The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

What the hell is up with these ridiculous two-game series?

And what the hell happened to that team that swept three from Seattle on the road?

Beats me. After stumbling in Kansas City over the weekend the Twins came home and, facing 23-year-old Cleveland pitchers on back-to-back nights, looked anxious and undisciplined at the plate. And as was so often the case in 2005 and early last season, whenever the club is struggling offensively the pitching staff seems to find a way to pitch just poorly enough to lose.

Tuesday’s 5-3 loss smarted on a number of levels. The Twins of recent vintage have a history of making guys like Fausto Carmona (another great name) look like Greg Maddux in his prime. Carmona was 1-11 in his short career going into his match-up with Johan Santana, yet the Twins seemed to have no clue against him, and it was a painful thing to watch.

We’ve also pretty much been able to take Santana for granted, particularly at home, and after being virtually bulletproof in the Dome for several seasons the club’s ace has now lost two straight in the Teflon Dump. It’s too early to get alarmed, and Santana has been a slow starter in the past, but every time he loses it just tightens the bolts in the ears of the rest of the pitching staff and ramps up the anxiety level all around.

This recent patch of turbulence has definitely raised some questions about the Twins’ depth and their dependence on some guys who, last year’s performances aside, are still largely unproven. And it’s kind of scary to consider how much the club needs the bats of aging veterans Rondell White and Jeff Cirillo in the lineup. When you start to ask questions and guys like White and Cirillo are the best answers you can provide you’re heading into some potentially perilous territory.

It’s a weird game. Remember that Yankees team that looked so powerful in taking two-of-three from the Twins earlier in the month? They’re now in last place in the AL East, half a game behind the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. At least half of the Twins’ starting pitchers at Rochester would already be in New York’s rotation.

Britt Robson and I have been going back and forth since the season started about the relative merits of Justin Morneau and Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore. Britt insists he would swap Sizemore for Morneau in a heartbeat. I’m still not so sure. I am, though, sure that I wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on a Travis Hafner/Morneau trade. Who wouldn’t?