Two close losses, where the Twins almost clawed back only to fizzle at the end, sandwiched themselves around an utterly hopeless blowout. At the beginning of the series, Boston was staggering with a five game losing streak, ripe for the kill. Instead of plunging in the dagger, Minnesota spent three days building Boston’s confidence. As a reward for that humanitarian effort, the Twins are now the ones with a five game losing streak. They also boast a season winning percentage (.263) that would barely make a good batting average.

The sad thing is that the Twins are actually showing some life with their bats. A five or six run performance, which the Twins received on Monday and Wednesday respectively, should be enough to win most games. But no team in the history of MLB could score enough runs to make up for the starting pitching staff the Twins received every night. After Jason Marquis and Nick Blackburn surrendered five runs apiece, rookie Liam Hendriks raised the bar by allowing seven last night. They allowed hits to every facet of the Red Sox lineup. Sure, we expect a performance like the one David Ortiz had (two hits in each of the first two games and a long home run on Wednesday), but it takes a truly special pitching staff to make a star out of Alex Aviles, the light hitting shortstop who collected six hits and two homers in the series. Even Marlon Byrd, who had turned heads with his 3 for 43 start to the season, managed four hits against the Twins, raising his average from .070 to .125.

Elsewhere on the mound, “closer” Matt Capps gave up a home run to Cody Ross that broke a tie on Monday, and long reliever Matt Maloney ended all hope that the Twins could come back on Tuesday when he followed Blackburn by allowing five runs of his own.

But it was not just the Twins’ pitching that lost this series. The hitters failed to drive in runs that would have won games all series long. Tuesday’s performance was barely even a rout in the first inning; in fact, the Twins had the bases loaded and a great chance to tie and/or take the lead. After Justin Morneau worked out a walk in a brilliant at bat, Ryan Doumit walked up and swung at (and missed) three pitches from a pitcher who had just walked three in a row. It would not be the first time, nor the last, that a Twins hitter disappointed us with men on base.

Wednesday’s game was a perfect symbol of the Twins’ RISP struggles. The left the bases loaded to begin the game in the first and to end the game in the ninth. The first inning’s squelched rally was particularly disappointing, because the Twins actually were not losing at that point. If they could have scored a run, they would have had an early lead for the first time in nearly a week. They did not score; instead, Boston plated six runs in the next two innings, and the game looked lost. The Twins brought back hope with a five run sixth inning, and the game stayed within reach thanks to a very solid bullpen performance (okay, not every aspect of the Twins was horrible this series). They loaded the bases again in the ninth, but Denard Span struck out to end it.

Adding injury to insult, Chris Parmelee took a 93 mph fastball to the head last night. Early indications are that he will be okay and have nothing more severe than a headache. Puckett’s Pond sincerely hopes that is the case. We have all witnessed the nightmare scenario that can result when a player has concussions, and that sort of thing should never happen to a young player like Parmelee. The Twins need to give this guy all the rest he needs.

The Twins are off today, and the NFL Draft starts tonight. Let’s watch that and take our minds off baseball for awhile.

Former Red Matt Maloney is one of the early winners in the Twins bullpen battler. Photo by Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Another day, another four relief pitchers on the mound. Even with about three dozen pitchers in Fort Myers, we’re getting plenty of opportunities to watch (or listen to) their performances. Most of those pitchers are fighting for bullpen slots, so let’s have a quick recap on the bullpen situation. Right-handed closer Matt Capps and lefties Glen Perkins and Brian Duensing are probably guaranteed slots. The Twins usually like to carry 12 relievers on the roster, so that means there should be space left for one more lefty and three righties.

It’s starting to look like the lefty slot will go to Matt Maloney. The 28 year old shut down the Marlins for the last two innings to pick up the win Saturday, allowing just a ninth inning single to Aaron Rowand before a game-ending double play. With two punchouts in that effort, he now has eight in 7.1 scoreless innings. Maloney has some big league experience with the Reds, and that will be another plus. True, his numbers with the Reds were hardly inspiring (5.40 career ERA), but he has been a little better as a reliever than as a starter, racking up 7.9 K/9 and a somewhat lower 4.88 ERA out of the ‘pen. The numbers also hint that he’d make a decent LOOGY: lefties have a batting average .68 points lower against Maloney than right-handed hitters.

Kyle Waldrop has been impressive as well, matching Maloney’s 0.00 ERA through four innings. Parker Hageman of Twins Daily analyzed Waldrop’s mechanics earlier this week and concluded that his high release point makes Waldrop a potentially effective pitcher in the mold of Jon Rauch (but with a better sinker). Waldrop will never be a strikeout threat – he whiffed just 5.0 per nine at AAA last year – but he has to be near the top of the list of contenders so far this spring. Interestingly, Waldrop came from the first round of the 2004 draft, the same round where Minnesota selected Glen Perkins and Trevor Plouffe. The Twins had five picks in the first and supplemental rounds (Jay Rainville and Matt Fox were the others), but until very recently that draft was looking like a complete bust. Now we might wonder if they’re all just late bloomers. If Waldrop and Plouffe could have a breakout season in 2012 as Perkins did in 2011, the 2004 draft starts looking a lot better.

If the season began today, I have to believe that Maloney and Waldrop would win jobs. The rest of the contenders do not stand out as starkly, though there are a few who have done well. Casey Fein has allowed just one baserunner in 3.1 innings. Jeff Manship lowered his ERA to 1.69 Saturday, and he has eight strikeouts. Jared Burton was lights out until running into some trouble Friday. And Luis Perdomo has impressed some with his blazing fastball.

Several other relievers have been roughed up, and they’ll need to turn it around quickly if they want to win a spot. Alex Burnett, Terry Doyle, and Jason Bulger all have WHIPs over 3.00, which is the kind of comically exaggerated stat you can only find in Spring Training or Little League. Bulger has actually settled down in his last couple of outings, but he still has an ERA of 22.50. Anthony Swarzak, whose performance as a long reliever and spot starter in 2011 made him an early favorite for a bullpen slot, has been hit hard as well.

The good news for those players is that we still have a couple more weeks of Spring Training, so there’s time to turn it around. The same cannot be said for Tyler Robertson, Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros, Scott Diamond, or Aaron Thompson, who were cut and sent to the minor league camp earlier this week. More cuts are sure to follow soon, so we’ll have a little better idea of what the Twins bullpen will look like after that.

The Twins bullpen might be just fine, thanks in part to Jack-of-All-Trades Brian Duensing. Photo byKirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Some people are optimistic about the Twins’ chances to rebound from a 99 loss season, while others are understandably pessimistic. Some are disappointed with the loss of Michael Cuddyer and the less than exciting offseason moves the team made, while others think Terry Ryan made some shrewd decisions on a shoestring budget. But there’s one thing everyone seems to agree upon: the Twins bullpen is terrible. That unit blew save after save in 2011, and the only free agent signed to a Major League contract, Joel Zumaya, blew out his elbow in a warm-up session (incidentally, that session made the Onion seem eerily prescient). Not only did the Twins fail to sign any top talent, but they lost Joe Nathan, arguably the best reliever in the team’s history, to Texas.