When the Minnesota Twins caught fire in June, it seemed reasonable to expect that once their list of walking wounded returned (Denard Span, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, ad infinitum) they would shoot up the standings of the AL Central and take advantage of a weak division.
Well, something happened along the way. This is the most un-Twins team of the Ron Gardenhire era. Gardy’s teams are always known for good pitching, solid defense, smart baserunning, and timely hitting.
And consistency.
There’s been too little of the baseball stuff, and none of the consistency. Well, they have been consistent. Consistently bad, save for that stretch in June and right after the All Star break. You can argue that the Twins have either hit, or are staring rock bottom in the face. They are on a 6 game losing streak, have lost 9 of 10, and if they lose tonight, they will be winless in a homestand that saw the Chicago White Sox in town, which is a team that the Twins have owned in recent years.
To stop the bleeding, the Twins will look to Nick ‘Gasoline on a Fire’ Blackburn, he of the 7-9, 4.58 record. Blacburn hasn’t won a game since early July, and hasn’t made it thru the sixth inning in his last three starts.
First pitch is at 7:10 from Target Field.