Another loss to lefty creates mood to brood

The causes for the Twins' slump spread through the team, including failure vs. left- handers, but the answers aren't easy to find.

By La Velle E. Neal III, Star Tribune

Last update: May 17, 2007 - 6:30 AM

CLEVELAND - Twins outfielder Torii Hunter wanted something to fill the air in a seething clubhouse and tried to change the mood.

So R&B music thumped after the Twins' 7-1 loss to the Indians on Wednesday night -- although it did little to calm a team clearly agitated with the type of baseball it's playing these days.

"It's not early anymore," starter Carlos Silva said.

"We just need to be better in everything," first baseman Justin Morneau said.

"Whether it's relaxing, whether it's getting angry, we need to win," outfielder Michael Cuddyer said.

Nothing could lighten the mood on a night in which the team learned righthanded setup man Jesse Crain could be out a long time because of a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum. The Twins also wondered why Cleveland lefthander C.C. Sabathia (6-1) hit Morneau with a pitch in the fourth inning.

The Twins have lost six of their past seven games and are 7-15 since April 21. They are 1-7-1 in their past nine series.

The Twins have fallen to fourth place in the American League Central, 6 ½ games behind Detroit.

"You have to start winning because, with this division, it is very tough," Silva said. "If you don't win now it is going to be tough to catch up."

A Twins opponent scored in the first inning for the seventh consecutive game. Lefthanded starters improved to 10-5 against the Twins. After scoring 23 runs in their previous two games, the Twins went back to bad offensive habits, squandered opportunities on the bases and were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

The Twins needed a dominant performance by a starter, but the coaching staff hasn't been pleased with how Silva on Wednesday and Ramon Ortiz on Tuesday danced around the plate.

"We are facing good hitters and you don't want to leave anything over the plate," said Silva (2-4), when those concerns were brought up. "I wasn't dancing anywhere."

No quality outings by Twins starters, and the offense hasn't given the starters any breathing room.

Nothing is working.

"I think we're strong enough mentally and physically to get through these things, but right now it doesn't feel very good," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We have to be a better baseball team, starting with me."

The Twins fell behind 2-0 in the first inning Wednesday. They got a RBI single in the second by Nick Punto, but the inning abruptly ended when Chris Heintz was caught too far off second base on the play and was thrown out.

Morneau was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth, which caused both benches to be warned after Victor Martinez and Mike Redmond were hit on Tuesday.

"I don't know if they thought it was something going on from yesterday or what," Morneau said. "If they though it was, I think we should have gotten a chance to do the same thing they did to us yesterday."

Hunter followed with a single. The next three batters, however, went flyout, strikeout, groundout. And the Twins weren't heard from again.

"We've had a lot of talks," Gardenhire said. "We've done all those things. Now, it's going to have to [change] out on the baseball field."

La Velle E. Neal III • lneal@startribune.com

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