JUNE 3, 2009 -- CLEVELAND 10, MINNESOTA 1

After two straight one-run wins, the Twins fall back to earth, as they receive an ass-kicking at the hands of the fourth-worst team in baseball, the Cleveland Indians. Cliff Lee cruised to his third win of the season, and Anthony Swarzak did not look particularly good as he droppped to 1-2 on his young career. This outing might be good for Swarzak, however, as he needs to learn how to lose at the big league level and be able to come back in his next start and rebound. And frankly, only one ball was hit with any authority against Swarzak -- Jhonny Peralta's crippling three-run home run -- and it seemed the other hits for the Tribe were a collection of broken-bat bleeders that were hit where the fielders weren't. It was a pathetic display of baseball from every facet of the game, so let's get going.

The offense continued to sputter, as Lee pretty much shut the door on the Twins from the get-go. I would like to comment on this whole Cliff Lee-Carlos Gomez fued that's been supremely overblown by the Twins media. Apparently this stems from last season, when Gomez tried to bunt his way on every time at the plate against Lee, and Gomez was at it again on Wednesday. The problem is, Gomez is a terrible bunter, and he did one of the most pathetic things you can do in baseball in his first at-bat: strike out by fouling a bunt with two strikes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does Gomez have a bunt hit this season? If he does, it's no more than one or two, but yet he tries at least four times a game. Lee apparently does not appreciate Gomez trying to bunt every time up, and I just have to say: Cliff, buddy, don't let this fool Gomez rattle you. You have a Cy Young on your resume, and what does Gomez have? A few Web Gems and a terrible approach to hitting? You are so much better than Gomez. The only reason he tries to bunt on you is because he knows he can't get a real hit off of you. Take it as a compliment.

Watching Gomez at the plate is almost as bad as seeing Seldom Delmon Young take a few hacks with the stick. Young went 1 for 4 (the one hit being a bloop single -- what a surprise), made four outs in his three other at-bats, and struck out twice, making him 4 for 34 with 19 Ks since returning from the family emergency list. If you go back a little further, the slump he is in is actually 4 for 41 (.097 average!) with 21 strikeouts. Seldom's on an amazing ten-game streak -- not a hitting streak, obviously, but a strikeout streak -- ten games in a row with at least one strikeout. For a guy who rarely gets on base and never hits home runs, that's just pathetic. Even missing a dozen games, the guy is 25th in the league in strikeouts. It's getting close to the time that a shake-up needs to be made, and usually the beginning of June marks the annual Twins shakeup. This was about the time that Juan Castro and Tony Batista were jettisoned in 2006, and also the time that Mike Lamb and Craig Monroe lost the majority of their playing time last season. The only thing going for the Twins regarding Young is Young's age; because he's only 24, you might get some team drunk enough to take the bait. And, as I said yesterday, whoever gets Young will be glad they did, as he'll blossom into that five-tool player everyone thought he was.

Alexi Casilla's error in the eighth inning led to two meaningless runs scoring off of Luis Ayala in the eighth inning. Casilla's defense continues to be underwhelming, and we all know that his offensive production is nonexistent. The Twins have a major hole at second base right now, and neither Casilla or Matt Tolbert or anyone that they put there can do the job at this point. It should be that the Twins are on the market for a second-baseman, but knowing Ron Gardenhire and the front-office, they're more than happy to drop games with talent-deficient infielders. The bad thing about Casilla's error last night was not that it led to two runs, but that those two runs were unearned against Ayala. We need Ayala's ERA to skyrocket, and quick, because the Twins are apparently fine with Ayala giving up runs in every outing; maybe with a 7.00+ ERA, the Twins would be forced to cut ties with the righthander. Ayala has a 4.07 ERA -- talk about deceiving.

As a sidenote, Dick Bremer's guess on last night's trivia question was pathetically wrong. When asked what pitcher holds the record for the most losses in a season after they won the Cy Young award, Bremer came up with Denny McLain, who he believed had a bad year after his 31-win 1968. Bremer was only a little bit off -- McLain went 24-9 in 1969 and won a second consecutive Cy Young.