P.J. Walters: Minnesota Twins Hurler Takes Home AL Worst of the Night Honors

Minnesota Twins righty hurler P.J. Walters took the mound on Wednesday night with a good chance to get a win. He was, after all, facing a Philadelphia Phillies team that has struggled to score runs all season.

Whatever chance Walters had of beating the Phillies evaporated in roughly three-and-a-half seconds. The hits started coming almost immediately.

Jimmy Rollins led off for the Phillies in the top of the first and poked a single to right field. Juan Pierre followed that with a single of his own. Hunter Pence then singled to load the bases. Jim Thome, a former Twin, singled to bring home Philadelphia's first run.

And that was that for Walters. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire went to the mound and pulled Walters before he was able to record a single out.

Jeff Manship took Walters' place on the mound, and he ultimately allowed five more runs to score, three of which were charged to Walters. His final line ended up looking like this: 0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

Jerry Beersferda, who appears to be a hockey enthusiast of some sort, thought up a good way to characterize Walters' performance:

"

Pfffffft. Cain's perfect game is nothing compared to PJ Walters' reverse perfect game today. #Twins #Giants

— Jerry Beersferda (@JerryBeersferda) June 14, 2012"

The Twins went on to make an impressive rally, but it ultimately fell short. They lost by the final of 9-8. If Walters hadn't struggled so badly out of the gate, things may have ended up differently.

As there usually is, there's more to this story. Walters obviously didn't have his best stuff on Wednesday night, and it wasn't long before it was revealed why he didn't have his best stuff.

According to a report from John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Walters started the game with a sore shoulder, hence the reason his fastball was crossing the plate in the low- to mid-80s. Per FanGraphs, Walters typically throws in the high 80s.

Gardenhire didn't sympathize with Walters one bit. In fact, his comments after the game indicated that he was pretty annoyed with his 27-year-old pitcher:

"

He was trying to protect our bullpen is what came out at the end. Finally he told me he had a sore shoulder, but no one knew about it. He hasn't said anything, he hasn't been in the training room, hasn't received any treatment. Obviously he's trying to pitch through something, and that's not a good way to go about it tonight because it put us in a pretty big hole.

"

Gardenhire has a legit gripe here. Walters made a decision to hide his sore shoulder from the coaching staff and the training staff, which was a bad idea. Choosing to try and battle through it was an even worse idea. That decision ultimately forced Gardenhire to empty his bullpen in a game that the Twins had very little chance of winning after Walters left the mound.

Walters was pitching in Triple-A not too long ago, so it's easy to presume that he didn't want to show any kind of weakness in front of his teammates and the Twins' coaches. That's understandable, but he didn't do himself any favors by taking the mound on Wednesday night. It's a results-oriented business, and he willingly put himself in a position to produce bad results.

Not smart. Not smart at all.

Walters did more than enough to earn today's American League "Worst of the Night" award. It's an award that's typically reserved for players who have bad nights out on the field, but Walters earned today's award by virtue of both his poor performance and his poor judgment. 

I would say that Walters may have another "Worst of the Night" in his future, but that's a guarantee I can't make. He's scheduled to have an MRI on Thursday, and indications are he could be headed for the disabled list.

Even if things check out OK, the Twins may come to the conclusion to send Walters back to Triple-A to teach him a lesson that it's better to be forthcoming than it is to be foolish.

If you ever want to nominate somebody for American League "Worst of the Night" honors, hit me up on Twitter.