Just when you think you’re out, they pull you right back in. Twins fans were taken for a ride this weekend as the team hit absolute rock bottom, only to salvage the end of the series and bolster a little more optimism as they head west for their next road trip.
Friday seemed all too familiar of a scenario for the Twins. A great offensive effort was sabotaged by an atrocious pitching performance. Denard Span, Joe Mauer, Alexi Casilla and Trevor Plouffe all turned in very good offensive outings as the Twins flexed their muscle once again, in route to scoring six runs. Unfortunately, (as has been the case for much of this season) Friday night’s starter, Carl Pavano, was simply atrocious on the mound.
Pavano pitched 6.1 innings, giving up 4 earned runs and 6 hits and looked very hittable for much of the evening. Every Twins lead / tied game given to Pavano (3-2 in the 2nd, 4-4 in the 4th, 5-5 in the 6th) was immediately coughed up by either Pavano or another member of the pitching staff (that night’s victim was Duensing).
The end result had the Twins on the wrong side of a 7-6 ballgame and was another bitter loss that had many Twins fans dejected and slightly lost with the 2012 season. By the end of the game Friday night, my optimism was gone. This was no longer a good team that just needed to put it together – this was a bad team. Dreams of competing in the AL Central were gone and a long losing season looked to be on the horizon.
Then, (after a Saturday rainout) Sunday came. Once again, Twins batters swung the bat well and put together a very impressive offensive showing. Josh Willingham, back from his 3 game paternity leave, showed why he was the best offseason signing for the Twins by going 3-5 and only being a homerun short of the cycle. Danny Valencia, Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit and Denard Span turned in solid offensive outings as well.
The highlight of the afternoon, however, was the fact that for only the 4th time this season, a Twins starter turned in a quality start. (By contrast, 4 other major league clubs have at least 16 quality starts this year). Jason Marquis did exactly what the Twins pitchers are being expected to do this year, go 6 innings, hold the runs down (Marquis gave up only 3) and simply pitch well enough to give the offense a shot.
Twins Are Last In The League In Strikeouts:
Today, the talk from many of the Twins reporters and other baseball writers has been just how poor the Twins strikeout percentage is for their starters when compared to other teams across the league.
Currently, Twins pitchers have 105 strikeouts in 21 games – this is 18% fewer than any other major league team and 34% the MLB average (stats courtesy of Aaron Gleeman).
On the surface, those numbers look horrid – but, I think when presented with numbers like the ones above, you have to take into consideration who the Twins starters are and what they are trying to be. Outside of Francisco Liriano, the Twins do not have a starter who is expected to step out onto the mound and earn strikeouts. The very foundation of Twins pitching for years has been ‘pitch to contact’. Keep the ball down, put it in play and let the defense make the out.
So, low strikeout numbers are not alarming for this pitching staff – Pavano, Marquis, Blackburn , Hendriks and Swarzak and pitch to contact pitchers. They are going to get hit, but the idea is for them to keep it down in the zone and earn groundball outs. So far this year they haven’t been able to keep the ball down in the zone, and have suffered with the league’s worst starter ERA (7.09 going into Sunday’s game).
This was never going to be a strikeout staff, so these bad numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.
After appearing in only a few games for the A’s, Oakland Oakland
I still stand by the notion that the Twins made a mistake two weeks ago by cutting Hughes. He provided nice depth to the bench, and his ability to step in and play 2B & 3B in a pinch made him the team’s only real infield backup.
The Twins still lack any infield depth and have yet to make a move to shore up that issue. It was wildly speculated that last Thursday’s day off would be the perfect time for the Twins to call up some fresh blood and reduce the number of arms in the bullpen. Instead, the front office remained quiet and we enter this road trip with little in the way of changes to the roster.
If I’m the Twins, I put in a claim for Hughes and put him back on the bench (where he should have been all along). This gives Gardy a pinch hitter option for Casilla, as well as a defensive backup for Casilla , Valencia
Pretend GM:
I made the case late last week for a few roster moves I think the Twins needed to make, and since they have done very little (I.E. nothing) in the way of moves so far – I’ll throw out a few more recommendations. If I’m in the Twins front office, these are the changes I’m making this week:
1. DFA Jeff Gray – While Gray does have a low ERA, he simply does not have the control to take advantage of his great pitch arsenal. In Friday’s game against Kansas City
2. DFA Matt Maloney – Much like Gray, Maloney’s small flashes of brilliance have been surrounded by pedestrian performances and poor outings. Maloney cannot be sent down to the minors without clearing waivers, but once again, I’d take that chance.
3. Promote Scott Diamond to the majors: Diamond has been shining in AAA this year, posting a 4-1 record with a 2.84 ERA in 5 starts. Diamond has only walked 5 batters and has 24 strikeouts. He’s showing great stuff in AAA and the major league pitching staff has been horrendous. Get him up and in the starting rotation (in place of Liriano) ASAP. At the very least, use Diamond as long relief.
4. Promote Deolis Guerra: Guerra, who was recently promoted to AAA, has been tearing up the minors this season. Guerra had a 2-0 record with a miniscule .71 ERA in 7 games with AA New Britain. Guerra’s only walked 1 batter and has struck out 15. If he can continue to make bats miss in AAA, I think you have to bring him up to the majors. This bullpen has been solid, but would really benefit from another powerful arm (in the same vein as Glenn Perkins). This would allow Burton
5. Claim Luke Hughes OR Promote Brian Dozier: This is an either or situation – if Hughes is signed, there simply won’t be enough at bats for the youngster Dozier and it will make a lot more sense to let him play everyday in the minors. If the Twins decide that Hughes is not in their plans, however, I think you have to give Dozier a try. While his bat has cooled slightly in AAA, Dozier has proven through spring training and the early portion of the AAA season that he is a very solid hitter and a good defensive player in the middle infield. The Twins need 2B / SS depth and Dozier would allow for great flexibility in that regard. (The subsequent move would be to DFA Burroughs, who is of little use as a pinch hitter and can only fill in for Valencia
Looking Forward:
The Twins begin a 6 game road trip tonight in Los Angeles Boston
After LA, the Twins head to Seattle
(For those who are bad at math, I’m stating they need to go 4-2 on this road trip). Given the current state of the starting rotation, that may be a stretch. Realistically, I’m simply hoping they win 1 in LA and take 2 from Seattle
The downside of a west coast trip is that first pitch is at 9pm central time. Not sure how much of these games I’ll watch to completion…
Let’s start a new win streak Twins! I’ll be back throughout the week. Until then,
Go Twins!
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