Brian Dozier: Minnesota Twins SS Takes Home AL Worst of the Night Honors

Credit where credit is due. The Minnesota Twins have actually been halfway decent in the month of June. They're 9-9 so far, which is a better record than the Chicago White Sox have been able to muster this month.

But man oh man, there are times when watching the Twins play a ballgame is just downright painful.

Thursday night's 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park was one of those games for the Twins. And though it was a poor effort all the way around, young shortstop Brian Dozier managed to stand out as Minnesota's weak link.

Dozier went 0-for-3 with a strikeout at the plate, leaving two men on base. Not a great night, but not a horrible night by any set of standards either. And on a night when James McDonald was straight dealing, Dozier's poor night at the plate can be forgiven.

We're discussing Dozier not so much because he went 0-for-3 at the plate, but because he did what he does best in the bottom of the second. He made a key error with two out in the inning, and it ended up costing the Twins big-time.

With runners on first and second, Neil Walker grounded a ball right to Dozier. It was an easy play, but Dozier managed to fumble the ball to the ground after he had it in his clutches. By the time he recovered, it was too late. All the runners were safe, loading the bases for star slugger Andrew McCutchen.

As star players are wont to do, McCutchen delivered. He lined a 1-1 pitch from Twins starter Liam Hendricks into the gap in left-center, clearing the bases to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.

The sequence of events left Aaron Gleeman of NBCSports.com shaking his head:

"

Brian Dozier and Liam Hendriks are the Twins' reigning minor league hitter and pitcher of the year, which sadly says a lot about a lot.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 22, 2012"

That was more than enough for McDonald, who pitched his first complete game of the season to lead the Pirates to win No. 36.

With his boot in the second inning on Thursday, Dozier now has nine errors on the season. Only four shortstops in the majors have made more, and all four of them have played in more games than he has.

Now, I'm typically one to overlook errors because they're not a true measure of how good (or bad) a given player really is on defense. I prefer to look at the advanced sabermetric stats. They're imperfect, but they're not as misleading as errors and fielding percentage.

Alas, the advanced metrics also suggest Dozier is a lousy defensive shortstop. Per FanGraphs, Dozier has a UZR/150 of -12.3 and -6 defensive runs saved. 

These numbers aren't downright hideous, mind you. Derek Jeter, for example, has been a lot worse on defense this season than Dozier has. 

But he's certainly been well south of good, and his mess-ups certainly haven't helped a Twins team that, let's face it, needs as much help as it can get on a nightly basis.

Dozier did more harm than good on Thursday, and the game was all but over after his boot in the second. He's a worthy recipient of today's American League "Worst of the Night" award. 

Granted, Major League Baseball had a light schedule on Thursday, and the American League ended up having a pretty good day. Because of that, not a whole lot of AL "Worst of the Night" candidates stepped forward.

So any other day, Dozier probably doesn't get today's award.

But hey, it's the luck of the draw. Evidently, Dozier's luck is as bad as his fielding at the moment.

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