Three thoughts after another bad night for Twins baseball.
1. The De Vries decision. Cole De Vries is finding a way to compete. I was very curious to see how he would do facing the White Sox for the second time. But he pitched fairly well. He shouldn't have given up a run in the first inning (more on that later) making Paul Konerko's home run his only real mistake. I was wondering if De Vries was going to start the seventh after throwing 95 pitches. When he admitted that he was a little tired in the sixth, I could see why Gardy went with the lefty - but I think Gardy wanted to do that anyway. People exploded on twitter (that's what twitter is there for) but I didn't think it was that bad of a decision. He doesn't know De Vries, and De Vries was a little tired. And a lefty should get the job done there.
2. Bullpen blues: If this was early May, Glen Perkins would have started the seventh, Jared Burton would have pitched the eighth and Matt Capps would have pitched the ninth - and the game probably would have been locked up. But injuries and role-changing has led to different, more inexperienced pitchers trying to protect leads. Tyler Robertson set up that seventh inning with the four-pitch walk to Kevin Youkilis. Then he lost the battle to Dunn. So far, Robertson is 1-for-3 in key battles with lefty sluggers. He's lost to Dunn and Prince Fielder and won against Jim Thome. Then Casey Fein could not retire a single batter. Ugh.
2a. A stat related to Thought No. 2: Twins starters have gone at least six innings in six of the last seven games. The Twins have gone 2-5 in those games.
3. Dozier watch: Last night I pointed out how well he played, Tonight, the White Sox were gifted a run because Dozier turned a routine play into a throwing error. The Twins want more consistency and aren't happy that Dozier is struggling right now.
