April 30, 2018

The Twins are in trouble, folks

No pitching and no hitting is a fatal combination in the game of baseball, but once again that’s what the Twins were faced with Sunday after they lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2.

Jose Berrios couldn’t get past the third inning and the Twins couldn’t get a run on the board until the sixth. In all they scored two runs on eight hits and were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

The Twins are now 9-14 on the season. Up next, the always-tough Toronto Blue Jays come to town for a three-game series. Given the history between these two clubs, the Blue Jays could sweep the Twins and leave them at 9-17. Then the Twins hit the road to play the Chicago White Sox, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the Twins winning many of those games either if they continue to struggle on the mound and at the plate. And if that happens, then you can start talking about holes. Holes? That’s right, holes, as in this hole is too deep and I can’t get out. That could be the Twins if they fall 10 or 15 games under .500. The Twins fell behind early in 2016 and never recovered.

Of course, the 2018 club is much better than that one, or is it? I want to be reminded that it is, but right now I don’t see it.

Extra innings…

-Lance Lynn, who is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA, gets the ball Monday.

-At least the Twins won’t have to face Twins killer Josh Donaldson because he’s on the disabled list.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.