Any thoughts the Twins (or fans) had of the team making the post-season can definitely be forgotten. Though it’s still ‘in fashion’ to read both local & national sports writers stating the team is only out of first place by four (no five, no – six!) games and can rebound that’s a really hard sell. If the 2009 Twins were in any other division with their current record, any talk of divisional hopes would have faded out of conversation long, long ago. But they’re in the miserably weak AL Central, with the division-leading Tigers just five games over .500 and barely maintaining a two-game lead over the White Sox. So the Twins, being led by MVP candidates Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, with solid support from Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer who are each having breakout seasons, are still getting kind consideration from many to challenge for the title. Nonsense!
There are suggestions that the Twins can surge back into competition with a six to eight game win streak – not entirely impossible when you realize they have multiple games left to play with the depleted and stripped down Indians and the perennial basement dwelling Royals who lack any ability to generate run production. Unless they’re playing the Twins. Minnesota got their ass Royal-ly kicked by Kansas City in a recent series; Cleveland’s starting lineup can’t compare to the Twins but they easily managed to take two of three from us – at the Dome. You see, offense isn’t the problem for the Twins, it’s pitching that’s become the disaster for them.
Yes, the problem with the Twins this year is that the starting rotation has shown zero indication that they can string together those six to eight consecutive solid starts it would take to make such a win streak even plausible. The Twins longest winning streak in 2009 is four games – four games! – and the staff has yet to put together six consecutive starts during the second half without allowing double-digit runs. Yes, you read that right. The Twins have allowed 10 or more runs eight times already since the All-Star break.
Eight!
And not only to the Yankees, Angels or the Red Sox, the heavy hitters of the AL. The lowly Oakland A’s did it twice and the Royals did it once. To add further insult to injury the A’s had only turned that trick once before in the entire season, and the Royals now have done it four times in 2009—twice against the Twins no less. The starting five is clearly running on fumes, not even able to get past five innings. With the exception of Scott Baker, who has tossed back-to-back decent games for the first time in weeks, the rotation seems more ready to implode rather than ready to tap into reserves for a pennant race. And forget about the bullpen. Matt Gurrier and Joe Nathan continue to be strong down the stretch but the rest of them seem just as out of gas as the starters. Left-hander Jose Mijares has rebounded to become reliable, but he can’t bail us out of every situation. With no help on the foreseeable horizon it can be assumed that the Twins are just entering the early stages of a free fall.
The recent six-game homestand against the last-place Royals and fourth-place Tribe was supposed to rejuvenate the team and get them back into the thick of things. Instead, they dropped two of three to each team and have fallen six games behind the division leading Tigers. Minnesota now hasn’t won consecutive games since the four-game win streak July 26-29 – including an impressive three game sweep of the second-place White Sox. In their 11 losses since July 31, the pitching staff has surrendered an average of over 8 runs a game, and with 45 games left to play this certainly seems like a disaster in the making.
The Twins have a total of 13 games remaining to play against the Tigers and White Sox. Neither team is overwhelming and each has plenty of suspect positional problems like the Twins. But without any help for the pitching staff all indications are that Minnesota stands a very good chance of getting bounced to the cellar of the division. And that’s something I really don’t want to see come to happen.
Filed under: AL Central, Baseball - General, Twins Baseball
