It was obvious from watching Saturday’s game that all confidence in Ramon Ortiz has evaporated. You can see the terrible results in the box score, then consider the following:

*In addition to the too-many runs on too many hits, Ortiz sent Torii Hunter to the wall twice to make catches, including once for No. 9 hitter Sal Fasano, a .219 career hitter who also doubled off the mighty Ramon. Then, for good measure, he gave up a home run to 94-year-old Royce Clayton. Royce Effin’ Clayton, who now has one more home run this season than Jason Tyner.

*Ortiz was neither ready to start nor finish strong. It was 2-0 after two batters and then, with the Twins hoping that Ortiz would last through the sixth inning and get out trailing by only 3-2, he went home run/double/home run to give Toronto a 6-2 lead. In the middle, there was an inning when he loaded the bases with none out before starting a pitcher-to-catcher-to first double play, in which he also threw the ball high and wide to Mike Redmond, who made a nice stab. And then there was the errant pick-off throw in the first inning.

*I could sense in the Twins’ body language a lack of confidence in Ortiz. It’s like they were waiting to for the next ball to be hit over their head or rocket past them. There were no cheap hits off Ortiz on Saturday. Ortiz is simply a bad inning waiting to happen, a career track record that shows no signs of abating.

*In case anyone still has doubts, after listening to Gardy and others, talk about “good bullpen sessions” between starts is simply garbage. Just as there’s a difference between Triple-A and the majors, between spring training and the regular season, and between Keystone and Leinies, there’s a damn big difference between looking sharp (if that’s even happening) during an off-day bullpen session and being effective on a major league pitching mound.

“Good bullpen session” is a first cousin to the “vote of  confidence” that a manager or head coach gets before geting fired. That’s when the only thing left is for the higher-ups to make the move. On a team that needs to play better than the sum of its parts to be a contender, especially in the AL Central, it simply can’t afford to carry a pitcher in the rotation who is said to have the skills but consistently doesn’t display them.

It’s time for Kevin Slowey.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 27th, 2007 at 12:03 pm and is filed under From the Dome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.