It might be hard to remember, but it did happen.

Alexi Casilla delivered a two-run single in the ninth inning on Apr. 7 for a walk-off win that seemed to have him set up to take off from what he did in 2008.

His season went downhill from there.

He slumped at the plate and his troubles spread to his defense. In the end, it seemed like he couldn’t do anything right. On Monday, he didn’t run hard after popping up a bunt. On Tuesday, he made THREE mistakes - and apparently had the clubhouse unhappy with him. When Justin Morneau brings up something you did wrong, its like the whole team is saying, “that is enough.”

Casilla looked beat down in recent days. So the move to Rochester is a chance for him to rediscover his game. And the Twins need Casilla to rediscover his game. He’s a switch-hitter who has shown the ability to center the ball (although he’s better from the left side than right). He’s got range in the field, an arm to play short or second and wheels.

There’s a tendency to determine that a player is hopeless in these situations. While it’s a great opportunity for Matt Tolbert (I think he deserved to make the team out of spring training) the Twins need Casilla to get his game back.  Don’t forget how the offense picked up when he was in the lineup last year. Don’t forget his clutch hits late last year - including the single in the 10th inning on Sept. 25 to give the Twins a 7-6 win over the White Sox that gave the Twins the AL Central lead at the time.

Casilla can help this team.

As for Tolbert:

Can he step in and play second?

Can he hit with runners in scoring position?

Heck, how’s his slider? Can he give the Twins an inning out of the pen?

A four-letter word comes to mind after watching the Twins play last night - woof. 

They need more than a roster move to start playing up to their abilities.

Judging by the looks and comments in the clubhouse last night, they know that.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 1:03 pm 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.