Fire Gardy

The Twins evidently missed the memo informing them that The RNC Road Trip is over, meaning that they can stop blowing leads late in the game. Over the weekend we blew two more games to the Tigers and let a series victory get away.

Not surprisingly, the two meltdowns were the work of the bullpen, once again. And it was the usual suspects. On Saturday, Reyes and Guerrier each gave up two run homers before Crain and Breslow came in to finish the game. On Sunday, Breslow came in to give up a hit (without recording an out) before Boof came in to give up some runs and Guardado and Nathan finished off the loss.

But both times, I was left confused. For the entire road trip, and for several weeks leading up to it, all we heard about was how much the bullpen has been overworked. They’re so overworked, in fact, that Rick Anderson can’t even take them aside between games to work on stuff and try to fix what’s ailing them. They’re just exhausted from overuse and have been struggling to get the job done any more.

Oh woe is us, for surely there’s nothing to be done about that! Right? Except, of course, for the September 1 call up of Bobby Korecky, Phil Humber, and Jose Mijares. In close games this weekend, Gardy chose to put in overworked and underperforming Reyes/Guerrier/Crain into tough spots in which they have consistently failed all season (and especially lately) rather than try something new, perhaps to inject some life into the team and at the very, very least give the more experienced and talented members of the bullpen some valuable rest. Which would then allow them to stay fresh for the rest of the month (perhaps beyond?) and to — importantly — get some work in between outings with Anderson.

On Saturday, when Reyes came in, my immediate question was “Why does this situation warrant a walk and a hit?” The home run, of course, rendered my fear moot. Then Guerrier followed, as did Crain and Breslow … and I was left wondering what happened to Korecky and Humber. What’s the worst that could possibly happen? We lose the game? Well, what actually happened was worse — we lost the game and the top of our bullpen got even more overworked.

On Sunday, it was more of the same. Why are Boof and Eddie pitching when Korecky and Humber are ready to go? What’s the worst that could happen? We lose the game? Well, that actually happened again.

It’s folly for me to sit here and say that different moves would have worked out differently and we would have won the games. And Gardy’s reasoning for bringing in Reyes and Guerrier was “solid,” in that Granderson and Ordonez hadn’t hit well against them. However, for weeks now, he’s been using that same “solid” reasoning, and Reyes, Guerrier, Crain, Guardado, and Bonser have been failing. Repeatedly, and without signs of stopping. At some point, it must be time to re-evaluate and come up with some different reasoning. The kind that involves giving your bullpen some rest and giving Korecky and Humber some work. The very worst that could happen is that the results stay the same.

But, on this off day, consider this: The last time the Twins had lost a series at home was the beginning of June, immediately before getting swept by the White Sox — followed, of course, by two consecutive months of great baseball that kept us right in the hunt all summer. If (recent) history repeats itself, the Twins will find a way to figure out these problems and get back to their winning ways at exactly the right time.

The point is: Never get too far down. It can turn around in an instant.