Minnesota Twins: 3 Things Twins Must Do to Break out of Slump

The Minnesota Twins have stumbled out of the gates, going 1-4 in their first five games.

They’ve suffered plenty of setbacks, including Justin Morneau’s slow start after coming back from concussion problems and Scott Baker’s season-ending elbow injury.

But injuries are no excuse. This team needs to change a few things if they are going to get back on track and finish in the upper half of the AL Central.

Let’s take a look at three things the Twins need to do to start winning more games.

Hit for more power

So far in 2012, the Twins have three home runs total. Josh Willingham has hit all three of them.

If Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer aren’t going to contribute any power in 2012, it is going to be a very long season in Minnesota. (UPDATE: Mauer finally hit a home run in Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.)

As the weather gets warmer, the ball should start flying out of ballparks more easily. But until then, the Twins hitters need to do something to generate some sort of offensive production.

Twelve runs through five games simply isn’t going to cut it.

Steal a base or two

Through the first five games of the season, the Twins have zero stolen bases. Zero.

That’s unacceptable for a team that features speedy players like Denard Span, Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla.

For a team that is having a ton of trouble scoring runs with its offense, moving runners into scoring position is imperative.

Span, Revere and Casilla need to help out the middle-of-the-order hitters by moving into scoring position on their own.

Better efforts from starting pitchers

At the moment, Francisco Liriano has an ERA above 10.00. Carl Pavano’s ERA is 5.93 and Nick Blackburn is sitting at 7.50.

Granted, it’s still early in the season, but the starters have certainly struggled thus far.

If they can’t get better outings from their top-of-the-rotation starters, the Twins are going to find it difficult to climb out of the AL Central cellar.

After the loss of Scott Baker, everyone is going to have to step up and do their part to get the Twins back into contention.