Dick Bremer, the TV guy whose work I like and respect, said something Sunday afternoon about how Craig Breslow “thinks he’s figured out why his control has been an issue this year — 10 walks in 9 2/3 innings. He needs to prove that here…”

Dick, unfortunately, never explained what Breslow had figured out. And now Breslow really needs to figure out how to stop serving up home runs that make bleak situations even bleaker, which Breslow did on Sunday for the second straight time. He can only hope that whatever he found works better than Boof Bonser’s weight loss in 2008.

And while we’re in explaining mode, we need to visit what happened Sunday when Gardy decided that Nick Blackburn had pitched enough — 99 pitches in seven innings without allowing a run. Blackburn allowed five hits and walked only one batter despite home plate umpire Tim McClelland’s minimal (but consistent) strike zone. (Eric Bedard walked five in 4 2/3 innings after coming into the game having walked only six batters all season for Seattle.)

Something was said after the game about how the Twins wanted Blackburn to leave on a positive note, which is at odds with the notion that the young starters are expected to do more for themselves this year. Blackburn was barely challenged by the Mariners in his final two innings, so no argument can be made about him weakening and needing a bailout. Besides, no matter how you cut up small samples, the bullpen’s stimulus package hasn’t qute worked out as planned.

And speaking of help, I think we can say without much reservation that the Twins better find some for the bullpen. Jesse Crain showed in two outings last week that he can come in and pitch a scoreless inning in lopsided games — and then he melted down with the game on the line Sunday. Single-single-wild pitch-double, see ya. That came after Jose Mijares, the young lefty people want to believe in, managed to walk to Jose Lopez on four pitches right before Ken Griffey Jr.’s game-tying home run. For Lopez, that was his 95th walk in a career of 2,289 at-bats. By comparison, Joe Mauer has 89 walks in 569 at-bats this season and last. You have to work hard to walk Lopez, no matter who’s calling the balls and strikes.

I was among those at the start of the season saying that if the bullpen was the Twins’ major problem, it would be up to management to act. I’m assuming a search party has been convened on Kirby Puckett Place.

Even some of the things that didn’t hurt the Twins could use some explaining. Like who’s going to teach our beloved Carlos Gomez how to run a good route to a fly ball instead of making like Randy Moss running an out pattern. Yes, the catch he made in the ninth inning looked snazzy, but it didn’t have to be that tough. It’s happened before and I hate to think that the things Gomez does extraordinarily well are suffering because on his inactivity — a whole different discussion. Running good routes is one more thing that he could work on during a trip to Rochester, where he could play every day instead of making his current guest appearances in the outfield. (The only real way for Carlos to learn in the majors is for him to be in the lineup almost every day, an argument that Aaron Gleeman’s blog takes on in a Carlos vs. Delmon discussion.)

Am I the only one who wants to know why Nick Punto stole second base after leading off with a single in the bottom of the ninth with the Twins down by three? Yes, he was safe, but not by much. “That’s a stolen base you better make down by three runs!” Bert Blyleven noted afterward, presumably after his jaw had rebounded off the table in the broadcast booth. So what was the point?

Right now, both Brendan Harris and Punto are in 2-for-19 funks. Punto’s hits both came Sunday — a blooper that got lost against the roof and a single off the shortstop’s glove; Harris’ included the three-run homer that broke open the game Friday. I hope when the Twins reconvene on Tuesday, they give Harris a run of at least a few more days at shortstop and Punto a few more days on the bench so he can remember what the little things are and how to do them right. (Remember, kids, this is from someone who has generally advocated Punto over Harris at shortstop. In the moment, however, I don’t think that’s a wise way to go.)

Hey, did you notice who’s second on the team in RBIs, fourth in slugging percentage and has drawn more walks than anyone else?

As long as I’m using the Twins broadcast team as props and foils (Where’s Telly when you need him?, let’s close with the words of Jim Rich, the Ch. 29 guy who roves the stands during Sunday games. Quite thoughtfully, major league baseball introduced pink into its motif on Mother’s Day as a symbol of support for Breast Cancer Awareness Day. There were pink bats and pink sweatbands and Justin Morneau’s funky black-and-pink baseball spikes — and a mention from Jim about Morneau’s participation in “breast awareness day.”

Missing words: broadcasting’s version of doing the little things right.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 9:55 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.