Ain't No Place Like Home

Last night, the Twins capped off an exciting 14-10 victory over the Detroit Tigers with a Joe Crede walk-off grand slam. The Twins hit only 1 home run in a four-game, two city road trip just last week, losing three of the four games. Well, in the first two games of this six-game home stand, and the Twins hit seven home runs. Overall, 12 home runs have been hit in the Metrodome (by the Twins) since last Friday. Coincidentally, the only game the Twins have lost since Friday was on Sunday which has been the only time they have failed to hit a home run (on this home stand).

The bullpen is continuing to implode before our eyes, which is putting more pressure on the pitchers to perform well and last as long as possible into games. That is definitely having a negative effect on some of our starters, which is putting a bigger strain on our offense to score as many runs as possible. Obviously, the offense should be doing this anyways, but in years past, the Twins have benefited from having such a strong rotation and bullpen to make up for their putrid offense. This season, the offense has been trying to carry as much of the load as possible.

So far this season, the pitching has surrendered 181 runs, which is fifth worst in the majors. Meanwhile, the offense has scored 167 runs, which is 14th most in the majors. Hopefully the pitching will turn it around, but the offense will need to continue to carry this team, which at least in the past week, hasn't been too much of a problem. Unfortunately, the Twins will be facing some of baseball's best offenses in the next few weeks, which could make for an interesting remainder of May.

After today, the Twins will play ten of their next 17 games on the road. They'll be facing the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. Both the pitching and the offense will have its work cut out for themselves, but hopefully they can both contribute evenly, or at least more closely, so the other won't have as much pressure to perform better. If they can, they should make start seeing the other side of .500 ball.