Trying to pinpoint the worst moment of last night's game is difficult. To wit:
- Kevin Slowey getting bludgeoned yet AGAIN. 5 quality starts in 18 total. It's almost like he wants to beat Nick Blackburn to Rochester.
- Alex Burnett catching his spike during his delivery, tripping and balking in the tying run.
- Master irritant A.J. Pierzynski providing the winning RBI after barking at Jim Thome earlier in the game.
- Brian Duensing coming down with the flu, preventing the Twins' best long reliever from coming into the game.
- The Twins scoring six runs on John Danks, seven runs in all, with the MVP hitting in the clutch like fans have been demanding all season, and it still wasn't enough.
- Nick Punto's mustache.
Adding to all that misery, the Twins were forced to place Justin Morneau on the 15-day DL due to his concussion. Jeff Manship, not Anthony Slama or Kyle Waldrop, gets the call-up. Manship has posted an 8.10 ERA in his last five starts at Rochester. Sigh. In Gardy's defense, he probably had to do this because he needs a mop-up guy if Liriano struggles tonight and Duensing is still sick.
Speaking of the manager, this quote from last night sums it up pretty well, courtesy ESPN's Tom Pelissero:
"As I've said before, you can't replace everybody in the rotation -- these guys have to get it done. It's the same group that took us a long way last year. We won a division with 'em. We're not going to just pitch 'em. Our job is to try to get 'em right as much as we can.
"If it doesn't work out, then we've got to make a decision and make a move. We're trying to get 'em right. I think (pitching coach Rick Anderson)'s as good as they get at that, so we're trying to do the best we possibly can with them. It's not working out right now. If we make a move, we make a move."
So, what move(s) would you make? Where do you even start? Feel free to play Friday morning GM in the comments, being mindful of the 40-man roster and the fact that we won't get Roy Oswalt for Brendan Harris and Loek Van Mil.