Disappointment.
It was not really a surprise that the Twins would lose this game. It was definitely a surprise that the Twins would score four runs off Tanaka. To do so and still lose is somewhat disappointing.
it looks like Phil Hughes fell victim to OBI (one bad inning) syndrome in the fifth, and had a recurrence of it in the seventh. It's tempting to say Gardy left Hughes in too long, but I wasn't watching the game and its easy to say it after the fact. If Gardy had known what was going to happen he probably would've changed pitchers, but at the time leaving Hughes in may have been the right move that just didn't work out. And of course, it didn't help that Duensing allowed both inherited runners to score.
Oswaldo Arcia got a hit last night, which means he's had a hit in seven of his last nine games. Unfortunately, each time he's gotten exactly one hit, so he's 7-for-29 in that span, which isn't exactly a hot streak. The Twins supposed power hitters--Morales, Willingham, and Arcia--are hitting .217, .228, and .207, respectively, with a grand total of thirteen home runs. Since they generally bat in sequence, that's a lot of innings where the Twins don't do much.
The one consolation in the game, of course, is that Derek Jeter went 0-for-4. I could go on about that, but there's nothing to say about Derek Jeter that hasn't already been said about Mother Teresa, so I won't.
Since sweeping the White Sox, the Twins are now 2-8. I know I said a few days ago that I didn't think the Twins would go into free fall, but this is starting to feel like it. It's nothing that a couple of wins wouldn't fix, but the Twins need to get those couple of wins pretty soon. That, of course, is one of the hard things about being a Twins fan in recent years. We expect the Twins to fall apart at some point, and so any time they go through a rough patch we think, "Well, this is it."
The good news is that today's pitching matchup looks good for the Twins. Second Ace Kyle Gibson goes for the Twins against Chase Whitley, who pitched really well in AAA and has made some good starts in the majors, but has made a couple of pretty bad ones recently. It's time for the Twins to get started on that seventy-eight game winning streak! We'll just have to settle for 116-46!