After watching another adventurous ninth inning with Matt Capps (and friends), we have a few thoughts on the closer situation as it stands with the Twins: *Matt Capps is an awful mess right now. His last three outings include a brutal four-run blown save against the Brewers and two more games in which he's been removed mid-inning in favor of Glen Perkins. That's about as bad as it gets for a closer. He's already blown six saves in roughly half a season -- and remember, he didn't even start the year as the closer -- and five of those blown saves ended in Twins losses. Fans clearly don't trust him. Manager Ron Gardenhire wants to believe in him, but he has to keep yanking him for throwing [redacted]-high pitches that get knocked around the park. Even his outs lately tend to be long and noisy.

*However: Gardenhire is handling this all very well. He was absolutely correct in hooking Capps each of the past two games. The fact that Perkins did the job beautifully both times is a nice luxury to know as we start to think about closers beyond this season (when Capps and Joe Nathan could both be gone). Both were somewhat bold moves considering Gardenhire's track record, so kudos for that. But for now -- the very short-term -- getting Capps turned around as the closer is the right play. Regardless of his role, the Twins need Capps to flourish in a bullpen that's still thin but sets up pretty well suddenly in the late innings with Perkins going strong and Nathan looking much sharper -- if Capps is pitching well.

*But: The leash needs to be short. Gardenhire can't keep holding onto Perkins to use in case Capps falters. That was a great luxury in these two recent games, and it worked out beautifully. But he's one of your best pitchers out of the pen. He needs to have the ball sometime late in a close game. Best-case scenario: The Twins get a big lead today and don't need a closer. Then they need one sometime in the White Sox series, but it's a three-run cushion and Capps gets it done. Worst-case scenario: Capps falters again the next time he's out there, and he looks bad doing it. At that point, you have to consider -- for the sake of the team -- reshuffling the bullpen deck. The interesting question at that point is whether you would give Nathan his old job back or groom Perkins in that role by giving him a full-time shot at it. We're still not sure what we would do there.

*Seeing the ninth inning adventures this year reminds us how much Nathan spoiled everybody during his prime. Take 2006 for example: Nathan pitched in 64 games. He finished 61 of those games; the only three times he didn't finish were games that went extra-innings after he pitched the ninth. He was never lifted mid-inning. It wouldn't have been a consideration.

Your thoughts, as always, in the comments.