29-year old righty starting pitcher Nick Blackburn has been really awful lately and he could lose his job in the starting rotation if he doesn’t start pitching better soon. In his last 8 starts for the Twins, he is 1-4 with a 8.15 ERA and a 2.17 WHIP. He has now pitched in 23 games (all starts) overall for the Twins this year and he is 7-9 with a 4.52 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. 27-year old righty Kevin Slowey is looking sharp in the minors and he could make a strong push for Blackburn’s spot in the starting rotation. Slowey has pitched in 11 games (all starts) in A+AAA-ball so far this year and he is 1-3 with a 3.60 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. He pitched in 6 games (0 starts) earlier this year for the Twins and he was 0-0 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Blackburn better start pitching well if he wants to save his spot in the rotation, and it might even be too late for that right now.

28-year old lefty starting pitcher Brian Duensing is in danger of losing his spot in the Twins’ starting rotation. In his last four starts, Duensing is 0-3 with a 9.15 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP. He has now pitched in 11 games (10 starts) so far this year and he is 2-5 with a 5.37 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. The Twins might bump Duensing to the bullpen when Francisco Liriano comes off the D.L. next week, due to how well Anthony Swarzak has been pitching lately.

36-year old righty reliever Joe Nathan missed all of last season due to Tommy John Surgery. He returned this spring and Ron Gardenhire named him the closer again. But, he quickly lost the job to Matt Capps, due to his awful start to the 2011 season. Nathan has pitched in 12 games (0 starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 0-1 with 3 saves, a 8.18 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. Nathan has now pitched in 424 games (0 starts) for the Twins in his 7 years with the team and he is 22-13 with 249 saves, a 2.03 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Here’s to hoping that Nathan gets back into a groove and gets his closer’s job back at some point in 2011. That’s because Nathan is second in saves in Twins’ history, just 5 behind Rick Aguilera.

27-year old lefty starting pitcher Francisco Liriano has been so awful this year that the Twins might yank him out of the rotation if he doesn’t right the ship soon. Liriano has started 5 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA and a 1.90 WHIP. He has given up 27 hits and he has walked 18 batters in his first 23 2/3 innings as he has been downright awful. The Twins are going to stretch 26-year old righty Kevin Slowey on his rehab assignment to start, so Liriano is running out of time.

Righty starting pitcher Carl Pavano and lefty starting Francisco Liriano both got off to rough starts this weekend. They combined to go 0-2 with a 11.88 ERA and a 2.04 WHIP. They gave up 10 hits (5 homers) and they walked 7 batters in only 8 1/3 innings in their two starts against the Blue Jays. The Twins need Pavano & Liriano to get their acts together this week because they are counting on them to lead the way for the starting rotation in 2011.