Angels 6, Twins 3 (Friday)

Box score here

AP game story here

Progress, in an odd way: This one was simply a routine loss, not a total collapse, not an extra-inning heartbreak. John Lackey, a good pitcher, pitched well for Anaheim (I refuse to call the Angels a Los Angeles team); Francisco Liriano, still trying to reinvent himself, gave up three homers.

Liriano became the first AL pitcher to 10 losses.

Liriano wasn't completely terrible for five innings — not great, but not awful — but the first four batter of the sixth inning got hits, and the third hit was a three-run homer.

Joe Mauer (above) hit a pair of homers off Lackey, one to left, one to right, both solo shots, and is now at .365 with 17 homers. Those homers accounted for half the hits the Twins got off Lackey and all the runs. I think it's safe to say he's out of his slump.

A few notes, not necessarily germane to the outcome:

* Kevin Slowey couldn't play catch Friday, and his scheduled rehab start in Rochester isn't happening. This may be a bigger blow to the team's pennant hopes than the loss.

* Alexi Casilla went 0 for 3, dropping his batting average to .164 and his OPB to .240. The Twins got absolutely nothing offensively from the bottom third of the order — Delmon Young, Nick Punto and Casilla combined to go 0-10 with four strikeouts.

* Jesse Crain got five outs, but his command was still off — 10 balls, 16 strikes, one hit batsman. I can't regard the outing as encouraging.

Angels 6, Twins 5, 10 innings (short-handed Thursday)

Box score here

AP game story here

Here's the recipe for this loss: Combine another short start with a handful of lousy relief outings, mix in a baserunning blunder and top it off with a flukey hit.

Short start: Scott Baker went just five innings, 106 pitches and nine baserunners.

Lousy relief outings: Bobby Keppel continued his recent streak of living down to my expectations, falling behind all four hitters he faced in the sixth inning and giving up a run.

Joe Nathan coughed up a two-run lead in the ninth, burning through 29 pitches in the process.

And Jesse Crain — the last man standing in the bullpen, because R.A. Dickey and Brian Duensing had been abused in Wednesday's fiasco in Oakland — picked up in the 10th inning where he left off before his demotion to take the loss.

It wasn't as if Nathan was getting shelled — the first hit he gave up was off the end of the bat, and the second (shown above) was a piddly grounder that hit the second base bag and bounced away from Nick Punto and Alexi Casilla. That flukey hit tied the score.

But he walked the leadoff man, hit another and threw 13 balls to 16 strikes, which is not a winning ratio.

For that matter, both Keppel and Crain threw seven strikes and six balls.

Baserunning blunder: The Twins had Carlos Gomez on second, Denard Span on first with two outs in the eighth. Joe Mauer singled to left center. Span, for some reason, decided to go to third, and center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. easily threw him out. A silly play by Span, since Matthews was headed in the direction of his throw. The out meant Justin Morneau didn't get to hit that inning.

What went well Thursday for the Twins:

* Jose Mijares and Matt Guerrier combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings to get the lead to Nathan. Guerrier threw 11 pitches, 10 of them strikes — something the other guys should have tried.

* Jason Kubel hit a two-run jack in the first.

*Mauer went 3 for 4 with a walk, two runs, two RBIs and a double. He's now hitting .363 and is back atop the AL batting averages.

*Punto got a hit, snapping a 0-for-13 slide. (Casilla, on the other hand, went hitless again and is now hitting .168.)

---

On the injury front: Glen Perkins is said to have a mild case of tendinitis in his shoulder and is expected to pitch Monday after all. And Joe Crede had an injection in his sore shoulder and is to be re-evaluated Sunday. For now, at least, he's not headed to the disabled list.

Twins 3, A's 2, 10 innings (Tuesday bounceback)

AP game story here.

Box score here.

A deceptively good start for Anthony Swarzak. Four hits and two runs in seven innings — not bad. But the three walks (to just four strikeouts) isn't strong, and he wasn't consistently working ahead of hitters. The A's, despite their 14 runs on Monday, are a weak offensive club, and they made Swarzak look better than he pitched.

Joe Mauer banged out a pair of hits and scored the winning run.

Matt Guerrier was stellar in relief for the win. And after throwing 33 pitches Tuesday, I doubt Oakland's closer, Andrew Bailey, will be available for this afternoon's game.

The Twins had more chances than did the A's and barely took enough advantage. Minnesota was just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. But the Twins had the only extra-base hits (a double and two triples), all of which figured in the scoring.

---

I critiqued Gardenhire's bullpen choices in some detail after the Monday fiasco. The game notes in the AP story linked to above noted that Brian Duensing and Bobby Keppel were unavailable on Tuesday.

No kidding.

---

I spent much of the game driving back from Wisconsin listening to the radio and wishing I could take notes on John Gordon's slip-ups and nonsense.

Example: He was talking at one point about how difficult outfielders find the Oakland stadium. He mentioned the wind and the lack of clouds (high sky). Then he said: The bright sunshine is also a problem, especially during day games. Yeah. When the sun is a problem during night games, Gordo, we have a story.

Then there was his confusion between Oakland pitcher Dallas Braden and first baseman Daric Barton. I found myself wishing Oakland had somebody named Burton just to make it a complete mess. At one point Gordon had Barton pitching "14 quality saves this season." He mean Braden and quality starts.

Gordon's never really good, but he's far more mistake prone in day games after night games. Like Wednesday.

---

Before I leave, here's an excellent breakdown (from Circling the Bases' Matthew Pouliot) of why umpire Mike Muchlinski blew the call at the plate for the last out of Monday's game.

Having brought up the topic again, I should say that that play wasn't the reason the Twins lost. If Cuddyer is called safe, of course, the game's tied, and maybe the Twins don't lose. But that game was lost because Nick Blackburn, Duensing and Keppel couldn't get outs. The Cuddyer play shouldn't have mattered.

Oakland 14, Twins 13 (Monday night massacre)

I know, I know. The Twins had a 10-2 lead and you figured it was in the bag and went to bed.

And now you see this headline. Sorry.

A truly ugly game. The Twins hit four homers in the first three innings and had that 10-2 lead. Oakland's pitchers threw 214 pitches, just 123 of them strikes. The Twins drew eight walks and had seven extra-base hits.

But the pitching was sloppy and the defense was sloppy, and Ron Gardenhire compunded matters with some curious handling of his bullpen. The A's scored seven runs in the seventh inning, with a little help from Justin Morneau, who overran a foul popup. (Somehow he wasn't charged with an error, which is a blot on official scorers.)

And for all of that, the Twins came a blown call by the home plate umpire, Mike Muchlinski, from tying the game in the ninth inning. (See the photo above.)

The numbers don't lie. Not only did Nick Blackburn give up 13 hits in his five innings, he didn't strike anybody out. Highly hittable. (For that matter, none of the relievers whiffed anybody either.) Blackburn left after just 92 pitches (66 strikes) and seven runs allowed but leading 13-7.

Then came the curious bullpen stuff. The backdrop is important here. Remember, the Twins added a 12th pitcher during the All-Star break, Kevin Mulvey. He didn't pitch in the Texas series, which was understandable, because the games were close and they'd rather have Mulvey make his debut in a low-pressure situation.

Sunday's game went 12 innings. Everybody in the pen worked except Joe Nathan (who had pitched the previous two days) and Mulvey.

Brain Duensing threw 16 pitches Sunday (and was the losing pitcher). He was also up and down during the first five innings Monday. As a general rule, it's unwise to warm up a relief pitcher multiple times. Duensing warmed up Monday at least twice, maybe three times — and then Gardy brought him in.

Which makes me wonder why Mulvey's on the roster. If he's not going to be used with a six-run lead — if the manager would rather use somebody on consecutive days on multiple warm-ups — what's the point?

Duensing got four outs — and allowed four hits and two walks.

Then Gardenhire went once again to the well of Bobby Keppel. Third game in four days for Keppel — 26 pitches on Friday, 17 on Sunday. He would throw just 11 on Monday. Six balls, five strikes, and the last strike was a grand slam by Matt Holliday. (Keppel's ERA rose from 0.56 to 2.25.)

That tied it at 13. In came Jose Mijares — no argument from me on that move — and his first pitch was crushed by Jack Cust. That made it 14-13.

Mulvey wound up pitching after all, getting the last out of the eighth inning.

The came the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, Michael Cuddyer doubled. Jason Kubel was walked intentionally (Kubel was 3 for 3 with a homer and three walks). With Delmon Young up, Michael Wertz threw a pitch to the backstop. Cuddyer went not just to third but home as well. He beat the tag — clearly beat the tag — only to be called out.

Box score here.

AP story here.

Texas 5, Twins 3 (12 innings)

There were several things about Sunday's 12-inning loss that figure to stick in the Twins' collective craw, but none more irritating than this:

The game-winning homer came off R.A. Dickey's fastball, which isn't so blinking fast.

Rule of thumb No. 1: Relief pitchers shouldn't get beat on anything other than their best pitch. For Dickey, that's the knuckleball. Now, there are exceptions. If somebody like Tony Pena Jr. is up with the bases loaded and the winning run's on third, the danger is more from a wild pitch or passed ball. But Ian Kinsler is a quality hitter.

Rule of thumb No. 2: If the knuckleball's too dangerous for a situation, Dickey ought not be pitching.

There were other irksome things:

*Francisco Liriano apparently deciding in the sixth and seventh innings that this whole strike one thing is overrated. (In the sixth inning, he threw 14 pitches. Eleven were balls, one was a called strike and the other two were hit for a fly out and a double-play grounder.)

* The run that scored on a passed ball, which may have been the result of a cross-up in signals between Joe Mauer and Liriano.

*Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer combining to go 0 for 15. (Morneau did draw two walks.)

Mauer, by the way, no longer leads the American League in batting average. He's down to .358 for the season. His average dropped 13 points in Texas (1 for 13 for the series). Ichiro Suzuki is now leading the AL at .363.

The Twins did take the series. But it was yet another winnable game that slipped away.

Twins 6, Oakland 3 (Wednesday night)

Last West Coast night game for a while. Now the Twins face four straight day games — one today (Thursday) in Oakland, three in Wrigley against the Cubs — which will be a test of their weak-bats-in-the-daytime pattern.

Comments on Wednday's game:

* Francisco Liriano continues to pitch better than his results. He allowed just eight baserunners in six innings (five hits, two walks, one HBP); he induced 20 swings-and-misses; he struck out seven. And three of his seven runners scored, because all five hits came in two innings. There's an old cliche about scattering hits; Lirano this year seems to bunch them.

There were flaws. He threw first-pitch strikes to just 13 of 25 hitters, further evidence of his lack of fastball command. Kurt Suzuki, the Oakland catcher, swiped two bases. 

* Luis Ayala had another scoreless inning and knocked his ERA down to 3.95. Eighteen pitches, 15 of them strikes. Eighteen pitches is a lot for a one-two-three inning, but the A's fouled off nine pitches. They didn't have a swing-and-miss. 

That's the kind of thing that continues to make me uneasy about Ayala. I want to see power arms in the bullpen, and he doesn't miss bats.

* Michael Cuddyer, center fielder. I doubt that Ron Gardenhire is eager to go with that defensive formation — Delmon Young in left, Cuddyer in center, Jason Kubel in right — often, but it's not known how long Denard Span will be out of action, and if they don't put him on the DL, they don't have a true CF behind Carlos Gomez.

----

Draft stuff: Prominent among the Twins second-day selections was Gopher second baseman Derek McCallum.

He's got some gaudy stats, but he's an amateur second baseman, and few of them become standout big-leaguers. As a rule, if you have the mobility and throwing arm to be a second baseman in the major leagues, you were the best athlete on your amateur team, and you played shortstop. 

The Twins took a couple of college catchers in the fifth and sixth rounds (Tobias Streich of West Virginia and Chris Herrmann of Miami) and three more as they worked through the 30th round. Lots of pitchers and shortstops. Only two outfielders, and one of them, Eric Decker of the U of M, almost certainly isn't going to sign.  

Twins win (Tuesday night) and draft Gibson

10-5, Twins, despite a lousy mop-up job in the ninth inning, when Scott Baker, Jesse Crain and Jose Mijares wouldn't or couldn't throw strikes and Alexi Casilla couldn't pick up a ground ball. Mijares in particular — six strikes, nine balls.

Don't let the box score line fool you: Delmon Young had an RBI single and an RBI double, but the single didn't leave the infield and the double — just his third extra base hit of the season — was a soft-hit blooper down the right field line. In other words, he wasn't stinging the ball.

Scott Baker had his third quality start in his last four outings, but two of them — this one and his previous start against Cleveland — came against teams that are having trouble scoring runs.

Now, on to the first day of the Twins draft: The pitcher in the picture is Kyle Gibson of Missouri. The Twins landed him with the 22nd pick after he dropped out of the Top 10 — possibly top five — with what is reported to be a stress fracture in his forearm.

Baseball America had regarded him as the "safest" pick among pitchers, including the much-hyped Stephen Strasburg: He relies on two-seam fastballs rather than four-seamers, usually pitching at 88-91 mph with good sink and tailing action, though he can reach back for 94 mph when needed. He has two of the better secondary pitches in the draft, a crisp 82-85 mph slider and a deceptive changeup with fade that can generate swings and misses.

Then came a sudden loss of velocity and the report on Monday of a stress fracture. He may not pitch again this summer, but considering his collegiate workload, that might have been the plan anyway. Certainly without the injury, he wouldn't have made it to the Twins.

The Twins followed this pick with three more collegiate pitchers: LHP Matt Bashore of Indiana with the supplemental pick for losing Dennys Reyes; RHP Billy Bullock of Florida in the second round; and RHP Ben Tootle of Jacksonville State. All three are said to have power arms, particularly Bullock and Tootle, and fastball velocity is something the organization was out to emphasize after a few years of drafting toolsy outfielders and command specialists early.

Warning, however: Gibson, Bashore and Tootle all slipped because of injury/illness concerns.

Bullock was most successful in college out of the bullpen, and Tootle is seen as a relief pitcher also.

The draft continues today.

Twins win after midnight

A really odd 10th inning for the Twins Friday night in Seattle — Jason Kubel robbed of a three-run homer, Joe Mauer caught in a rundown on a busted squeeze bunt, and the Seattle LF, Wladimir Balentinen, fielding as well as his parents could spell. (That's Balentinen above chasing the ball to the wall after muffing the game-winning fly ball.)

Ron Gardenhire is irked that Mighty Matt Tolbert didn't get credited with a hit on Balentinen's misplay, which is silly. Tolbert has the far more mature attitude.

* Incidentally, since I gripe a lot about the quality of the Twins broadcasters, I should note that Dick Bremer mentioned while Kubel's drive was headed over the fence and into Franklin's Gutierrez's glove that Mauer was tagging up at second base. Normally the Twins broadcasters figure we can see the baserunners, which is particularly irritating from the radio guys. Bremer did a good job on that play, checking the baserunners while the ball was in flight and telling us something useful.

* A few days ago, there was talk about shifting Francisco Liriano to the bullpen so that Anthony Swarzak could stay in the rotation when Glen Perkins returns. Then Swarzak got raked on Wednesday by Cleveland, and Liriano had six innings of one-run ball Friday. 

Liriano continue to put up odd stat lines. This time ... 101 pitches, 60 of them strikes, not a horrid ratio — but he still walked four hitters. He didn't really pitch that well against a weak offense.

Swarzak, meanwhile, has had three starts, getting progressively worse in each, at least in results. Nothing in his major league stat line, brief though it be, shouts out that this man is superior to Liriano or Perkins.