Week Six in Review

Twins Record This Week: 1 - 5
Twins Record Overall: 12 - 23
This Week's Fan Confidence Rating: 39

Oddly enough this week started with a great win over Boston, as the Twins exploded for a 9-2 victory. That was followed by three consecutive losses to the Red Sox, and two more to the Tigers in Minneapolis. This was by far the worst week the Twins have had.

Players are on the mend

Joe Mauer has started swinging a bat, which is good. I heard that Delmon Young will be back this weekend, which will help (I'm betting Ben Revere stays and Rene Tosoni gets returned to Rochester). Jim Thome is getting closer to being back, and so is Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Although Nishioka is still weeks away, and definitely the furthest away of the four primary players missing, he seems to be making some good progress.

It's hard to keep in mind when you see this team lose five of six games in a week, but think of it as your happy place: of course the Twins are terrible, but they're also missing half of their everyday players.

Jason Kubel, Glen Perkins, Denard Span

These guys have generally played pretty well. You might be able to add Scott Baker and Brian Duensing to this list. Anybody else? Anyone?

The Bullpen

On occasions where the starting pitching turns in a strong performance, when the game is turned over to the bullpen you can't count on anyone not named Perkins. Matt Capps has been up and down but couldn't keep the game in check for the Twins yesterday. Jose Mijares has been terrible. Joe Nathan is still finding himself. And who else is even pitching in the bullpen right now? I should know but I just don't care to pay attention because it will only end in pain.

Jim Hoey, Alex Burnett, Kevin Slowey? Did I get it right?

Playoff Chances

We're getting to the point where are chances are no longer dropping precipitously with each game, simply because our chances are already so low and there's still 75% of the season remaining to be played.

I have a friend, more than one actually, who is/are ready to write the Twins off. I'm not. Not yet. I'm giving it until the middle of June before I start making declarations of a season definitively sunk. Things can change quickly, definitely; a three week stretch where the Twins go 15-6 changes our fortunes dramatically. But even I'll admit that right now things just do NOT look good.

Fan Confidence

I know this is a "fan confidence roundup", but I do think that we can get into a bit of a feedback loop. When fan confidence drops, it will affect the confidence of other fans too, especially at the ballpark where that kind of energy is almost physical.

This carried over to the players as well. Or maybe it carries over to us from the players. Whatever the case, you can tell by the general body language of this team that they feel a bit defeated right now. And they should feel that way, no doubt. And it's a hard environment for minor leaguers and backups, forced into starting roles, to learn and excel in. But somebody has to wake this team up. No-hitters aren't going to save us, and Kubel can't carry this offense on his own forever.