Span will be missed, Welcome back Perkins!

Span going on the DL really is a big blow as he is a great table setter for the M & M boys. So far in his absense, Gardy has tried Tolbert in that leadoff spot, but that hasn't worked, the best option appears to be Harris in leadoff and bat M&M 2nd and 3rd. Harris has the bat to get on base and the patience to draw a few walks as well. Gardy has to be thinking Harris could be 2nd in the lineup when Span returns so he can get Mauer back in the 3 spot and Morneau in cleanup where he likes them.

Perkins is back! And he pitched pretty well although he had a couple of near home runs to left field. He did appear to get stronger as the game went on, hopefully he is back to the form he had in April for his first 3 starts when he went 8 innings in each start and had a 1.50 ERA. For his first start back from DL to go 6 innings and get the quality start and more importantly the WIN, thats pretty darn good.

So far we are 6-1 in Interleague games! Keep it up and we'll have a very successful June!

Go Twins!

Swarzak instead of Liriano? Are You Sure!?!?!

So I posted a while ago not to give up on Liriano after a couple of twin cities newspaper columnists suggested replacing him with Swarzak in the rotation when Perkins comes back.

That was after 2 decent outings from Swarzak and Liriano struggling, now lets revisit that discussion.  Swarzak is 1-3 and he couldn't get out of the 4th inning last night.  If we add that to his last start he has pitched a total of 7 2/3 innings allowing 9 runs (all earned) , 13 hits, 3 walks.  

Liriano on the other hand, a proven commodity, got a decent start, he still is walking to many (4 BB) but was able to pitch out of jams.  He went 6 innings allowing 1 run and the team WON.  He didn't get the win, so no one talked about his performance.  Why is that?  A pitcher will pitch well not get the run support so its like the outing never happened.  

Bottom of the lineup is waking up!?!?  Top of lineup struggling.

This road trip is off to a 1-3 start, but I don't blame the bottom of the order for the lack of runs:

• Gomez: 4 hits 2 RBI and 2 BB in his last 5 games.    Respectible for the bottom of the order
  
• Casilla: 0-3 last night but the 3 games before that he has 4 hits, 1 walk.  He seems to be swinging better lately.
  
• Tolbert: In a spot start Tolbert had a big 2 RBI single last night.
  
• Young:  has 1 hit in 3 of his last 4 games played.  
  

The Big hitters have struggled on the road trip so far:

• Span:  2-16  2-BB 5-Ks 0-RBI 1-Run
  
• Mauer:  4-16 2-BB 2-Ks 0-RBI 1-Run (respectable but not Mauer-like)
  
• Morneau:  1-15 (2 RBI but both on outs)
  
• Kubel:  0-11 1-BB 
  

That a combined:  7-58 (.121 BA)  2 RBI  - This will NOT get it done and is the #1 reason we are 1-3 on this road trip so far.

Indians Series Summary

Tuesday we got another W from Mr. (Find a way to win the game) Slowey!    If Morneau doesn't tip that flare to right field Casilla probably catches it and Slowey would have had 7 shutout innings.  He is getting it done with slightly above average stuff but he has been very smart.  He is keeping hitters off balance and unbelievably he is 8-1!  Good solid job by Nathan to get the 4-out save while Mijares looked a little shaky. On the offensive side, Mauer starts June the way he started May with another home run!  

Wednesday we got what I expected to see against Boston in his previous start.  The rook (Swarzak) got shelled.  It was bound to happen, just surpised it happened against the last place team instead of the first place team.  If I was Gardy I would have left him out for the 5th to see if he could compose himself and put up a zero, at that point with the way Lee was pitching the game was out of reach anyway why not find out what this rookie is made of?

Thursday the slumbering home-run bat of Jason Kubel woke up in a big way!  2 3-run home runs in the first 2 innings!  And we had a Scott Baker sighting: 7 innings 3 runs (2 earned)  and had a shutout into the 6th.  That looked like the Baker we have been expecting to see a lot more of.  He gave up another HR, as he will, but it was a solo shot, which is easier to swallow.

Another bad series for the bottom of the order (4 for 31 with 1 BB) , we need more from them, at least Gomez had 2 hits, although 2-10 isn't anything to get too excited about.  Young and Gomez are still not patient enough at the plate.

Up next Seattle 

Don't expect a ton of runs this weekend as Seattle is leading the AL in Team ERA: 3.88!  The Twins pitchers have to go into this series thinking they will not have much room for error.

The first game is featuring the rematch of the Twins home opener (Liriano vs. Hernandez), this could be a close pitchers duel if Liriano can locate his fastball and mix in his changeup more to keep the hitters off balance and then get Ks with that nice slider.  

The most favorable pitching matchup over the weekend is game 2 with Blackburn vs. Washburn but all 3 of the Seattle pitchers have been very tough, all 3 with ERAs under 4 and Bedard (Sunday's pitcher for Seattle) has his era under 3.  With Felix Hernandez being a tough righty and the other two being tough lefties (which can be tough for the left-hand heavy Twins), the Twins pitchers have to step up this weekend.

Go Twins!

Young vs. Gomez

Lately everyone is looking at our offense, or lack thereof from middle infield and from the Young/Gomez outfielder du jour. I think the Twins need some stability in the lineup. They need the same lineup for 5 games a week. The outfield shuffle isn't working for Gomez and Young.

I don't see any benefit from playing Young over Gomez. I will break down the argument I have for Gomez in 4 categories: Defense, Hitting, Base Running, and Potential

Defense

There is no argument defensively Gomez is far superior, and a Span, Gomez, Cuddyer outfield is much more effective than a Young, Span, Cuddyer outfield. Carlos has been referred by national media as one of the top defensive outfielders in the game.

Advantage: Gomez


Base Running

Stolen bases: Gomez 4 of 7, Young 2 of 4

Clearly Gomez has ability to steal a TON of bases, and Young is maybe slightly better than average.

Advantage: Gomez


Hitting

Hitting category at a glance looks pretty close:

• AB (At Bats) -- Young: 109 Gomez: 100
  
• HR (Home runs) -- Young: 1 Gomez: 0
• RBI (Runs Batted In) -- Young: 14 Gomez: 3
  
• BA (Batting Average) -- Young: .239 Gomez: .220
• OBP (On Base Percentage) -- Dead even: .282
• SLG (Slugging Percentage) -- Gomez: .310 Young: .275
• OPS (On Base plus Slugging Percentage) -- Gomez: .592 Young: .557

Clearly these are anemic numbers! Both players have significant room to improve here.
The only category Young has a significant edge in is RBI (14 - 3), part of this can be attributed to the fact that he has routinely hitting 6th or 7th in the lineup with Morneau, Kubel, Cuddyer before him therefore giving him many more chances, because Gomez typically has had Punto, Casilla/Tolbert batting before him.

Advantage: EVEN

Potential

Both players are 23 years old. Both players have huge "up-side".

Many "experts" believe Young has the ability to hit .300 belt 30 HRs and drive in 100 runs a year. Some of those same "experts" believe Gomez to have the ability to bat 1 or 2 in a lineup, steal 70-80 bases a year, and score 140 runs.

Advantage: EVEN

The problem the Twins have is they have 1 outfield spot for the 2 young inexperienced players, as they need Span in leadoff spot and Cuddyer is clearly deserving of everyday duty based on his month of May stats.

Based on this analysis, it is clear to me that Gomez needs to be given an everyday opportunity. Bat him 9th, and see if he can get on-base for Span and Mauer. Let him go do his thing until the all-star break, then re-evaluate. Demote Delmon to AAA have him focus on patience and let him get his head clear, but most importantly get him ABs down in the minors, he clearly needs them.