Hey, stop me if you heard this one before: Offense gets an early lead, starting pitching blows up around the fourth or fifth inning, and digs a hole that miners couldn’t get out of.
Yeah, more of the same again today in Oakland, as Carl Pavano, who was staked to an early 3-0 lead, decided to use his Wonder Twin powers to form of a batting tee in the third inning, surrendering seven straight hits as Oakland pushed across six runs.
Pavano struggles have mirrored the rest of the rotation for a good part of the season, and with the loss today he fell to 6-8 with a 4.90 ERA. The only starter with an ERA under 4.00 this season is Scott Baker.
And with Minnesota in the peculiar position of being under .500, yet still within 6 games of the lead going into today, they decided to stand pat as the trading deadline came and went. So it looks like the Twins will sink or swim with who they have, unless they decide to move Kevin Slowey back in to the rotation.