You know things have gone seriously awry when the two guys in the Twins radio booth are talking about their favorite TV shows as kids.
Such was the case Friday. The Twins served up five runs in the first inning, coughed up two more in the third and were blanked by 41-year-old Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Charlie Morton and three relievers on two hits to lose 7-0.
We also learned that play-by-play guy Kris Atteberry grew up an Adam-12 fan.
After a spirits-lifting 4-1 win over the Yankees at the Stadium on Wednesday, the Twins have come home to lose back-to-back games to Motown. Like I previously posted: Nobody said August was going to be easy.
And it becomes even more challenging after the great sell-off at the trade deadline. This is a young team with some exciting players, but with that also comes inexperience.
The result is that I’m not sure Twins rookie hurler Pierson Ohl is ready for prime time. He got into trouble early and received no help from the guys behind him, which produced a cockeyed pitching line. Ohl allowed seven runs (three earned) on eight hits with two walks and a whiff across just two-plus innings pitched.
Luke Keaschall botched a sure-fire double play and it went downhill from there.
Zebby Matthews gets the ball Saturday.
Extra innings…
–After Ohl stepped aside, Jose Urena and Erasmo Ramirez pitched scoreless baseball the rest of the way.
–The Twins were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. That’ll do it.
–In addition to talking old TV shows, Atteberry and Paul Molitor also kept their eyes on what appeared to be a perfect game in the works between the Orioles and Astros on Friday. It did not turn out that way, but it prompted Molitor to reflect on David Wells’ perfect game against the Twins on May 17, 1998, at Yankee Stadium.
Molitor, who was on that Twins team, said Wells had the nerve to ask the Twins to sign the pitching rubber. I hope they didn’t. He also acknowledged he was hungover for the game.
–The Twins lost 4-3 to the Tigers on Thursday in 11 innings. Eddie Julien homered off lefty ace Tarik Skubal and Rocco Baldelli was ejected for arguing over whether the ball was tipped foul or hit the dirt first.
Baldelli’s argument: simply ask the first base umpire for a second opinion. The home plate ump chose not to do that and Baldelli went berserk, tossing his hat and kicking dirt on the plate, a la the late, great Earl Weaver.
–One more thought about Friday’s game: Never wear those yellow-colored caps ever again. The city connect uniforms are not my favorites, but the blue top with white pants is an improvement. The yellow cap though? Set those things on fire.