THROWING YOU A CURVE
July 20, 2004

HUGE START FOR KYLE LOHSE

By the time I post this column, sitting here in my hotel room in Detroit, you will have known the outcome of tonight’s Twins/Tigers game. The pitching match up tonight is Kyle Lohse against Jeremy Bonderman. I feel this is a huge start for Kyle.

Last night's victory against the Tigers was nice because Terry Mulholland, age 41 and in his 18th season at the Major League level, was the winner in the Twins 3-1 victory. Did I say VICTORY? That’s another story…. Mulholland, with the victory, now has beaten all 30 Major League teams in his career. Quite an accomplishment for the lefty. Only Kevin Brown and Al Leiter, two other active pitchers, are able to say that too!

Let’s get back to tonight’s match up. The Twins have handled Bonderman in the past and he is 0-4 against the Twins with an 11.34 earned run average in four starts, all coming last season in his rookie year. The 21-year-old started his first Major League game against the Twins last season and the Twins beat him 8-1. As for Kyle, he is 5-1 lifetime against the Tigers with a 4.06 earned run average in nine starts.

Why do I feel this is a huge start for Lohse? Because the trading deadline is approaching and if Kyle continues to struggle, the Twins might need to go out and find a replacement or pitching help. I’m not saying that they will replace him in the rotation but they need him to be more consistent. Tonight will be Kyle’s 20th start of the year. The Twins are 11-8 when Kyle starts a game but he is currently 3-7 with a 4.74 earned run average.

Kyle has pitched some good games but he has only eight quality starts. A quality start is where you pitch six innings and give up three earned runs or less, which is a joke. I can’t imagine going into Calvin Griffith’s office, when he was the owner of the Twins, and trying to get a raise because I might have a losing record but I had quality starts! Today’s game has changed a lot in pitching and I believe that stat is a joke. Only five times has Kyle pitched into the 7th inning and one of those was his third career shutout, beating the Royals two starts ago.

Yes the Twins have not scored him a lot of runs when he has been on the mound, but that’s no reason why he shouldn’t pitch more quality innings. I feel until he starts having better control of his fastball and starts throwing his curveball instead of his slider, he will continue to struggle. Kyle has a good curveball but would rather throw his slider. He had his best breaking ball against the Royals in his shutout, but even Kyle told us that was his slider. What I saw that night was a curveball not a slider!

A slider is like a fastball that breaks East-to-West or side-to-side, with a little movement down and away from a right-handed hitter. A curveball moves North-to-South or up-and-down, with movement starting at the hitter's belt and ending below his knees. Actually, mine started at the hitter's shoulders and broke below his knees. To me it is one of the hardest pitches for a hitter to make solid contact against.

Kyle needs to get back to where he was last season when he won 14 games. Time is running out, but he still needs to take one outing at a time. You can’t make up for lost time or lack of run support. Move forward Kyle Lohse. Trust your fastball and start throwing your curveball.

Kyle works hard to be a consistent Major League pitcher, but it’s time for him to change his way of thinking. We all have to make adjustments in our lives and it’s time that Kyle starts realizing his time is now.

I hope he has an outstanding performance tonight and the Twins win. I’ll be watching as I hope you do throughout the Twins season.

Thanks for reading my column and good luck to all of you. Life throws us many curveballs, and let’s hope that Kyle can throw his.

Your baseball friend,
Bert Blyleven