Derek Lower-than-Lowe shuts down Twins

Derek Lowe, relying almost solely on sinkers down and away, shut out the Twins on Tuesday afternoon.

The Twins' approach was horrible. They were way too willing to give in to Lowe and hit the pitch he wanted them to hit, and in the way he wanted them to hit it.

But the bigger problem occured during the other half-innings, when Jason Marquis continued to look like anything other than a big-league pitcher. His ERA is now 6.68 and the way he's built it - with long pauses between pitches and terrible body language - has been alarming.

I'll have a list of suggestions for the Twins in the Wednesday paper. For now, a few facts and notes:

-Lowe hadn't pitched a complete game since 2008.

-Lowe became the first pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout and not strike out a batter since Scott Erickson did it for the Orioles in 2002.

-The Twins went 3-6 on the homestand and will play their next eight on the road.

-As a professional baseball player, Brian Dozier, who went 3-for-4 on Tuesday as he turned 25, is 9-for-13 on his birthdays.

-Anthony Swarzak has a 2.63 ERA as a reliever this season, with opponents hitting .167 off of him.

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This is way too simplistic, but I still like it: Francisco Liriano should be asked to pitch one inning and only one inning for the rest of his career.

Look what happened on Monday. He was dominant for an inning, sat around thinking, and came out and walked three batters in his second inning. Remove all thought and excuses from his outings. Tell him to pitch one inning and that you expect him back in the dugout within five minutes. He looked great in that first inning on Monday, when all he was doing was thinking about the batter at hand.