Time for Football Season

Might as well start it now, based on the way the teams I follow played this weekend.

I saw parts of all three games that the Twins played against the Angels and, not to put too fine a point on it, they got their asses handed to them. Orlando Cabrera is a professional guy and will help solidify the infield, but the problem at 34 Kirby Puckett Place is that the pitching reeks. Riddle me this: which starting pitcher on the Twins staff would you trust to win a game right now? I sure can't think of one. Meanwhile, the already suspect bullpen is now coughing up huge innings with alarming frequency. Today's game was just a perfect example. The Twins got buried in the middle innings, then clawed their way back a little bit, to a 9-4 score. The immortal Brian Duensing then worked with his fellow arsonist Jose Mijares to load the bases, with the inevitable result that four runs scored, first on a sacrifice fly, then a 3-run homer. Suddenly it's 13-4 and the lights are off for good.

Bill Smith, the Twins GM, doesn't like to send out prospects. I get that. But unless the Twins are serious about getting good players in here, they are going to be looking at a Pittsburgh situation pretty soon: a mid-market team in a beautiful ballpark that gets drilled 6 nights out of 10.

Meanwhile, my beloved Brewers are facing the same issue: no reliable pitching. The same question that one asks about the Twins applies to the Brewers: do they have any starter that you would trust to win a game right now? Yovanni Gallardo has a lot of talent and Braden Looper has been okay, but there's a lot of stench otherwise. The current stretch of the schedule is when the Brewers should be taking charge: lots of games against the footwipes of the National League: the Nationals, Padres and Pirates. So far? A split with the 1962 Mets-like Nats and losing 2 of 3 to a Padres team that gave up around April 27. Conclusion? Not. Good. Enough.