Twins Notes: Cirillo Hit Ends Game in 12th inning

Scott Baker is still working at keeping a job in the Twins starting rotation.  He made a strong case for his continued presence today by going 7+ innings and only gave up a single earned run.  Scott Baker has had an up and down season but he is still better than the average #5 starter and he has a lot of potential upside.  The Twins need to give him some breathing room.

The Twins are still carrying a surplus of pitching.  Matt Garza is still at AAA waiting for his call up and Carmen Cali is a left handed relief pitcher who didn't give up a single earned run in his previous call up and he is sitting in AAA ready to go.  Add the fact Glen Perkins is going to be returning to playing shape relatively soon.

Indications are Perkins is going to be returning to AAA Rochester to get back into starting shape.  Terry Ryan wants more depth in their starting rotation.  Not that the Twins need depth.  With Baker and reliever Dennys Reyes both improving mid-season and with Ramon Ortiz eating innings and becoming a solid pitcher once again in the bullpen the Twins are not short of pitching.

The Twins need hitting.  Their DH is hitting a paltry .249 through last week and the Twins have the least productive regular third baseman in the league (Nick Punto).

The Twins started back up catcher Mike Redmond in the DH spot.  Redmond is a fine catcher and has hit over .300 in his career playing as a catcher but he has hit around .260 in his career as a DH and about .200 as a pinch hitter.  This year Redmond is hitting less than .220 as a DH but well over .300 as a catcher.

These splits are readily available and it's clear Redmond has difficulty as a DH.  There are hitters who just can't handle not playing in the field between at bats. Redmond is one of them.  Why on earth is Redmond DH-ing?  It would be better to keep Redmond on the bench than let him drag his stats down as well as be a blackhole in what should be an offensive position.

The Twins were really hurting against the Blue Jays offensively but were able to string together a couple of hits and a walk to win the game in the 12th inning.  Veteran Jeff Cirillo got the game winning bloop.  Twins win 2-1, 

Marty Andrade is a frequent contributor to the Bleacher Report and hosts a live weekly podcast available at BlogTalkRadio.com/Andrade