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Twins have problems in relief

What made the Twins a playoff team over the years was their reliable core of relievers. Once the Twins took a lead in the seventh inning, they would get a victory because their relievers would shut the other team down.

This year is a different story. Outside of Joe Nathan, just exactly which reliever can Ron Gardenhire trust out there? These two games at Safeco Field should concern Gardenhire and Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson.

The loss of Pat Neshek is starting to take its toll. When Joe Nathan goes out to pitch in the eighth inning last night, it’s not a good thing. It was great to see him give it a try, but even he was mortal as he gave up a game-winning double to give the Mariners an 8-7 victory on Tuesday night.

The Twins are now a game behind the White Sox, but this should be the least of the Twins’ concerns.

The concern is how the Twins are going to make it with their relievers for the final two months. The Twins go on a long road trip in the final weeks of August, which is not a good thing because their relievers are hideous on the road.

Prior to Tuesday night’s game, their ERA is 6.19, and they give up 104 earned runs over 152 2/3 innings when they wear their road uniforms. This is simply not a good thing, and it would simply be a matter of time until they bomb at home.

Pat Neshek may have been shaky at times this season, but he was efficient as the setup guy. There is a saying that you miss something once it’s gone. Neshek is appreciated more than ever when guys are struggling in his role, and it has an effect on the middle relievers, who have to pitch in the seventh inning.

Matt Guerrier is great when he is in the seventh inning, but with him being the setup guy, he has been shaky. He has not been good this season for whatever reason. He gets lit up often, which is why he does not give the Twins any sense of security when he is out there.

Jesse Crain has actually had a good year, but he is prone to have his hiccups on the mound. He can give up the crucial base hits and runs often. He is hot and cold so it’s hard to know what to expect out of him. Plus, he can’t pitch everyday.

Dennys Reyes is only good as a situational reliever, which means that he is effective only to get one or two outs in the middle of the game.

Boof Bonser, Brian Bass and Craig Breslow have been given opportunities to pitch in relief, but the problem is they are not performing.

Breslow has been decent, but he hasn’t been reliable either. Bass has simply been bad to the point he should not pitch this season. Bonser has been ineffective as a reliever.

The Twins were interested in old friend Latroy Hawkins, but the Astros beat them to the punch. It’s bad when Hawkins is viewed as a guy who can save this sagging pen.

It may have been a better idea if Francisco Liriano was in the bullpen. Had Livan Hernandez actually did good enough to stay on the rotation, Liriano would have been a panacea to the Twins’ relief issues. Unfortunately, Hernandez was finished so Liriano had to be in the rotation.

Right now, the Twins have to be creative in finding guys that can step up. They should send Bass down and release Bonser so that they can create a room for couple of guys to step up. It can’t hurt, right?

They should call up Philip Humber, and see what he can do. He can pitch, and being a reliever could be something that fits him for this season at least.

They are going to have come up with something to solve their woes because that’s the only option they have.

This just can’t go on like this.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 3:28 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.