The last two nights, there have been some questionable calls. I’m not talking about ball/strike calls (even while watching games on television, umpires seem to be inconsistent in this park for some reason).

Yesterday, it was clear that Carlos Gomez was hit with a Scott Feldman pitch - I think the sight of Gomez looking like he’d just been electrocuted sold the play. But home plate umpire Dale Scott, who has botched calls against the Twins in the past, claimed the ball ticked Gomez’s bat.

Gomez’s hand was red and throbbing. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire asked Scott to just look at Gomez’s hand for proof that it hit him. Scott refused.

Funny…there was a memo on Gardy’s desk before the game talking about how hard umpires are working to get calls right and that managers should understand that. Hah!

Tonight, it looked like Julio Borbon missed third base as he scored on Michael Young’s single. The Twins bench threw their arms up in the air immediately, and Gardenhire had Scott Baker appeal the play. Safe. 

Now, I’m not close enough to see for sure, but it was clear Borbon didn’t touch much of the bag. Umpire - Dale Scott - claimed that Borbon’s foot landed on the inside of the bag but he felt the foot turned inward and brushed the bag as he went by. Whatever. No one has the guts to call those appeal plays, anyway.

The whopper was the ninth inning, when Andruw Jones clearly went around on a two-strike swing against Joe Nathan. I’ve had surgeries on both eyes and could see his wrists snap the bat across the plate - and the replays showed that it wasn’t even close.

Home plate umpire Ron Kulpa said Jones didn’t go around. An appeal to first base Jerry Meals got the same response. Gardy hit the roof, and I heard the language wasn’t very clean.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I barked in the pressbox. I was up against deadline. I didn’t care who was winning, I just wanted the game over so I could get in the clubhouse.

Nathan was hotter than I was. Joe Mauer - who got nicked up by a couple foul balls in the game, by the way - had to go out to the mound and put his arm around Nathan to calm him down. Jones, of course, then drives a Nathan pitch down the line that hooked foul. Whoa. But Nathan finally struck Jones out to end the game.

I try not to go Patrick Reusse on umpires. It’s a game played and judged by humans, and humans make mistakes.

But what game were those guys watching? And that memo……..bah!

Could have went so many ways with tonight’s gamer. The Twins’ season is falling apart, and it’s happening pitch by pitch, blast by blast, walk by walk.

Nick Blackburn sounded like a man on edge after the game.

“That wasn’t much fun. It’s getting kind of old, going out there and not feeling myself. Hopefully we can get something figured out soon,” he said. “Everything feels great. I think right now, my pitches are a little flat and up and we just have to figure out what it is.

“I know I can get guys out. I know I can pitch at this level. It is a matter of getting back to where I’m comfortable and where I should be.

“Some sort of adjustment needs to be made.

“I don’t notice any different than the beginning of the season. My arm feels good and feels strong. Something mechanically I have to deal with right now.

“To go out there and throw 1.2 innings is not going to be easy to take. It’s embarrassing and it’s frustrating. Just to be honest,, I’m getting tired of these outings.”

The 3 hour, 36 minute game destroyed deadline, then the few minutes I had left over were taken up by Bill Smith and Ron Gardenhire meeting in Gardy’s office.

(Strange moment after the game. We’re standing in the hallway waiting for the clubhouse to open. Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla walk out of the back entrance. Gomez has his shirt in his hands and is putting it on while walking down the hallway. Talk about wanting to get out of there…).

With Bob Marley music playing in the background, Gardy tells us that Glen Perkins is headed to the DL with shoulder tendinitis. They didn’t announce who was coming up.

My well-educated guess is that Jeff Manship will be the choice. He’s 4-2 with a 4.22 ERA in eight starts, and IIRC,he’s coming off a gem last week. The Twins probably will have him work out of the bullpen, but he could start if they decide to come up with a reason to put Francisco Liriano on the DL.

Good night…

I’m filling in for Paul Allen today from 9 to Noon on KFAN. Tune in if you have time.

Today’s guests include:

Cleveland Plain Dealer baseball writer Paul Hoynes, on the sorry state of the Indians

Phil Mackey will join me from Vikings camp at 10 a.m.

And it looks like we’ll have Denard Span on at 11 a.m.

 There will be plenty of baseball discussion today, so feel free to join in!!!

Ladendorf was a second round pick in 2008 after a prolific junior college run. Struggled with wood bats his first year in pro ball but hit .410 in 17 games with E-Town before a promotion to Beloit this year Hitting just .233 at Beloit.

There’s a good chance he’ll fill out and become a third baseman.

There are indications the Twins were reluctant to let Ladendorf go. I say big deal, sign Miguel Angel Sano.

Cabrera will try to get to Minnesota in time for tonight’s game against the Angels.

Update: Now I’m hearing that he won’t get here until an hour before game time, and that’s not counting travel time from MSP. The Twins might not add him to the roster until Saturday. It will be interesting to see who comes off for him.

 When I crashed last night, the Twins didn’t sound optimistic about a deal. Obviously, that changed either late late last night or early this morning. Wish I could have had more of the blow-by-blow for ya.

Anyway, is this the right deal? Freddy Sanchez was a better fit. Marco Scutaro would be a better fit. And I’m worried that Cabrera is going to bat second in the lineup when he should be seventh. And it’s taken one hot month for him to get his numbers past Brendan Harris.

But he’s been in the playoffs and might be energized to be in a postseason race. We’ll see…

Update: Reports in the last hour have the Twins in on San Diego’s Heath Bell, Oakland’s Michael Wuertz and Arizona’s Jon Rauch. 

The Twins have recalled righthnder Jesse Crain, who was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 12 games with Class AAA Rochester since being sent down. Righthander Kevin Mulvey, who made two appearances in this series, was sent back to Rochester.

“We needed another pitcher,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. 

But the other development is that Glen Perkins informed the staff after the game that he’s been having problems with his shoulder when he starts warming up. He says he’s fine once he gets warmed up but felt he should let the meidcal staff know about it now.

So Perkins will join Joe Crede on a visit to Dr. Lewis Yocum tomorrow.