The Twins on Sunday packed up in a quiet clubhouse and left for the Twin Cities upset about how they gave away Sunday’s game.

“It doesn’t seem like we make these kinds of mistakes at home,” Twins first baseman Justin Morneau said. “This is a tough one to take. We had chances to score runs…throwing to the wrong base…..just stupid stuff.”

They should have put away the Royals in all three games but stranded many baserunners. I mean, the Royals walked 22 batters in the three games. 22! Gil Meche walked seven on Sunday. The Twins, who were 6 for 33 (.182) with runners in scoring position in the series, won’t get many gifts from the Yankees this week.

KFAN’s Chad Hartman asked me during Twins Weekly on Sunday night to rank the three losses on the trip. That was easy.

1. Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Royals. The Twins led 2-0 and 4-2. (good catch!) . The first two runs KC scored came because Mike Lamb failed to cover first base on a comebacker to the mound, leading to a wild flip throw by Scott Baker to a scrambling Nick Punto. Adam Everett’s throw in the eighth inning was awful for someone with his defensive acumen, and all Denard Span had to do in the 12th was to set his feet and he has a chance to throw Mark Teahen out. Then again. Gil Meche walked seven batters! I can’t get over that…

2. Monday’s loss at Seattle: The Twins were up six runs and it was set up for Perkins to cruise. But he struggled in the sixth and was knocked out in the seventh thanks to the first homer by a left-handed batter off of him all season.

3. Tuesday’s loss at Seattle. Great back and forth action, but because of Monday’s events, the Twins bullpen was thin. I thought Mike Lamb’s two-run double in the eighth won the game for them, especially when Ron Gardenhire brought in Joe Nathan in the eighth. Who saw the Jose Lopez double coming?

A tough road trip. They went 3-3 and rarely clicked on all cylinders.

Morneau was 2 for 10 with 2 RBI in the Royals series and is kicking himself for runners he left on base.

Carlos Gomez really looks like he’s out of answers at the plate. And he’s got to straighten out his throws.

Nick Punto had a rough day Sunday, trying a career high with four strikeouts. He’s batting .169 since he came off the disabled list - which is why many people with the club are crossing their fingers about Alexi Casilla’s thumb.

The Yankees come the Dome after being swept in three games by the Angels. They have issues with their rotation and bullpen. The Twins need to win two out of three this week. Not only would it be a setback for a Yankees team that may not make the playoffs,  but the Twins need a confidence boost.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 12:41 am and is filed under Random thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.