Tired Arms, But Twins Are In First!

Glen Perkins' showing in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader exemplifies a problem with the young Twins pitching staff. Perkins has a tired arm.

It was pretty obvious Saturday as his fastball was all over the diamond and ball movement lacking any snap.

Manager Ron Gardenhire smartly pulled Perkins and began a parade of recent Rochester Red Wings pitchers to finish off the Baltimore Orioles, 12-6.

Like Perkins, the rest of the starting staff are challenging the most innings they've ever pitched.

• Perkins (12-4, 4.11 ERA) has tossed 175.6 innings this year (that number includes the 33.3 innings he's thrown in the minors). That's the most innings he's piched in a season. He threw 134 innings in 2004.


• Nick Blackburn (10-8, 3.67) led Twins pitchers in innings pitched with 176.7 innings heading into Sunday's final game with the Orioles. His previous top inning season was 2005 (156.6 IP).


• Kevin Slowey (12-9, 3.63) is at 159.3 innings this year (13 in the minors) and is the most accomplished innings eater of the staff. Last year, Slowey combined for 199.3 innings between the majors (66.7) and minors (133.6). In 2006 he threw 140 innings in the minors.


• Scott Baker (9-4, 3.57) went just six innings in the early game Saturday and now has 158.3 innings pitched (5 IP in minors). Baker threw 169 innings at three levels of minor league ball in 2004. Baker also pitched 143.7 innings last year for the Twins when he was 9-9 with a 4.26 ERA.


• Francisco Liriano (5-3, 3.19) has thrown 62 innings for the Twins and 126 more in the minors this year (188 total). Those totals come after missing all of 2007 with Tommy John surgery. Liriano threw just 121 innings in his spectacular 2006 season (12-3, 2.16), but he did throw for a minors/majors combined innings total of 191.3 in 2005.

With 14 games remaining in the regular season, the Twins have to hold on and hope the bullpen --so atrocious lately--will respond and pick up innings.

Twins in a groovy groove

Winning 10 straight is never easy, but often these kinds of streaks are followed with another less pleasing streak to equalize a team on a karma-like level. But here we were today with the Twins coming back from a dismal showing on Saturday with a stellar game backed by Kevin Tapani -- er, Slowey -- tossing the shutout.

That Brewers team isn't exactly living up to its expectations this year, but that's one hell of a lineup they toss at a team. Cecil Fielder's skinny son, Ryan Braun (I still can't believe his nickname is the Hammerin' Hebrew), "Sunglasses at Night" Corey Hart, Ben Sheets, Welcome Back Kotter's Gabe Kapler, Jeff Soupcan and Rookie of the Year candidate Manny Parra all make for a strong club.

Gardy's definitely pulling something out of a hat right now -- and it ain't just the normal bottle of Wild Turkey.

Nice job in the past week boys. Sweeping Washington and San Diego isn't as boastful as sweeping potential World Series contenders Arizona, but winning 10 is impressive. For the month the Twins are 17-10 (.630). That should keep things interesting with the White Sox. I just can't wait to watch Chicago collapse and whine as it happens.