The Twins and The White Sox: Why Tonight Is Crucial For The Twins

It may seem disingenuous to say that a two-game series is crucial, let alone a two-game series in April. That said, the Twins’ upcoming set at home against the division leaders is about as close as it gets to crucial this early in the season.

The Twins are in a funk right now, both the hitting and the pitching. It’s not a slump yet, since they avoided two sweeps last week and matched a season-high scoring 12 runs on Saturday.

They haven’t gotten a great start from the rotation since Sunday, but they’ve had a few passable ones in that stretch. When they hit, they can’t pitch and vice-versa.

The lack of consistency is one thing that is killing this team, but, since there isn’t one obvious Achilles heal, every flaw seems to be magnified.

Explanations for the funk have ranged from lack of leadership in the rotation to the fact that the middle of the order can’t take a walk.

Carlos Gomez’s absence in the last few games has been hypothesized as a reason, even while he was being raked for his lack of patience at the plate and his being ill-suited to hitting leadoff.

And don’t get me started on the ink spilled about Francisco Liriano, expectations were, across the board, simply too high.

That’s why the Twins are in a funk — nothing is so wrong as to demand immediate attention, but nothing is so good as to be immune from the wave of criticism that has broken over this team.

The Twins are carrying the cloud of a series loss, concluded by a complete game shutout, to the worst team in the AL. This comes on the heels of a three-game skid at the end of the Oakland series.

A homestand against the AL Central is exactly what this team needs, and what the fans need too.

That seems a little counter-intuitive, since games against the AL Central are important and this team is one bad skid from imploding, but that’s exactly why the Pale Hose are the perfect team to stroll into the Dome tonight.

Here's why.

First, the Sox are as close to a serious rival the Twins have right now, the teams have some bad blood between them and the fans have picked up on that. The animosity against someone besides Delmon Young is exactly what the team and the fans need.

Second, the Sox are grossly overrated (Sorry, JJ, but it's true).

As Joe C pointed out in his Star Tribune blog today, the Sox are statistically barely better than the Twins, but they sit perched atop the division, while the Twins languish in the bottom half.

The Twins are fully capable of taking both of these games, which would greatly improve the attitude surrounding the team and probably in the clubhouse too.

Finally, this team needs to be on the field as much as possible. The talent is there, but things aren’t clicking yet. Days off only give the pundits time to hurl invective at players and coaches who may or may not deserve it.

As the Twins play more and find their groove, they will look a lot better. They may not win more, but they shouldn’t get shut out by Vincente Padilla.

Winning tonight and tomorrow isn’t crucial in the sense that if we don’t win, we’re out of the playoffs, but this team (and we as fans) needs to get its head right, and who better to do it against than the hated, division-leading White Sox.