Swept

Two more games, two more embarrassing efforts from the Twins offense and the Twins have now lost all five games they've played against the Cleveland Indians. I would argue that last nights game was rather expected as C.C. Sabathia has always been a notorious Twins killer and the Twins haven't hit a lefthander hard all year, but this afternoons complete game shutout at the hands of Raphael Carmona may have been the game the Twins lineup finally hit rock bottom. In Carmona's defense, he has been fantastic so far this year and is a major reason the Indians are as far ahead of the Twins as they are, but he's far from dominating.

After back to back very good offensive performances on Sunday and Tuesday, the offense reverted back to form these past two days, destroying any glimmer of hope that may have arose that this season will be anything more than a nightmare. All told the Twins went 11-63 with 3 walks, 3 extra base hits (all doubles), and just one run. The only players to have multiple hits were Hunter and Punto, each who had two singles.

Normally two bad games wouldn't be an issue as its a very small sample size but these past couple games are just a microchasm of what has been the Twins season. Whats worse is there is little that can be done in terms of bringing minor leaguers up as there are no real bats to speak of. Nor can we realistically expect that an impact bat will be brought in via trade as few teams are at the point where they are willing to make major moves.

With this drubbing by the Indians the Twins now find themselves seven games out of first place, just 2-8 over their last 10 games, and 8-17 since April 20th. By comparison they went 10-5 over the season first 15 games. Whats the difference? Competition for one. Over those first fifteen games the only AL Central opponent the Twins faced were the White Sox, and just for two games. Other than that the only other legitimate contender that was played were the Yankees, who summarily drubbed the Twins, winning two of three while outscoring the Twins 19-8. Since then the schedule has been packed with AL Central foes who seem well prepared to deal with the Twins hitters. Against these teams the Twins have gone a combined 7-14, and have a losing record against every team except the Tigers, with whom they've split six games.

Royals: 2-3
White Sox: 2-3
Indians: 0-5
Tigers: 3-3

To say that things aren't going well for our boys would be a major understatement. However it must really be beginning to wear on some of the guys in the clubhouse. Surely tempers are bound to flair, and egos to butt heads if/as the losses keep mounting. I would imagine this teams hitting woes are particularly hard on a pitching staff which has had some players performing well above what their lifetime numbers would otherwise indicate they're capable of such as Ramon Ortiz and Carlos Silva as they've each seen multiple solid starts squandered by a lack of run production. Even staff ace, Cy Young winner, and stopper Johan Santana isn't immune from the lineups lack of punch as he's seen three quality starts become losses on his record.

As a fan of the team I wish there was some good news I could offer the readers, some glimmer of hope, a silver lining, a can of Coke. But there's nothing. The pitch for the club thus far has been more than respectable and has carried enough weight that if the batting order was coming through a winning record could have been expected, but thats not the case.

This lineup is on its own, as its unreasonable to expect a savior from AAA or a bat from without. The team will rise and fall, much as it did last season, with the performance of its stars. If players like Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer who have very respectable BA/OBP/SLG numbers start translating those into runs driven in, and the "little guys" continue getting on base and moving each other around, things could get better. But thats yet to happen and until it does the Twins are very likely to remain a bottom of the league team.