MVN - Most Valuable Network

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.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 1:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.