(Best E Casino) - The American League Central has been so up and down for most of the season that a team could lose a few games here and there and not see much of an impact in the standings.
That is, until the Chicago White Sox went on a tear by ripping off seven straight wins, including four straight over the second-place Minnesota Twins. Overall, the Twins have lost five straight. Suddenly, that gap between first and second has increased to 6 1/2 games, the largest such margin in the majors.
Already off to an 0-4 start on their 10-game road trip, the Twins continue their trek into Cleveland for a three-game set beginning tonight, followed by a weekend series in Milwaukee. Currently, Minnesota's 12 road wins are tied for the second-fewest in the AL.
The Twins have been somewhat of an enigma thus far, sometimes showing flashes of potency, other times showing flashes of incompetency. Right now they are going through a key stretch in which they must solve their road woes in a hurry. If they don't, there's no telling how far off the pace they'll be this time next week.
Following Monday's 7-5 loss, the players were just happy to be getting out of Chicago, and understandably so.
"We were complaining about having 13 pitchers right now," Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire said, "but we've needed every single one of them."
He's right. In four games, Minnesota hurlers surrendered a whopping 40 runs to the Sox. The Twins entered the series with a chance to take over first place in the division. They raced out of town after being outplayed across the board. On Friday, Twins starter Nick Blackburn set the tone by allowing seven runs in four innings. He started the fifth, but did not record an out and was charged with six runs in the frame. Chicago went on to win, 10-6.
The next day Livan Hernandez had an identical stat line; four innings, seven runs allowed. This time, the Twins fell by an 11-2 final. Kevin Slowey was chased after only three innings on Sunday, having given up eight runs on 10 hits. And on Monday, the Twins overworked bullpen had its inevitable collapse.
Starter Glen Perkins turned it over with a two-run lead in the sixth inning. Jesse Crain came in and gave up a two-run homer to Nick Swisher, then Paul Konerko gave the Sox the lead with a two-run blast off Matt Guerrier in the seventh.
Gardenhire didn't hesitate to give credit where credit was due.
"(Chicago) played great," he said. "They outplayed us the whole series. They out-hit us, out-pitched us and it shows when you lose four games here. They're playing good baseball. We're just not living up to our end of it. Just a very disappointing series."
The Twins and their taxed pitching staff won't have any time to rest as they begin a set in Cleveland tonight.
LAMB PLAYS HIS WAY TO BENCH
A .228 batting average and an 0-for-20 slump will land most players on the bench, no matter how long you've been in the league. Such was the case for third baseman Mike Lamb on Monday, who was replaced in the lineup on Monday by youngster Matt Macri.
"Mentally he might be beat up," Gardenhire said. "I think maybe he needs time to relax. We'll see if Macri can go out there and play a few days here."
Macri went 1-for-4 while batting ninth on Monday. On the season, he is 7- for-18 (.389).
WHO'S HOT
The two staples of the lineup, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer continue to get the job done. Over the last month, they are hitting .333 and .319, respectively. Also, Alexi Casilla is hitting .342 over an 18-game span.
WHO'S NOT
The entire rotation gets the nod here. It obviously doesn't matter who's hitting when you can't keep the opposition below 10 runs per game.
A LOOK AHEAD
Scott Baker (2-0, 4.03) will try to stop the bleeding against C.C. Sabathia (3-8, 4.81) and the Indians tonight. Blackburn (4-4, 3.94) gets the nod tomorrow against Paul Byrd (3-5, 4.46). On Thursday, Hernandez (6-3, 5.32) will face Cleveland for the first time in his career, as he squares off with Aaron Laffey (3-3, 2.98). Slowey (2-6, 5.15) looks to rebound from his poor outing on Friday, as the Twins kick off their next series in Milwaukee.
