Sorting through the infield options

The Twins didn't get to their first home game before Plan A for their middle infield took its first hit with the injury to Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Now, not quite a full week into May, Plan A is dead.

And Plan B is ... complicated.

Trevor Plouffe seems
certain to get at least
a few weeks of regular
duty at short.

It seems safe to say that the Alexi Casilla era at shortstop -- should we call it the Casilla error? -- is over. The Twins swept the White Sox with Matt Tolbert at short and Casilla at second. That duo wasn't perfect afield, but the Twins did turn three double plays (one with the aid of a missed call by an umpire) in the Tuesday no-hitter and added two more on Wednesday.

Still, Tolbert is hitting .180/.196/.260 on the season, which makes Casilla's .183/.244/.268 look almost respectable. I don't think this is going to be the regular alignment while the Twins await Nishioka's return.

The callup of Trevor Plouffe suggests that the former first-round draftee is going to get a shot at short. I see no reason for optimism. The Plouffe I saw in my brief time in spring training made Casilla look like Ozzie Smith with the glove. Plouffe has more than 800 games in the minors and has never made much of an impression.

But this is his turn. He gets the job, at least until Nishioka's ready to return. If Plouffe plays well, Nishioka returns as the second baseman; if Plouffe does not, Nishioka might return as the shortstop.

Then there's the flock of second base options. There have been indications that Ron Gardenhire wants to lean heavily on Michael Cuddyer there. But with Delmon Young and Jim Thome both on the disabled list, Cuddyer might be more likely to be in the outfield for the next couple of weeks, which is fine by me. If I see reason to be wary of Plouffe at short, I see even more reason to be wary of playing a 32-year-old outfielder at second.

Granted, Luke Hughes hasn't done much with the bat (.234/.265/.319) and isn't much better defensively than Cuddyer, and as already noted, Tolbert and Casilla haven't hit at all

For that matter, neither has Cuddyer, who has three home runs and four RBIs. That is not a misprint. He's driven in one of his teammates all year.

Bottom line: The middle infield is going to remain in flux for a while. Expect Plouffe to get regular time at short and a grab bag at second -- and more turnover when Nishioka is ready to return.

More no-hitter stuff

Drew Butera (41) and Francisco Liriano in the
dugout during Tuesday's no-hitter.
"Don't you lie to me, Frankie."

Here's Ozzie Guillen on Tuesday' night's no-hitter:

"As a manager, I was bad during the game. I was worse before the game because I made out the lineup.''

Here's Drew Butera on Francisco Lirano saying that he didn't know he had a no-hitter until the eighth inning:

"He’s lying. I think they all realize it."

---
The Twins are considering using Thursday's off day to give Liriano an extra day after he threw 123 pitches Tuesday. That pitch count matches his career high, set almost exactly a year earlier (May 2). That was followed by three straight poor outings -- 15.2 innings, 13 runs allowed.

I would be surprised if they didn't give Liriano the extra day.
---
Matt Capps was warming up in the ninth inning Tuesday, and considering the score (1-0) and the pitch count, I've no doubt that he'd have come in had Liriano given up a hit.

But think about this dilemma that Ron Gardenhire almost had to face. Liriano in the ninth faced a few left-handed hitters: Juan Pierre (who walked) and Adam Dunn (now 0-for-17 versus lefties). Liriano fell behind Dunn 3-0, then got him to line to short to end the game.

What if he'd walked Dunn? Tying run in scoring position, 120-plus pitches, and Paul Konerko up. Do you pull Liriano with the no-hitter intact? Do you let him (admittedly exhausted) face such a dangerous right-handed hitter with the game on the line?

Neither option is particularly appealing.

Frankkie Liriano-no

Francisco Liriano's no-hitter Tuesday
was his first complete game.

A no-hitter, by definition, is a dominant pitching performance.

But this was about as unimpressive a no-hitter as one can envision.

Francisco Liriano threw 123 pitches Tuesday night;  66 were strikes and 57 were balls. He faced 30 men and threw a first-pitch strike to just 11 of them.

He walked six and struck out just two.

He took the mound on a chilly Chicago evening Tuesday with the very real possibility that his job was on the line. He entered with an ERA of 9.13 and 18 walks allowed in fewer than 24 innings. A couple days ago I heard Ron Gardenhire say on the radio that Kevin Slowey was being stretched out on his rehab assignment "in case we decide to do something," and he said that in the context of talking about Liriano's struggles.

Results matter, of course, and Liriano did throw a no-hitter, did shut out the White Sox. It's reasonable to assume that if Slowey is going to dislodge one of the current starters when he returns to the active roster, it won't be Liriano.

Results matter, but so does the process. The walks, the strike/ball ratio, the lack of swings-and-misses (12 for the game, and, Aaron Gleeman points out, just four swinging strikes on his slider) – these things suggest strongly that Liriano has not solved his problems.

---

A commenter on my earlier post wondered how many pitchers have had no-hitters for their first complete game.

Off the top of my head I had three nominees, and as it turned out, for two of the three their no-hitters were their only complete game.

One was Bobo Holloman, who threw a no-hitter in 1953 for the St. Louis Browns. He has a degree of notoriety as the absolute worst pitcher to throw a no-hitter; Holloman had just the one season in the majors, going 3-7 in 10 starts and 12 relief appearances and walking 50 men (with 25 strikeouts) in just 65 innings. (Consider this: He pitched nine of his 65 innings in one start; he needed nine starts and 12 relief appearances to get another 54 innings. If he averaged one inning in the 12 relief appearances, that leaves 42 innings for the nine starts. Brutal.)

Another was Bud Smith, who threw a no-no at age 21 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001. A prime prospect, he wrecked his arm the next season. (Young pitchers and Tony LaRussa don't mix well.)

My third nominee, Mike Warren, had three complete games before he too ran afoul of injuries. I don't know if his no-hitter was his first compete game, and having Smith and Holloman wrapped up, I'm not interested enough to chase it down.

Never doubted ya, Frankie

Francisco Liriano has just completed one of the strangest no-hitters I'll ever see.

I'll blog more about it after I get done with work. Right now, I have to figure out how to get this on Page One.

Problem spot: First base

The Twins enter today's game with the White Sox 9-18 and 10 games out of first place.

As bad as that sounds — as bad as that IS — it's not fatal. Cleveland and Kansas City still don't look like long-term contenders to me, and the Twins are within two games of both Chicago and Detroit.

But, obviously, the Twins can't keep playing .333 ball. They're in last place on merit, failing and flailing in almost every category. There are, I think, six players — Denard Span and Jason Kubel among the position players, Scott Baker and Brian Duensing among the starting pitchers, Matt Capps and Glen Perkins in the bullpen — who are doing what they're expected to do (or, in Perkins' case, exceeding expectations).

Justin Morneau hit
his first homer of the
season on Sunday.

Everybody else is part of the problem. And the sheer bulk of problems is itself a problem.

Today I'll start examining specific issues. And I'm going to start with one of the former MVPs, Justin Morneau.

I'm no doctor, but it seems fairly obvious that last season's concussion remains a problem. Even without considering his month-long slump (.225/.289/.338 with one homer), the defensive sloppiness suggests a certain lack of acuity.

Twice this season the Twins have picked a runner off first base and lost him in the rundown. Both failed rundowns began to break down when Morneau made a wrong decision. Against Toronto — in the very first inning of the very first game — he gave up the ball too soon; against Kansas City on Sunday he held the ball too long. A rundown is a rather fluid play, and he seems unable to keep up with it.

It was reported this weekend that he remains on medication and subject to fatigue. Obviously he has been cleared by the medical people to play, and I accept the assertion that he's at no greater risk of injury than anybody else, even with the meds.

But to this decidedly non-medical set of eyes, he's not ready to play.

I don't expect him to bench himself. The man has taken far too much criticism the past couple of years for missing games, he's medically cleared to play, he wants to try to earn his pay, he's important to the team.

He's not producing, and I doubt that he's physically capable of producing — not only to his accustomed standards, but merely to the level of a major-league first baseman.

Baseball to the back burner

I had a couple of ideas Sunday afternoon for today's post, and I suppose that if I think hard enough I could even remember what they were. It's even possible that I'll compose something about the Twins, or something else baseball oriented, later today.

But right now, I'm not complaining about anything. Osama bin Laden finally got what he had coming, and I'm not about to spoil my appreciation for that by thinking about the Twins' failings.

Pic of the Week

Jose Reyes of the New York Mets wishes to register
a mild objection to Marvin Hudson's call on Wednesday.

Again, no deep thoughts here, just the realization that we don't need the details of the play to know what happened.