TWINS: 1-0 loss to Oakland illustrates how little is working so far

MINNEAPOLIS

Well, it's early. Joe Nathan has three saves. And Justin Morneau appears healthy. So there is good news hiding in the corners at Target Field.

But after Saturday night's 1-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics, it was cold comfort to fans watching the Twins' best-laid schemes go immediately awry. It's not so much that Minnesota is 3-5 and last in the AL Central; it's the way it has happened.

Big-hitting lineup? The team is batting .203. New, improved middle infield? Tsuyoshi Nishioka looked shaky before being lost to a broken leg, and Alexi Casilla looks like a deer in the headlights again. Added speed? See: Nishioka and Casilla.

And remember when the Twins boasted of having a proven starter in the bullpen? Well, now Kevin Slowey is on the disabled list with a mysterious arm issue.

Yes, eight games into the 2011 season, nothing seems to be working right for the Twins, and Saturday's loss was emblematic of the disappointing start.

"We made one mistake and cost ourselves a run, and that was the ballgame," manager Ron Gardenhire said, referring to Casilla's throwing error that allowed Kurt Suzuki to score the winning run with two outs in the sixth.

But it wasn't just that error. The Twins coughed up a two-on, none-out situation in the fifth with what Gardenhire called poor situational hitting. It wound up being Minnesota's only real chance to get to Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (2-0).

After singles by Danny Valencia and Luke Hughes put runners on first

and third, Casilla came up with a wealth of options to drive in the game's first run. As Gardenhire pointed out afterward, "You hit into a double play, and we still get a run there."

But Casilla swung at a 1-0 curveball and tapped weakly back to Gonzalez, who held Valencia at third before throwing out Casilla. Next batter Denard Span, who works most counts deep, swung at the first pitch and popped out to short.

That left it up to Joe Mauer, who grounded to second to end the inning.

"A couple of bad at-bats," Gardenhire said. "I don't know what 'Lexi was trying to do there. I think he was trying to slap the ball somewhere, but that's not a good at-bat in that situation. And Denard, I think, chased the first pitch. I don't know if it was a strike, but it was out and over the plate; definitely not a pitch he could drive, either.

"We kind of gave it away there when we didn't get the run in."

Hughes moved to second on Casilla's groundout, giving Span runners at second and third with one out. He was sitting on a curveball and got what he wanted on the first pitch.

"I knew second and third he wasn't going to come right at me with a fastball, so I got what I was looking for," Span explained. "I looked at the video; I was on the pitch, it was just one swing and it came off my bat the wrong way."

In the top of the sixth, Suzuki hit a two-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Casilla short-hopped first baseman Morneau on Mark Ellis' grounder to short and the ball wound up in Oakland's dugout.

Four of the Twins' next seven batters struck out, including all three in the seventh; former Twin Grant Balfour fanned Valencia, Hughes and pinch-hitter Jim Thome -- Valencia and Thome looking.

Gardenhire tried to deflect blame from Casilla, who was pulled for Thome's at-bat. Casilla was 1 for 2 at the plate but looked tentative at short, twice declining to attempt throws to first on grounders hit in the hole.

"I think there's lots of people (to blame)," Gardenhire said. "You can say, 'Alexi this, Alexi that,' but he's not one of our run-producers, per se. He's supposed to put the ball in play. ... We have a lot of run producers who are supposed to be driving the ball."

Morneau, recovering from a concussion that knocked him out of 81 games last season, is hitting .185. Michael Cuddyer is batting .125, Delmon Young .179, Valencia .148 ...

"It's kind of a team thing," Gardenhire said.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.