Two games short of the one-third mark for this God-awful $%@*! 2011 season, and the Twins have not only pretty much played themselves out of a potential playoff spot, but at 18 games below .500, they have made it very difficult to even get anywhere near an 80-win season. After a promising three game winning streak in Seattle and Oakland, the Twins have managed only two wins in their last ten games, with the bullpen tagged for four of the losses. I'd say things can only go up from here, but I said that a couple weeks ago...
Brian Duensing's ERA and WHIP don't look very good, but he's been a victim of luck and bad defense (who hasn't?) this season, as his BABIP (.308) and LOB% (68%) indicate that his ERA should be closer to 4.00 than 5.00 to date. Last time out, Duensing pitched well against the Seattle Mariners, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks over 7 innings, but the offense was shut out in a 3-0 loss. One trend Duensing needs to turn around is a 14-to-11 strikeout to walk ratio, one that has driven a poor 8.10 ERA in May.
Max Scherzer is the kind of power pitcher the Twins rarely seem to produce, one with high strikeout numbers and no hit potential on any given night. And unlike the Twins and Francisco Liriano, I doubt Scherzer has been asked to "pitch to contact" this season. If I were a Tigers fan, I'd be a bit concerned that his average fastball speed has fallen for the fourth straight season, down from 94.2 MPH in his rookie season to 92.3 MPH this season. And according to fangraphs, his fastball has been a below average pitch this season. However, he should be fresh after getting hammered for seven runs in a two inning, 61 pitch outing last time out at home against the Boston Red Sox.