MVN - Most Valuable Network

Twins just did not execute against Toronto

After a great weekend series against the Red Sox, reality hit the Twins.

The Twins were swept by the Blue Jays Thursday afternoon.

The Toronto series exemplify what the Twins are. They are good enough to beat great teams, but they are capable of losing to teams that they should beat. This is why the Twins are a .500 team at best when all is said and done.

Outside of Glen Perkins’ performance, it’s hard to come up with a superlative to describe what happened in this series.

The Twins did not play defense in this series, and Toronto made them pay by scoring. There were many examples of that in this series such as Gomez’s throw to the Twins dugout in an attempt to get the Blue Jays out, Adam Everett’s poor throw, Cuddyer losing the ball, and Jesse Crain’s throw to the Twins bullpen that sent Rolen home.

The Twins made many baserunning mistakes. They were thrown out at home in Thursday’s game twice.

They couldn’t get the big hit in Thursday’s game.

The team had couple of starters, who could not match what Perkins did in pitching a good game.

It was just bad baseball all around.

It happens during the course of the season.

The best they can do is forget it, and just find a way to play better against the Colorado Rockies over the weekend.

Enough is enough with Boof

The time has come to make a change.

As soon as Scott Baker comes back from the disabled list, it’s time to take Bonser out of the rotation.

Ron Gardenhire should not even hesitate in making this move.

Bonser has had enough time to establish himself as a starter, and so far, he has showed nothing in that role.

This idea that him losing weight was going to make him an effective starter was ridiculous. A pitcher is effective by working fast and throwing strikes not by losing weight. The only good thing about losing weight for players is that they can be in shape and be able to run.

Want to know what’s indicting about Bonser? He does not inspire confidence. Twins fans expect a loss everytime he is out on the mound. They are waiting for bad things to happen when he is out there.

Last night was a good example.

Bonser threw the ball that was easy to hit. Then, he loads up the bases, which gave Matt Stairs an opportunity to drive the runners home, and he did that by hitting a grand slam. Jays take a 4-0 lead to start the game.

He was lucky that his team scored three runs in the Twins’ first inning. Call him lucky because his counterpart, Roy Halladay, does not give out runs like candy unlike Bonser.

The Twins found a way to tie the game at 4, but everyone had to know that Bonser would give that up especially since he can’t pitch in the middle innings.

Predictably, he did just that as the Jays took the lead, 5-4.

It gets frustrating after awhile.

There hasn’t been any options for Gardenhire to replace Boof, but after the way Glen Perkins pitched in today’s game against the Blue Jays, Gardy may finally have an option to replace the struggling starter.

Unfortunately, he can’t just make the move now.

Sure Bonser can all of a sudden get his act together, but this is just a lost cause.

The Twins can only wish that Scott Baker comes back soon.

Slowey has ways to go

Kevin Slowey is on a test trial to prove that he can stay in the rotation.

Slowey has done okay, but okay is simply not good enough at this level.

Last night, he gets a 1-0 lead, and he gives it away by giving up back-to-back doubles to give Toronto a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. That 1-0 lead was the only Twins lead of the night as the Jays went on to a 5-3 victory over the Twins.

This is unacceptable. When a team gives a starter the lead, the starter’s job is not to give the lead back to the other team. He needs to put couple of zeros on the board after he gets a lead.

This is the second time in a row that he has done that. Last week, the Twins gave him a 1-0 lead, and then he gives up a solo home run to Jermaine Dye and a two-run home run to Juan Uribe, which propelled Chicago to beat the Twins in the rubber game of the series.

Another problem with Slowey is that he does well for the first three innings, and then he starts losing it in the middle innings. This is not going help him or the team wins games. He needs to know how to go deep in games. Obviously, it will take time for him to do that.

Slowey has to cut down on giving up home runs. It seems that it’s a lock that he will give up a home run when he is pitching. Maybe he was done after Scott Rolen’s long at-bat against him as Matt Stairs hit a home run off him, but right now, he is not helping his team win games by giving up the long ball.

His defense did not help him in this game last night, but he has to make the pitches that can help him get the job done. Good starters find a way to overcome that.

When the Twins evaluate his performance, he is on his way to Rochester as soon as Scott Baker comes back from his injury.

He will be good someday, but right now he has so much to learn to be an effective starter in the majors.

Twins make statement against Boston

Did anyone expect the Twins to take a series against the defending champs?

The hope was the Twins would get a split against the Red Sox.

The Twins did better as they took the series by defeating the Red Sox, 7-3, Monday night at the Metrodome. They won three out of four in this series.

This accomplishment was a shot in the arm for the Twins after losing the series against the White Sox. This showed that they can play with anyone if they can hit the ball, catch the ball, and throw the ball. They did all that in this series.

The Twins had a good hitting performance in this series. The hitters did a good job of getting to Boston’s pitchers in this series. They were able to find holes of where to hit. They were able to capitalize on runners on base. It was a thing of beauty. When everyone starts hitting, this lineup is as good as anyone.

The hope is that Delmon Young can start doing good things. He had a good series. He has yet to hit home runs, but right now, he at least is getting base hits. The same for Craig Monroe, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer, who did well in this series.

Twins pitching was good overall in this series. They were able to get out of jams for the most part. They made quality pitches when they had to. The relievers were efficient. With the lineup the Red Sox have, it’s hard to complain about the job that the Twins pitchers did here. They showed that they were not intimidated against the Red Sox hitters.

The trick is now is to get the hitting and pitching in sync along with finding a way to duplicate this type of performance on the road.

There has been baseball experts who thought the Twins were going to be lousy this season, but this series should change their thinking. Maybe they won’t be a playoff team this year, but this team has good enough talent to be an above .500 team and be a spoiler in the division race.

They certainly showed it in this series. Sure this team can drive Ron Gardenhire and the fans crazy at times, but they are so exciting to watch, and that’s a good thing.

The hope is now that there is no letdown against the struggling Blue Jays, who come to Minneapolis to start a three-game series on Tuesday night.