it into the Kansas City starting staff. Hopefully, it will help him get on a roll and have a good last month. That would be great for him and the Twins, but there is no guarantee he'll come out of it.

Pitching-wise, it wasn't the usually Twins stuff of the past month. Silva wasn't great, giving up four runs in 6 and 2/3 innings, but with no walks again, Silva has a total of EIGHT in 180 innings. That adds up to .4 BB/nine innings, which is incredible. The win gives him a 9-6 record, but he should have many more, just as Radke and Santana, as he has been great in the second half. Jesse Crain had an ugly, but wiggled out of it with a double play and Nathan continued his streak of scoreless innings since the All-Star break, striking out two and nearly giving up game-tying home run after putting runners on third and first to start the inning. Nathan leads the bigs in strikeouts/nine innings since the break as well, another indication of how good our pitching has been.

With Kyle Lohse on the mound tommorow, a sweep is no guarantee, but even he should be able to hold them at bay. If not, I'm calling for him to be sent to the bullpen with Mays or even the minors, so we can get Fransisco Liriano up here so we have a chance to win all our games.

Twins 3, Royals 1

There has been a lot of disappointment on the Twins offense this year. Michael Cuddyer, Shannon Stewart, Luis Rivas, Jason Bartlett... none of them have lived up to expectations. But I can't think of any player in the AL who has been more disappointing than Justin Morneau. He has had an absolutely AWFUL season, especially if you discount his two-week hot streak after returning from the DL in April. Even the most conservative projections at the start of the year had Morneau hitting .250 with 25 HR or so. Instead, it appears that he will finish the season at around .230 with under 20 home runs. Morneau is unlikely to surpass his home run from roughly one half a season's worth of at-bats in 2004 (19) in a full 2005 campaign. I sadly have to admit that I honestly don't know if Justin is going to be able to come around and have a successful Major League career. He has been absolutely ravaged by Major League pitching, and has shown no ability whatsoever to adjust. I realize it's only one year, but when a guy has holes this massive in his swing it can be difficult to impossible to correct. He has been dreadfully bad since May and shown no signs of improvement. After hitting .439 in April, Morneau has hit .222 in May, .230 in June, .213 in July, and .200 in August. His on-base percentage has declined while strikeouts have gone up. And yet... Morneau CONTINUES to bat clean-up in the lineup, despite being almost indisputably the easiest out on the team.

That is just extremely bad management by Ron Gardenhire, and it hurt the team once again tonight. In the top of the 8th, Jason Bartlett hit a leadoff double, then Mike Ryan laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him to third. Alas, the Twins had yet another runner on third with one out, this one representing the go-ahead run in a 1-1 game which would have likely meant the victory for Scott Baker. Nick Punto struck out looking (he REALLY needs to learn how to protect the plate with 2 strikes... that's little league stuff, Nick), and up came Joe Mauer. Of course, the Royals intentionally walked him, which wouldn't happen with most teams when the cleanup hitter is on deck. Of course, Morneau hit a weak grounder to second to end the inning; this after already having struck out swinging at balls in two previous at-bats. The situations would occur again in a less important but equally pitiful showing in the top of the 10th. After a clutch 2-run double by Punto put the Twins ahead by two, Mauer came up and was again intentionally walked. This put runners on first and second with one out. Up came Morneau, who promptly grounded into a double play to end the inning. Justin's 0/5 performance dropped his average to .237; his on-base percentage is an ugly .305.

Moving away from that painful topic, the Twins did collect a victory tonight, albeit it a tough one against the lowly Royals. Baker pitched extremely well, going 7 innings and allowing just one run on 4 hits while striking out 5 and walking just one. Kind of makes you wonder why the hell it took so long for for Gardy and Ryan to call him up. If he would've pitched a couple of those games that Joe Mays lost, the Twins could conceivably still be in playoff contention.

Jason Bartlett has looked really good lately. He went 2/3 tonight, raising his average to .268. Perhaps more importantly, he has shown huge improvement in the field. Bartlett is stabbing tough grounders on both side and firing the ball to first to gun down baserunners. This is a good sign, and hopefully one that continues as we move along.

Can't get it done for Johan

How bad can things get after winning 10 of 12? A three-game losing streak to begin and then scoring only eight runs against a terrible Texas pitching staff. (That includes the seven scored yesterday) It gets more and more pathetic with each game. Today, the Twins anemic offense ruined another Santana gem. Johan wasn't spectacular, but seven innings with six Ks while allowing only one run and three hits is still very good. And if you ask me, the ump's zone wasn't too nice to Johan while being very good to Texas' Chris Young. He deserved a win but the Twins offense couldn't put anything together and Jesse Crain couldn't hold the lead in the 9th.

I can't blame Crain too much. The Twins can't expect to win scoring one run. It can't be left to the pitching to win it all. And, of course, the call of catcher's interference on Joe Mauer's play of Rod Barajas' pop-up didn't help matters either. No, the blame is all on the hitters.

Five hits and one run against the "mighty" Chris Young and the great Texas bullpen. And to make matters worse, they had the bases loaded in the first with one out, and you guessed it, couldn't score. LeCroy swung at the first pitch out of the zone and popped out. Ugh surprise there. No patience is always a problem for LeCroy and he proved it. I guess his good week was a blurb. Then Jacque pretty much repeated that to end the inning. From there, it was much of the same. A double here, maybe a good play to move a guy over, but no one could drive anyone in. In the fifth, Lew Ford was stranded at third with one out when Jason Bartlett and Michael Ryan struck out. All in all, Rangers starters from rookie Kameron Loe on Friday to Rogers to Young didn't give up a single run to the Twins all weekend. It wasn't until the eight, when Bartlett singled and was moved over and Mauer singled him in.

It was a sad series in all. It was exciting to see some offense yesterday, but pathetic that they couldn't win for Johan when he pitched very well again. The only positive is that Mays is in the bullpen and tommorow we get the joy of watching Scott Baker pitch against the Royals, whom we must undoubtedly sweep.

Jacque's Day

It was shaping up like another tough loss resulting from a lack of offense today for the Twins, at least until Jacque Jones stepped up in the 9th inning as a pinch-hitter. Jones delivered a double, and would then score the tying run when Terry Tiffee singled to right. Tiffee moved up to third on a throwing error, and the Twins had the go ahead run 90 feet away with 1 out. I wrote yesterday about the Twins' need to be more aggressive if they wanted to get runs in and win games, and they did just that in this situation. Gardenhire called for the suicide squeeze, which was very nearly successful except that Mike Redmond's bunt rolled just foul. Redmond would then strike out, and Jason Bartlett would fly out to center, destroying yet another opportunity for the Twins. They would redeem themselves, as Joe Nathan pitched two scoreless innings to hold off the potent Rangers' offense and Jones came through big again in the 11th with a 2-run homer that gave the Twins the lead. They would add a couple more runs and JC Romero would finish the inning to seal a 7-2 victory for the Twins.

Despite their inabilities to bring home Tiffee in the 9th, both Bartlett and Redmond had pretty impressive games. Jason had four hits, bringing his average up to .259. Redmond had a couple hits, and is batting .288. He has been excellent as a backup catcher, and has proven to be perhaps the best off-season acquisition for the Twins. Brad Radke, who started the game, pitched 6 strong innings and allowed only one run.

The Twins will be sending a position player down within the next couple days to make room for Scott Baker, who will be starting in place of Joe Mays on Monday. Look for it to be Terry Tiffee, who - despite having a key hit in the 9th today - has been miserable, hitting .214 and playing poorly in the field.

Working against No One

Unfortunately, we were wrong. The Twins anemic offense can't even score runs against some of the worst pitching in the majors. They were shut-out by Kameron Loe, who hadn't started all year and is a reliever, and the Rangers' pitching staff. They had no walks and managed only six hits. It was beyond pathetic again. Now, it almost doesn't matter if the pitching is great. We still can't win.

Of course, that's not to say that it was. Kyle Lohse had a terrible start after putting up a good run and bringing his ERA down to a very respectable 4.09. Tonight, it was a different story, as he was tore up by the Rangers' hitters for six runs and three home runs in five innings. Alfonso Soriano showed his worth to the Twins, as he hit a two-run homer and a RBI double in the game to bring his offensive totals to 30 HRs and 87 RBIs for the year. The 30 HRs puts him in an elite class of second basemen, being the only second baseman other than Jeff Kent and Roger Hornsby to have three 30-HR seasons as a second baseman.

Maybe it wouldn't have saved our season, but having Soriano certainly would have helped. The Twins could have split up the bats of Mauer and Morneau and given them both protection by having Mauer bat third, Soriano bat fourth, and Mornuea bat fifth. Better protection, less pressure, and of course, it would make up for the loss of Hunter in the lineup. Then, at least, there would be a moment in the game or an inning in which the opposing team actually was afraid to pitch to Twins hitters. That may have been worth one of our prospects. Hell, we weren't using them we we needed them anyways, so why not?

The good news after all this: At least we know for sure that Mays will not start again. It will be Baker in his place Monday against Kansas City and that's the first good news in three days. Radke takes the mound today against Texas ace Rogers. Lets pray for a victory, but we all know how the Twins hitters fair against finesse lefties like Rogers. Come on guys....

Relax!

After a brief period of offensive competence, the Twins appear to be falling back into the anemic hitting trend that caused them to essentially drop out of the playoff race in June and July. After somehow winning a three-game series with the Athletics in which they scored only 5 runs total, the Twins' offense suddenly had a dramatic turnaround, averaging 6.1 runs per game over their next seven and going 6-1 over that span. Things seemed to be coming together. Now it appears that the Twins are falling back into bad old habits, going down 1-2-3 inning after inning, leaving runners aboard, and failing to execute in simple situations. In fairness, they did face three very good pitchers in that series against Chicago, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how the hitters fare against Texas' mediocre pitching before completely passing judgment, but it certainly seems that the offense is falling into the same patterns that put them in such a rut for a couple months.

I saw some subtle reasons for the rise in offensive productivity over that 7 game span against Chicago and Seattle last week, and it wasn't just the fact that Mashin' Matthew started belting the ball and Lew Ford hit dingers in three straight games.

All of it roots from the fact that the Twins players, regardless of what Michael "we were never out of it" Cuddyer might say, felt that the season was lost and the playoff were out of reach. As a result, it seemed like they weren't pressing as much; especially the younger guys. Guys were going to the plate and swinging the bat, rather than standing with the bat on their shoulder and praying for a walk. Hitters felt less pressure to come through with the big home run, because it simply didn't matter as much. None of the games really felt like must-win affairs, they went into Chicago last week and felt no intimidation or pressure, because hell, the White Sox were 15 games ahead of them.

Aside from the more relaxed approach, the Twins' feeling of being out of contention had another very positive effect, this one more from a coaching standpoint. The team became FAR more aggressive on the basepaths. The team seemed to adopt something of a "What have we got to lose?" attitude, and it payed off, as more guys were moving into scoring position and players were running home and scoring on plays where they otherwise might have been held at third. In that Chicago series, the Twins were running all over on AJ Pierzynski and the Sox pitchers, stealing 7 bases while being caught only twice. The Twins continued to run aggressively against the Mariners, swiping a couple bags and taking the extra base on every opportunity.

However, now that they are realistically back in the playoff picture, just a few games behind in the Wild Card race, the Twins hitters seem to be getting nervous again, and the pressure is causing mistakes and overly conservative play. Yesterday's 2-1 loss to the White Sox provides us with a couple of perfect examples. For one, in the second inning, Mike Ryan stopped at second on a Michael Cuddyer single where he easily could've moved up to third. The baserunning err cost the Twins a run, as Ryan would be thrown out at home on a Terry Tiffee single in the next at-bat. Another example came later in the game, when Cuddyer came up with the winning run on second. Cuddy worked the count to 3-0 against Sox closer Dustin Hermanson, then Al Newman gave him the green light. Cuddyer failed to see the sign, and took the next three pitches for strikes and went down looking. That type of cowardly, conservative play is the whole reason the Twins went into that giant slump, and they seem to fall back into that pattern every time they play in truly meaningful games. Oh, and guess how many stolen base attempts the Twins had in that entire home series against the White Sox? One, by Justin Morneau. He was thrown out.

If the Twins want their offense to get back to where it was during that seven-game stretch of phenomenal baseball that put them back into the race, it is imperative that the younger players start to relax and swing the bats when they get up to the plate. They need to run the bases aggressively, because with the type of speed and sliding technique that this team has, it is going to pay off more often than not. And when your hitters are so incapable of coming through with the big hit to drive in runners, every base counts.

Fading Fast

Again and again, Carlos Silva and the rest of the pitchers are learning a tough lesson this year: No matter how well you pitch, you just can't win if your team doesn't score any runs. Silva pitched about as well as could have been expected today, going 7 innings and allowing just one run to the White Sox. Unfortunately, for the third straight game the Twins' offense was unable to put a single run on the board until the late innings. Sox pitcher Jon Garland mowed down the Twins hitters 1-2-3 inning after inning. Mike Ryan (who went 3/4 and had a decent game, for once) delivered a clutch 2-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 1, but unfortunately it wouldn't extend the game for too long as Messy Crain would come out in the 10th and allow a leadoff double to the extremely light-hitting Geoff Blum that resulted in the game winning run when Blum was brought home by the light-hitting Timo Perez. Crain is a wreck. After a great first half, his inability to strike out Major League hitters has caught up with him very quickly, and he's giving up key hits to bad hitters, as he showed tonight.

I fear the Twins offense is falling back into its slump after showing life for a week or so. Their inability to hit in this series was borderline absurd. Now, in fairness, they did run into three damn good pitchers; but when you're in a playoff race and playing a division rival, you have just GOT to find a way to get some runs across the plate. When your marquis power hitter (Morneau) is hitting .241/.307 and the number 2 guy in your order (Punto) is hitting .246/.307, you're going to have trouble generating many runs from the top of the order. Even the trio of Lew Ford, Matt LeCroy, and Joe Mauer - who have been very hot as of late - went a combined 0/12.

After winning in one of the most amazing games of the year on Tuesday night, the Twins have followed up with two very ugly performances yesterday and today. Hopefully we can chalk up the offense's pathetic performance in this series to the fact that three great pitchers dominated them; but our next series is in Texas against a pitching staff that is mediocre at best. If the Twins' bats are as quiet in Arlington as they were in this series, you can kiss any thoughts of the post-season goodbye.