Jim Souhan: Infield shows something sure was lost in translation

TORONTO - The Twins teams that resurrected the franchise featured the League of Nations Infield.

With Canadian Corey Koskie at third, Cristian Guzman of the Dominican Republic at short, Venezuelan Luis Rivas at second and Floridian Doug Mientkiewicz at first, the Twins made fielding look like ballet with dirt stains. Guzman and Rivas turned double plays as if they grew up on the same block, as if the runners barreling toward them were nothing more than holograms.

The 2011 Twins are reprising the League of Nations Infield, but their new middle infielders will need to prove they can speak the language of glove. Their failure to do so on Opening Day contributed to an ugly first inning in an ugly 13-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Danny Valencia of Florida has taken control of the third base job. Alexi Casilla of the Dominican is the subject of an extended tryout at shortstop. Japanese newcomer Tsuyoshi Nishioka is the current answer to the persistent questions at second. Canadian Justin Morneau is the recuperating Canadian first baseman.

Friday night, Toronto's first batter, the speedy Rajai Davis, hit a hard one-hopper toward Casilla. Casilla froze, lunged, then threw a hard one-hopper to first. First base umpire Angel Hernandez ruled Davis safe.

Twins starter Carl Pavano picked Davis off first base, but the Twins botched the rundown, with Nishioka throwing late to Pavano, who had strayed too far from the bag, and the inning turned into a tire fire.

"It was my miss, on the decision," Nishioka said through a translator. "I think it's my responsibility, and that kind of broke the pitcher's rhythm."

Pavano was about as rhythmic as Country & Western karaoke to begin with. "The first play of the game was bang-bang at first base," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It snowballs from there. ... We didn't play good defense. It was just a bad night all the way around."

Nishioka was given a chance to end the first inning when, with a runner on second and two out, Travis Snider hit a hard grounder to his right. Nishioka displayed excellent range and hands all spring. This time, he looked as if he lacked confidence in his ability to field the ball cleanly with his glove, so he went to his knees and it ricocheted away for a run-scoring error.

Had Casilla and Nishioka handled their chances cleanly in the first, Pavano might have been spared a draining, damaging first inning, might have given the Twins a chance. "In life there is always the good and the bad, and I have to think about how I broke Pavano's rhythm," Nishioka said.

Since the first League of Nations Infield disbanded, Morneau has manned first and the other positions have spun like tumblers in a broken lock.

Even on Thursday, contemplating the opener, Gardenhire sounded worried about his middle infielders. "It's still a work in progress, and it's not going to stop," Gardenhire said. "A good combination. There's still that problem you have with communication ... in Atlanta, where Nishi didn't cover second base.

"There are still things they're talking about, hopefully they'll be able to communicate. They're very athletic, they can do some fun things, we just want consistency out of both of them, so it's going to be a work in progress."

Opening Days are more about omens than results. One ugly loss is meaningless; fielding mistakes in the middle of the diamond ripple outward.

Nishioka got his first major league hit -- a single in the sixth -- and Casilla hit an RBI double, but the game was lost by then.

"There are 161 games left, so I am going to focus on the rest of the games," Nishioka said. "There is more to come."

For at least one night, opening night, it would be fair to ask whether that was a promise or a threat.

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon and weekdays at 2:40 p.m. on 1500ESPN. His Twitter name is Souhanstrib. • jsouhan@startribune.com