Minnesota Twins Starting Pitching Analysis

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The departure of Santana and then Livan Hernandez in the middle of the season, the title of the staff ace was given by default to Scott Baker, who is the oldest only by months, but also he has made more career starts than the rest of the rotation.

Scott Baker, an unlikely choice for the role with an arm like Liriano in the mix, has matured and emerged as the dominant force that they expected him to be. In my eyes, Baker really "arrived" when he took a perfect game into the 9^th against the Royals in 2007.

Scott Baker has suffered from what all of the Twins’ previous staff Aces have experienced: bad luck, and lack of run support. Out of his 13 no decisions on the season, he has pitched 7 quality starts, and each of his 4 losses were quality starts as well. So despite his 11-4 record, it is obvious that Baker has pitched well enough to keep his team in the game, and is well on his way to becoming a 20 game winner.

He has matured to the point that he can sense what he is doing wrong without the help of pitching coach Rick Anderson, and can make the adjustment to what he has during the game. His 3.45 ERA is the lowest on the starting staff, and he has been the workhorse as well. He has gone 5-plus innings in all but three starts, and two of them were early exits due to injury. Consistent, durable, and composed can be words to describe Baker, and he deserves the role hands down.

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In a perfect world, Slowey would have been my choice to start the tiebreaker, not Blackburn. In a more perfect world, the Twins would have won the division sooner, being able to set up the rotation for the ALDS. If that were the case, I would have pitched the more experienced guys, Baker then Liriano in St. Pete, especially considering Liriano pitched well against them the last time. Slowey would start game three at home, and then bring back the top two on short rest in this short series.

But, since Baker pitched on Sunday, the rotation would be close to their set start dates, and have Liriano followed by Baker at the Trop. Slowey fares better at home, so the Dome, with the fans backing him would be a more comfortable environment.

As for Blackburn and Perkins, if the Twins make it to the ALCS and depending on how Blackburn does in the tiebreaker, they should go with a four man in the long series, with one or the other backing up for long relief. With the way both have struggled late in the season, I won’t be surprised if both were on very short leashes.

Especially with each and every game being so crucial in the playoffs, it would be a luxury to save the setup guys in the pen. Having a starter go long relief would take off a lot of pressure from those guys bridging to Nathan.

T-minus 1 hour until the tiebreaker, it is do or die. Now lets see what these guys are made of.

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