The Minnesota Twins limped into the All-Star Break. Never fear, they came out of it with three losses at home to the Oakland Athletics. At least they're consistent.
One of the only bright spots of the weekend was pitcher Francisco Liriano's performance on the mound Friday night. He fanned 15 batters over eight innings, and the Twins still couldn't get a win. Of course, the grand slam he gave up in the fourth inning certainly didn't help matters. The 15 strikeouts was good because if nothing else, it upped his trade value.
If the A's proved one thing this weekend, it was that hitting a bunch of home runs at Target Field is nowhere near impossible. I know they hit at least four on Saturday at the game I went to. The game was so out of reach that I stopped counting after that. In fact, it was 4-0 after the first inning. Nothing like digging a big hole, Cole DeVries.
Not enough in the clutch
The Twins did get one the board with a couple homers as well in the 9-3 loss Saturday. Unlikely source Brian Dozier hit one out in left field, and Josh Willingham (shockingly enough) banged one off the big wall in center. It was a follow-up performance from his two-blast night on Friday. He has the team lead with 22 home runs this year. Trevor Plouffe needs to catch up again because I just love watching these two slug it out for the team lead.
It wasn't that the Twins weren't hitting Saturday (they had 14 of them.). It was that the all-important clutch hitting was absent. That was clear by the nine guys left on base as potential rallies were washed out quickly with inning-ending dribblers to the infielders, or some other anti-climatic way to halt any scoring in its tracks.
Of course, you'll have trouble winning a game if your starter doesn't have it and the runs just keep coming for the other team. Everything comes back to pitching, that and defense, which saw a couple bad moments as well.
In the 'where did that come from?' category
Monday with the Baltimore Orioles in town, the Twins finally got back in the win column, in a big way. They won 19-7. Former Twin and veteran slugger Jim Thome wasn't in the lineup for the O's, but I don't think even he would have been able to have the birds overcome the early deficit they faced.
I didn't get to watch the game, but I guess Joe Mauer hit one out. That's a big deal right there. I'm sure the Twins will get bumped back to reality in the rest of the series and have trouble hitting the ball again, though.
You have to start trading 'em
The end of July is looming, meaning the trade deadline is near. It's pretty obvious that the Twins need to clean house and start thinking about future years. Anyone in Twins Territory thinking about the playoffs this year much be rooting for another team.
Liriano is likely to be traded, and Denard Span's name has been thrown out there as well. I'd be OK with dealing them both. Moves need to be made, so if the Twins can pull off some good ones, even better. Something has to be done. This team that went from first to worst is in need of an overhaul.
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