Scenes of a Season

At this point, I'm at a loss.  The team is just not this bad.  Although they are still missing Denard Span and Alexi Casilla, the Twins are relatively healthy compared to the rest of the year.  It doesn't make sense.  The Orioles had a record of 47-77 before this series began and had just 18 wins in 60 road games, including just 4 in their last 23 chances.  Baltimore hadn't won two consecutive road games since mid-May, which is also the last time they've won a road series.  On top of that, they were riding a 5-game losing streak.

But the Twins of course bucked all the odds and lost each of the first two games, scoring just one run in each.  In every single game since June 10, the Orioles have allowed at least two runs.  And the last time they managed that feat in consecutive games was from April 1-4, when they started the season by giving up exactly one run in each of their first four games.

In case it wasn't clear, the Orioles pitching staff is terrible.  They are the worst in the league in almost every category.  Runs, earned runs, hits, home runs, average, WHIP, slugging percent, OPS, you name it--dead last in each.  As a silver lining, at least the Twins had their chances in the first game.  Yesterday, against Alfredo Simon, a man with a career ERA over 5.00, they could do nothing.  Simon had easily his best start of his career, setting career highs in innings (8) and strikeouts (8), while still achieving career bests in hits allowed (3) and baserunners allowed (4).

It's just been that kind of season.  I haven't even mentioned Brian Duensing's disastrous outing and I already have plenty of material for a post about the Twins' disappointing series as a microcosm of their season as a whole.  However, a split of the series is still possible and, despite their showing in the first two games, these are still the Orioles, so let's see what the Twins can do tonight and tomorrow.