MAY 30, 2009 -- TAMPA BAY 5, MINNESOTA 2

The Twins are unable to get anything off of Tampa Bay starter David Price, who struck out eleven batters in 5 2/3 innings on Saturday, and Francisco Liriano gave the Twins yet another subpar start, lasting only four innings and giving up four runs. The big inning for the Rays was the third, when Tampa batted around and scored four runs off Liriano. This followed Twins-on-the-road protocol, which states that once the team has a lead on the road, their pitchers must give that lead back immediately and usually take the team out of the game while they're at it. Liriano cruised through the first two innings, and then the third inning saw him throw 47 pitches and give up the four runs.


Fox analyst Eric Karros was partly blaming the defense for some of the runs scoring, and it's not like Liriano was hit very hard in the inning; a lot of seeing-eye hits and ground-ball bleeders led to the four runs. But Liriano did a few things that are unacceptable: 1) he gave up a home run to a guy named Joe Dillon -- you don't give up hits to this slug, much less home runs; 2) he walked two batters to prolong the inning and 3) most importantly, he struggled with command and looked lost on the mound. He hasn't shown a whole lot of mound presence in his last few starts, and especially when he gives up a run, Liriano seems to lose confidence quickly and he spirals into a huge inning. I for one don't see the defense as the reason for the four runs; even Nick Punto and his "better range" than Brendan Harris wouldn't have been able to stop the bleeding.


The Twins were basically non-existent at the plate against Price, who looked overpowering in his first major league win. They did, however, squander two runs while Price was on the mound, one of which was courtesy of third base coach/idiot Scott Ullger. Price had walked Joe Crede in the second inning and pitched to Carlos Gomez, who (not surprisingly) swung pathetically and tapped back to the pitcher. Price then threw wildly to first base, overthrowing everybody. Crede made it to third, rounded the bag, and then Ullger held him up. The replays confirmed that Crede would have likely made it home on the play, but Ullger held him up while he was positioned near home plate. Karros was correct in criticizing Ullger on the play, as you need to 1) force the issue, 2) realize that Price is throwing almost-unhittable stuff and you aren't going to get many opportunites to score against him and 3) most obviously, you need to know who is on deck. Alexi Casilla was on-deck, and Ullger apparently forgot about that in his over-conservative basecoaching, or he was showing a perverted sense of confidence in the beleaguered infielder. Casilla, obviously, failed to get the run home, and the Twins, thanks to their base coach, were stripped of a run. Come on, Ullger -- it was going to be an easy play to end the inning, and now you have a good chance of getting a cheap run across the plate. Everyone in the building knows that Casilla is a minor-league player; force the freaking issue.


Michael Cuddyer also failed to get a run across in the third inning. With Joe Mauer at third base and one out (with one run already in), Cuddyer struck out on a pitch way out of the strike zone. As I said after Cuddyer's cycle last Friday, the guy loves to fail in clutch situations. All he's done since the cycle is hit two solo home runs in losing efforts. Cuddyer's a lot like the erstwhile Torii Hunter in that they love to pad stats in blowouts and they wilt at the knees in clutch situations. I don't think Hunter had one hit in the clutch in his entire career with the Twins, and I'm struggling to think of a big hit that Cuddyer has had. He was the beneficiary of hitting between Mauer and Morneau in 2006 and he put up some good numbers that year; he's parlayed his one good year in the majors into a large contract, and the Twins are paying for it now. For most of the season Cuddyer has looked old, frankly, and his serviceability for the Twins is really limited. But, like Nick Punto, Cuddyer's contract isn't going to be easily moved, and the Twins are essentially stuck with him.



Randy Choate came in to shut the door again on Saturday, recording his second major league save the day after his first. Ex-Twins great Grant Balfour had provided a more-than-adequate bridge between Price and Choate. Boy, wouldn't the Twins love to have Balfour right about now. Just another example of the Twins being overrated in their talent-appraisal department; they let guys like Grant Balfour and Casey Blake and Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett go and they keep guys like Nick Punto and Matt Tolbert and Alexi Casilla. Tolbert, by the way, lost his second-base job to Casilla, and Brendan Harris will play short until Nick Punto is healthy, which hopefully is never. It's the second time this year that the Twins have replaced someone at the major-league level with a minor-league callup, which is simply ridiculous. Casilla and Tolbert were in the minor-leagues for a reason -- they suck, and in both cases, they were called up from Rochester and inserted into the everyday lineup. For how bad Tolbert is, I think Casilla might actually be worse, but his bloated 2008 numbers mean that he'll get the benefit of the doubt. Just like the Twins are still banking on Punto to replicate his 2006 numbers, the Twins will probably give Casilla three years of sucking until he finally proves to the team that 2008 was a fluke.


Nick Blackburn, suddenly the staff ace (which doesn't strike fear in anyone), goes today to prevent another road sweep. Matt Garza opposes Blackburn, marking the first time that Garza will pitch against his former team. Garza's been a lot better than his 4-3 record would indicate, and we all know that it is protocol for ex-Twins to kill their former team at least once (Corky Miller) if not repeatedly (Casey Blake). Bank on a Rays sweep.