Twins 2011: Dog Days Are Here

Image via WikipediaFlorence + The Machine had a song on the pop charts recently titled "Dog Days Are Over".  For the Minnesota Twins, defending American League Central champions, the dog days have just arrived.

At the Memorial Day weekend, the Twins are already out of the playoff picture.  They have the worst record in major league baseball at 16-32.  The Cleveland Indians, by contrast, lead the AL Central with the best record in the game at 30-17 and are 14 1/2 games in front of the Twins.  Another former bottom-feeder, the Kansas City Royals, are sitting in third place.

What went wrong?  Well, what have you got?  It's a combination of bad fielding, blown saves, lack of offense and injuries to key players.  If all those currently on the disabled list were suddenly healthy enough to play, it would still be too late to save the season.

The starting pitching is not where it should be.  Carl Pavano, Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker are not exactly having career years.  Neither is Francisco Liriano, but he did manage to no-hit the Chicago White Sox once in pitching the first complete game of his career.  So far, only Nick Blackburn and Brian Duensing have been distinguishing themselves on the mound.

The bullpen is a disaster.  Joe Nathan lost his closer role because it looks like he hasn't fully recovered from Tommy John surgery.  Matt Capps, with each blown save, must be thinking he'd never left the Washington Nationals.   And the rest of the relievers?  Let's just say there's a reason why they normally play for the Triple A Rochester Red Wings.

Injuries have taken their toll on the starting lineup.  True, this happens with any ball club.  It just seems to affect the Twins more.  Tsuyashi Nishioka, whom the team spent big bucks to bring over from Japan, has been out since the beginning of the season with a torn fibula.  Justin Morneau is playing again even though he's still recovering from a concussion.  They and others have been replaced by guys who, like some members of the pitching staff, aren't ready for the majors.

As for Joe Mauer, the Twins' "franchise player", his presence has been limited to singing off-key in a TV commercial promoting Minnesota tourism.  He's been out several weeks for what the team originally termed "leg weakness", alarming those who thought the local hero would go the way of Lou Gehrig.  But it's really just an occupational hazard of all catchers:  two sore knees complicated by an infection.  The way the Twins have been handling Mauer's condition, you'd have thought they were an NHL team telling the media that a certain player has an upper or lower body injury.

Unless you insist on spending your hard-earned money to watch bad baseball this summer at Target Field, we'd like to suggest other ways to pass the time:

• Catch up on your reading.
• Get some exercise.
• Rent some movies, or start watching the TV shows you recorded but never had time for.
• Visit friends or relatives.
• Spend some extra time at the lake.

In other words, do just about anything to avoid having to watch the Minnesota Twins this season.