The Twins are 50 games into the season and three times in team history the record trailed the current 17-33. They were 12-38 in 1982, and 15-35 in both 1981 and 1995.
Traditionally, there's no ingredient more important for a team striving to be truly awful than poor starting pitching. That's what has made it a task for these Twins to have the worst record in the major leagues:
They have done it with starting pitching that is better than many observers anticipated.
The argument against that theory would be substandard efforts from Carl Pavano and Francisco Liriano, the projected Nos. 1 and 2 starters in the rotation.
Pavano has been subject to clunkers even in his best seasons. He has had four of those in 10 starts so far -- too many -- but there have been signs lately that he's still a worthy option every five days.
Liriano had the no-hitter and other hints in May that he was waking up, before missing Saturday night's start because of a sore shoulder.
The sight of Pavano's ERA at 5.28 and Liriano's at 5.73 might make the theory on the Twins' starters a tough sell. The reverse is that Nick Blackburn and Scott Baker have been far better than expected.
A sizable portion of the media and Twins' public couldn't figure out what manager Ron Gardenhire was doing when he declared Blackburn to be one of his starters early in spring training. Blackburn is now 6-for-10 in quality starts, with a 4-4 record and a 3.20 ERA.