Three quick postgame thoughts following the Twins' fifth straight loss
1. WILKIN RAMIREZ GONE: Outfielder Wilkin Ramirez has left the team to go on three-day paternity leave as his wife, who's in New York, has gone into labor. The Twins are expected to call up a temp tomorrow. The Twins could call up hot-hitting Oswaldo Arcia or Chris Colabello from Class AAA Rochester, but they would sit on the bench. Clete Thomas has been starting at center at Rochester and could be a possibility because...
2. AARON HICKS IS A MESS: He's taking pitches he should hit and swinging at pitches he should take. I joked on the radio this week that you keep running kids out there until they start tearing up the clubhouse or curling up into a fetal position during the post-game shower. But now Hicks looks like he's in a funk, and maybe a few days off will help him. He struck out three more times today and 20 times for the season.
3.SCOTT DIAMOND WAS O.K. : He said he should have done a better job of damage control in the fifth. He was moving his fastball in and out the first three innings. I think he could have kept pounding fastball inside a, especially when the last hitter he faced, Daniel Murphy, hits a curveball on the outer half of the plate hard to center. It was hard to expect a masterpiece in his first time out. It just looked bad because Matt Harvey was unhittable for six-plus innings.
