2 Quick Things

1. As I learned over the weekend, the Cleveland Indians have, without a doubt, the league's most boring announcers.  They should have put a graphic in the corner of the screen: "The Indians are doing badly this year.  We no longer care about the season in general or this game in particular."  I thought it was bad when the Royals' commentators were continually discussing how good their grounds crew was; at least they were making an effort.  During Indians broadcasts I sat through long silences that were interrupted by only the most mundane of comments.

2. For some reason I found this play-by-play description on Yahoo's box score subtly hilarious.  A picture of Rios sitting down next to the base and doing a butterfly stretch while getting tagged out comes to mind.

3rd  A Rios singled to deep left, A Ramirez scored, A Rios out stretching at second.  0  3

A lost season

My brain is ready. It's been ready for a little while now. But I still cannot give up. Until the Twins are mathematically eliminated, I'm going to be pulling for them. But my brain knows the reality of it. And that reality is that the Twins are 6 games back in the division, even with the Tigers and White Sox losing today, and they are playing their worst baseball of the season. That reality is that the Twins are 5 games under .500, their worst mark of the season, and just went 2-4 on a homestand that was against 2 of the 3 worst teams in the American League. That reality is that they aren't going to make the playoffs.

At this point, it seems like every Twins game is on repeat: maybe the bats take a small lead, maybe they don't, but then the starting pitcher gives up way too many runs in way too few innings. The bullpen then adds a little insult to the injury before someone finally manages to stop the bleeding. Along the way the offense scores a modest-to-good number of runs, but fails in a few key situations, and Joe Mauer continues his ridiculous season in what amounts to yet another loss.

That's certainly what happened today, as Nick Blackburn amassed an abysmal start and Delmon Young and Orlando Cabrera made quick work of the Twins' scoring opportunities by grounding into three double plays between them (Young did at least hit a 2-run homer earlier in the game). The bullpen at least put together a good outing, although it now stands to be completely overworked if Francisco Liriano doesn't pitch like he did in his last turn.

It's just so hard to watch this season crumble as so many hitters are having great years. Joe Mauer, of course, is on another planet, making his 2008 self look like Chris Heintz; Justin Morneau is having perhaps his best season, placing third in the AL in home runs and first in RBIs; Jason Kubel is finally having that breakout season we've all been waiting for, currently ranking 7th in the AL in OPS; Michael Cuddyer is having a very solid year, despite the unwarranted criticism he's been facing; and Denard Span is repeating his break-through performance from last season.

But it's also not hard to see why the Twins aren't competing for a division title. Second base has been a sinkhole, compiling an OPS of .507; the starting pitching has become a carousel of short batting practice outings (from Glen Perkins to Anthony Swarzak to Nick Blackburn to Francisco Liriano); the bullpen has managed an astounding inconsistency outside of Joe Nathan and Matt Guerrier (and sometimes Jose Mijares). Sure, Bobby Keppel may look good and throw two scoreless innings and strikeout four batters, but I'm betting next time around he allows three runs and only gets one out.

By no means, though, am I going to stop watching. And I'll still enjoy it. A lot of that credit has to go to Joe Mauer. Will he hit .400? No, but he's close enough that we're talking about. Will he break the record for batting average for a catcher in a season? Will he capture his third batting average title in four seasons? Will he win the MVP even if the Twins continue to fade? All of these things will keep me excited to turn on the games every night.

That and the fact that the Twins could still make the playoffs.

Another real bad inning

Well, for the Twins it was very good. For Delmon Young, though, it was very bad. I feel obligated to make this post since I did the same to Brendan Harris a little while ago.

The Twins scored 6 runs on 5 hits, 3 walks, and 1 error in the fourth inning tonight against the Indians. Unfortunately for Young, he made all 3 outs in the inning, chasing a pitch in the dirt for strike three and the first out, and tapping into a 1-4-3 double play with the bases loaded to end the inning. And that leaves him as the only Twin hitter yet to reach base.

Alexi Casilla's Defense

The Twins got it handed to them on Wednesday against the Indians, as they lost 10-1. But one question was lodged in my head after the game--is Alexi Casilla's defense good? There were a number of plays that had me questioning this, and I'll start by going through them.

-->In the second inning, Casilla ranged to his right to get a slow grounder that hit second base. He picked it cleanly, but didn't throw it as he had no chance to get the runner at first. Was it impressive that he got the ball in the first place, or could someone else have actually gotten an out (on this one I'm pretty confident the answer to that is no)?

-->The next inning, a pop fly was lifted into shallow right field and Casilla managed to run it down, only to have it bounce out of his glove. Again, was it impressive that he even got there? And should it have been an easy catch once he got there, or was it a difficult catch because of the angle and speed he was running at?

-->Then in the fourth inning, with two outs and two on, Casilla made a diving attempt on a ball that rolled by him on the first base side; he came up just short. Would another second basemen have been able to make it, or was it just too far away?

-->That was followed by a remarkably similar play in the fifth inning, except that he got to this one. He stood up and made the easy throw for the out.

-->Later, in the eighth inning with a man on first, Casilla made another diving attempt on a groundball, this time to his right. The ball went under his arm essentially and he was charged with an error. Did he even have to dive, and should that have been an easy play?

-->And the last one occurred in the ninth. Like the play in the fourth and fifth frames, Casilla dove to his left to get the ball, but this time he knocked it down and couldn't control it. It stayed nearby, but he didn't have a chance to throw out the runner at first.


As for my original question, about whether or not his defense is good, his UZR/150 at second base is -8.1 this year (221.1 innings) and -4.0 for his career (1,489 innings). Last year, though, he was almost average with a -0.8 UZR/150 over 833.2 innings.

But basically, I just want other people's thoughts on whether or not he should have made those plays, and whether or not other second basemen would have been able to make the plays.

Hello, Joe

I guess someone read my plea after the Twins' most recent game. With 2 outs and a man on second in the eighth inning, Jose Mijares was poised to pitch to Luis Valbuena. Then Ryan Garko was sent in to pinch hit for him, and any reason for Mijares to still be in the game evaporated; Garko, for his career, has an OPS 150 points higher against lefties than against righties. The situation was almost exactly the same as in Sunday's match versus Tampa Bay.

This time, however, Gardy chose to bring in Joe Nathan for the first time this season with a runner on base. While it looked like he completely overthrew the first two pitches (including a wild pitch), he got Garko out to end the inning. And after that, he came back and finished the game for the save.

See--it works!

Weekend Wrap-up

Despite losing the finale of their 3-game set with the Indians, the Twins really impressed me this weekend. Last weekend's sweep of the Angels was certainly a good series, but this one actually gave me more confidence in the Twins. Their pitching has finally started to come around, as both Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey had very nice starts. We knew Glen Perkins wasn't going to pitch eight innings every time out, and his performance on Sunday was not awful. Even the bullpen held up their end of things, as Jose Mijares and Joe Nathan each threw a scoreless inning on Friday, Luis Ayala helped Slowey out of a jam on Saturday, and Matt Guerrier, Craig Breslow, and Ayala combined for three shutout innings on Sunday. That's five different relievers, none of whom allowed a run in the weekend series. As a whole, the Twins gave up just 6 runs to a team that came in averaging 6 runs per game.

The Twins offense also had a solid performance. Jason Kubel hit two home runs on Saturday, his third and fourth of the year, for his third career multi-home run game. Delmon Young had three hits on Saturday and finished the series with his average up to .255. Jose Morales picked up four hits in the finale and is now hitting a tidy .375.

This brings us to the subject of catcher, and with Joe Mauer set to return Friday, you have to wonder if Morales isn't the better option to back him up. Obviously I don't think the team is considering getting rid of Mike Redmond, but Morales has easily been a superior player thus far. You have to give Redmond some leeway as he's proven to be a solid catcher offensively and defensively, but he will also turn 38 years old on May 5th and his performance is way down.

From 2005 to 2007, Redmond hit .312/.353/.381, but he batted just .287/.321/.333 in 2008 before starting this year with an abysmal .226/.258/.314 line. His OPS has also fallen at least 50 points every year since 2006. His arm has declined, too. From 2005 to 2007, Redmond caught 41.2 % of potential basestealers (35/85); last season, though, he caught just 21.7 % (5/23) and this season he's only thrown out 9.1 % (1/11). Despite this drop in caught stealing percent, he has still not made an error since joining the Twins in 2005 and his passed ball this year was his first since 2005.

All of which is to say that Redmond's slow start may be more than that. Granted, I think he will hit better than a .572 OPS over the course of the season, but some of that is most likely an irretrievable decline. Because of his veteran status and general amiability, I seriously doubt the Twins would think of letting him go. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if he's quickly sent to the DL due to a minor or lingering injury at some point this season to give Morales an opportunity to stay with the Twins.

And your weekly pick-me-up Seinfeld clip:

Glory Days

Memo to White Sox fans: in case you've forgotten already, the view from the top is pretty nice. You know what else is nice? To see Francisco Liriano back and pitching well, showing flashes of what made him so unhittable back in 2006. He did throw 96 pitches in six innings, and he walked three batters, but overall he was excellent. He struck out five and allowed just three hits, and showed some composure in pitching around an error by Brendan Harris that loaded the bases in the third inning.

All in all, a 6-2 victory over the Indians moves the Twins ahead of the White Sox for first place in the AL Central. Who would have guessed the Twins would be in first place as late as August 3rd this year?

Twins Prevail in Extras

It took ten innings, but the Twins were able to win the series (and game) 2-1 over the Cleveland Indians. The win moved them into a tie with the Royals for second place in the division at 9-10. Looking at the standings, the division is basically upside-down right now when compared to the predictions most people made. Detroit: 6-13?! Cleveland: 7-12?! Chicago: 12-7?! Of course it's early, but it's remarkable how these teams are playing even just one-eighth of the way into the season.

In the 9th inning, after pinch-hitting Craig Monroe for Mike Lamb, Ron Gardenhire had an interesting decision to make: move Justin Morneau to first base from designated hitter, or move someone already in the field to first base (which ended up being Brian Buscher) and bring someone in to replace them. Normally, you would never want to move Morneau there, because it means the pitcher would have to hit, but who else could fill in at first base?

The options were few. Buscher played 7 games there with Rochester last year and one the year before with New Britain. Needless to say, that's not a lot of experience. Matt Tolbert has never played a professional inning there and Nick Punto has, surprisingly, never played a major league inning at first base (he's played LF, CF, RF, 3B, SS, and 2B). Brendan Harris has only played one inning there in his career and that was earlier this season. I guess you could throw Joe Mauer in as a choice, but he's never played first base either. Now, maybe I overestimate the difficulty in transferring to a different position for a Major League player, but the thought of having any of those guys playing first base in extra innings was very worrisome. And, Buscher, who Gardenhire did choose to play first, is a shaky defender at his own position who was playing in his first Major League game this season.

Of course, all this, all my second-guessing, and what happens? Justin Morneau comes up with men on first and third and two outs in the bottom of the tenth. Thank God that wasn't Matt Guerrier.

A few more game notes:

• Buscher doubled for his first hit of the year, while Mike Redmond also collected his first hit, a single in the ninth inning.
• Scott Baker had a fantastic outing, going seven innings and allowing one run, while getting eight Indians to strike out.
• Brendan Harris hit his first home run of the year. He is the third Twins player (and first right-handed one) to hit a home run this season. They're now within two of the Mets and A's who have had five players hit home runs. Pretty pathetic.
• The bullpen came through today, as Dennys Reyes, Pat Neshek, and Matt Guerrier combined to shut down the Indians for three innings. Neshek was aided by an amazing catch by Carlos Gomez in the ninth (or maybe Reyes was--it was his baserunner on second). It was really some catch.

Injury Notes

Yesterday's game was a good one, with the Twins picking up a 3-0 victory over the Indians. Justin Morneau hit his fifth home run in the first inning and Carlos Gomez added an RBI single in the second, which was all the Twins would need. Joe Nathan continued his flawless start to the year in order to notch his sixth save.

A few injury updates, though, that need attention:

It appears that Kevin Slowey will be ready to come off the disabled list soon, which begs the question of who should be taken out of the rotation. Clearly, Francisco Liriano has been the worst pitcher, but do the Twins want him to continue making Major League starts in order to aid his comeback from Tommy John surgery? Nick Blackburn may be the choice, but he is certainly making it hard with the way he is pitching. After yesterday's 7.2 shutout innings, he lowered his ERA to 2.49. He also got his first Major League win; he did all this despite striking out only one Indian. It will be interesting to see what the Twins do.

Michael Cuddyer could be ready to rejoin the Twins on Friday. When Cuddyer comes back, I think the obvious choice is to send Denard Span right back where he came from. I don't have any problem with him, and I've been rooting for him to do well, but he hasn't performed. Therefore, when there's rumors that Gomez might be sent down instead, it's a little puzzling. If Gomez really begins to struggle, I would much rather see Jason Pridie than Denard Span getting regular starts in center.

And Adam Everett was put on the DL with a shoulder injury, opening a spot on the roster. The Twins used it to call up Brian Buscher, who will start today at third base and will be hitting sixth. Everett's injury gives Gardenhire the perfect opportunity to start getting Nick Punto in the lineup all the time, as he is today, unless Matt Tolbert continues playing lights-out baseball.

Speaking of the lineup today, it looks very different. Joe Mauer is getting a day off, as Mike Redmond takes over catching duties for the day. Morneau is resting from the field, starting at DH, with Mike Lamb moving over to play first. Add in Buscher, who's playing his first game of the year, and Punto, who hasn't played much this year, and the lineup looks drastically different.

Twins' Offense Develops Anemia

The Twins offense underwent a medical check-up earlier tonight, and the diagnosis: anemia. And they certainly showed their anemic qualities in picking up only three hits and drawing a sole walk. Of the three hits, two did not make it out of the infield. Of the four baserunners, two were erased by double plays. No Twin made it past second base. From casual observation, I'm guessing their case of anemia is pretty darn severe.

In all seriousness, the offense was quite atrocious. It's only one game, but it was one bad game. Matt Tolbert had the only hit out of the infield and managed to keep his average right at .400. I don't think it can last much longer.

Francisco Liriano also made his second start of the season, with this one going only marginally better than the first. Although he made it through five innings this time, he still struggled mightily to find the strike zone. Of the 88 pitches he threw, only 47 went for strikes, as he racked up five more walks against just three strikeouts. He allowed fewer hits (4) and fewer runs (3), though, than in his first outing. So I don't know that we can mark this as a step in the right direction, because it didn't look much improved at all, but at the very least he didn't go backwards.

The bullpen looked good, giving up one hit (albeit a home run) in four innings of work, while striking out two. Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain each pitched two innings. Giving the game ball to Crain exemplifies just how bad this game was for the Twins. For their first game against the Indians of the season, it's not a good sign.