And things looked to be going so well on all fronts just a few days ago... but now, with another poor outing from Silva (and an injury), and a 3rd straight loss, dropping the Twins back to 11 games behind the Tigers, things once again look bleak as far as playoff potential goes.
As always seems to happen, the Twins definitely struggled in Texas, dropping the game 9-4 on Friday. Carlos Silva was able to get 5 (five) outs, and he allowed the same number of runs in that time. Willie Eyre came in and actually did worse, allowing 3 ER over 0.2 innings. (Free Scott Baker!) Things got better from there, but the damage was done.
But things weren't all bad on the pitching front... we got our first look at Pat Neshek, who definitely impressed, as expected. Neshek pitched 2 shutout innings and struck out one. As Aaron Gleeman says, we probably should have seen this earlier.
Offensively, the fireballer that is John Wasdin did enough for the win, namely going 5 innings. After that, the ragtag bullpen of the Rangers was easily able to hold the Twins down. Things weren't all bad - the 3 Js (Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, and Jason Kubel) - each took one of out the park, but they couldn't muster anything consistent. Morneau was the best of the day, as he also had an RBI double early in the game, to bump his RBI total up to 73 when he heard his 23rd homerun.
The loss leaves the Twins at 16-28 so far this year on the road (compared to 30-10 at home), which means that maybe it's about time to stop watching the Twins road games this year. I understand teams play better at home than on the road, but that is something else.
Anyway, the Twins send Francisco Liriano to the mound Saturday to face John Rheinecker of the Rangers. With "The Iceman" pitching Saturday, and Johan going in the series finale, the Twins need a couple of wins here to close it out before the break and get some momentum for the second half.
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