In searching for optimism Wednesday night following the Twins’ fifth loss in a stretch of six home games, manager Rocco Baldelli pointed out that this isn’t the first time Minnesota has been lousy this season.
“We’ve hit a bump and we’ve been pretty streaky — basically for the entire season,” Baldelli said. “We’ve come right back from it and played some pretty good baseball.”
This is true, but it describes more of the first few months of the season than the last couple. The Twins seemed to have steadied themselves in mid-June through mid-August, going almost two months without anything more than a two-game losing streak.
They had relatively good health during that time as they climbed into a position to contend for a playoff spot, either as a division winner or wild card.
What feels different now, though, is the sort of roster depletion that leads to close, frustrating losses. Carlos Correa has been out for almost seven weeks. Byron Buxton hasn’t played in two weeks and the Twins still haven’t even decided whether they are ready to send him on a rehab assignment. Brooks Lee is in the midst of a rehab assignment, and he can’t arrive back with the Twins fast enough.
It’s frustrating because the Twins (72-61) are absolutely good enough to be a playoff team, but that spot is tenuous right now even if statistically they are in good shape with one month left to go.