Twins still have a void at leadoff spot

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – One day after Royals manager Ned Yost said he was changing his lineup on the recommendation of the team's statistical analysts, Ron Gardenhire said he tries to do the same with the Twins.

"Everybody thinks I'm old-school, but not really. I like looking at different [ideas]," said the 12-year manager. "… I like looking at things, I think it's interesting. I think there's a lot of validity to it."

But one thing no sabermetrics advice has been able to help with: The Twins can't seem to find an effective leadoff hitter.

The top of the batting order entered Thursday batting a cumulative .181 this season, easily the worst in the major leagues. Using Aaron Hicks during his introduction to the major leagues was part of the problem, but even subtracting his 10 games (and 2-for-43) as the leadoff hitter, the Twins were still at .210, 13 points behind the Mets.

"We really don't have a prototype leadoff hitter," said Gardenhire, who has tried four players at the position. Trouble is, each of his candidates has hit worse in the No. 1 slot than elsewhere. Jamey Carroll entered Thursday's at .217 as a leadoff hitter, with a .270 on-base percentage. Brian Dozier was relatively successful at the spot for his first 10 days there, but he is at .235 when he leads off, with a .267 OBP. Eduardo Escobar has batted .111 in the leadoff slot.

There are no obvious solutions on the horizon.

"You've just got to keep trying. Hopefully someone will get hot and you can run them out there," Gardenhire said.

That was in 1970, and he was with the Twins a year later when they lost 5-2 at RFK Stadium on July 19, 1971. But the Twins haven't played a game in the District since that day. "Boy, 42 years," Blyleven said. "That's hard to believe."

The Twins, who were formed as the Washington Senators in 1901 before moving to the Twin Cities in 1961, are scheduled to face the Nationals in Washington for the first time Friday. It will bring back memories for Blyleven — "When I played them, Ted Williams was the manager," he said of the second edition of the Senators, formed to replace the Twins. "You don't forget that." — and also for Josh Willingham, who spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons with the Nats.

"We didn't do a whole lot on the field my two years there, but I kind of saw them building what they have now, since a lot of those guys were young when I was there," said Willingham, who hit 40 home runs in his two seasons in D.C. "Jordan Zimmermann, [Ross] Detwiler, Ian Desmond, [Stephen] Strasburg — you knew they were going to be good players. They just weren't quite there yet."

It will be Gardenhire's first time managing in Washington, though the manager made it clear he has visited the city before. "Went to the White House" with the 1991 Twins to be honored by President George H.W. Bush. "Had a Coke."

• With the Twins scheduled to arrive in Washington between 3 and 4 a.m., Friday's starting pitcher, Kevin Correia, flew ahead Thursday.