Livan Hernandez: Grand Marshall of the Hit Parade.
Livan Hernandez's assault on the most hits allowed in a season continued on Friday in Cleveland as five of the first seven Indians batters reached base. Even the outs that inning were punished as a deep fly ball by Ben Francisco resulted in the maiming of the best defensive centerfielder in the Majors and then nearly injuring Gomez's replacement, Denard Span, on a flyball that followed nearly the identical flightpath as Francisco's off of the bat of catcher Kelly Shoppach. After a second inning solo home run by Franklin Gutierrez, Hernandez regained his composure, keeping the Indians off-balanced and off the scoreboard thanks to a mixture of velocity and well-timed double play balls. Six hits came in the first two innings, six more came in the last six innings.
Still when the game concluded, a dozen more hits were added to his season total, bringing it to a lofty 190. This is well-short of the all-time record set by Philadelphia's Jack Coleman (772) in 1883 and the number doesn't even encroach on the modern record of 336 set by Mickey Lolich in 1971 which pitching for Detroit but Tommy John's 287 hits allowed while with the California Angels in 1983 is a more likely achievable goal for Hernandez. Records aside, the real problem for the Twins and Hernandez persists: his inability to pitch away from the Dome. He is as bad on tour as Chumbawumba.
| home | innings | era | avg | obp | slg | games started | runs allowed | avg per start |
| Baker | 41.2 | 2.38 | .218 | .238 | .333 | 7 | 11 | 1.5 |
| Blackburn | 56.2 | 2.70 | .273 | .312 | .441 | 9 | 23 | 2.5 |
| Hernandez | 78.1 | 3.91 | .304 | .342 | .463 | 12 | 40 | 3.3 |
| Perkins | 53.2 | 4.02 | .301 | .341 | .461 | 9 | 26 | 2.8 |
| Slowey | 36 | 4.00 | .230 | .266 | .444 | 6 | 16 | 2.6 |
| al average | x | 3.82 | .252 | .320 | .390 | x | x | x |
| away | innings | era | avg | obp | slg | games started | runs allowed | avg per start |
| Baker | 49.2 | 4.01 | .259 | .304 | .446 | 8 | 22 | 2.7 |
| Blackburn | 63.1 | 4.83 | .306 | .335 | .434 | 11 | 39 | 3.5 |
| Hernandez | 57.1 | 7.22 | .375 | .387 | .543 | 10 | 48 | 4.8 |
| Perkins | 36.2 | 4.17 | .284 | .335 | .447 | 6 | 17 | 2.8 |
| Slowey | 51.2 | 4.70 | .271 | .303 | .472 | 9 | 27 | 3.0 |
| al average | x | 4.50 | .269 | .338 | .419 | x | x | x |
| home-away difference | runs allowed diff. |
| Baker | -1.2 |
| Blackburn | -1.0 |
| Hernandez | -1.5 |
| Perkins | 0 |
| Slowey | -0.4 |
Of the staff, Hernandez has the most pronounced Home/Away split. At the Dome Hernandez is allowing 3.3 runs per start while giving 4.8 runs per start outside. Opponents are hitting .375/.387/.543 against Hernandez outstate, well above the league average of .269/.338/.419. Inside the Dome his opponents have hit .304/.341/.461 also above the American League average. One of the biggest reasons that he has enjoyed an 8-1 record at home is that the offense has been able to provide an average of 5.1 runs per game locally but has not been able to match the runs given up by Hernandez, scoring only 4.5 runs on the road, resulting in his 2-6 record. In the remaining 60 game, the Twins play 32 of those on the road, presenting a considerable problem for the Twins because Livan Hernandez will be starting a number of those games.
With a 3.5 game deficient, the Twins need to become as efficient as possible. Eliminating Hernandez's road starts would be a good start. There has been no trade interest in him, the front office is not interested in eating the remainder of his $5-million dollar contract and Boof Bonser is already claiming the bullpen's failed starter spot, so the Twins have to get creative with his deployment. Across the state line to the east, the Milwaukee Brewers have found an interesting solution to their fifth starter spot. Brewers manager Ned Yost has divided the 5th starter duties between Dave Bush and Seth McClung, dishing out the home starts to Bush (4-2, 2.49 era, .208/.246/.372 at Miller Park) and the road starts to McClung (1-1, 3.32 era, .239/.316/.361 away from Miller Park). If Bush would have the next start, McClung would be religated to the bullpen as the long relief help and vice versa. In theory, this maximizes the Brewers chances of winning by playing to the best strengths. In the short time it has been implemented, the experiment as seemingly worked. On July 21st, McClung threw 5 innings, giving up only 2 runs and leaving with a one-run lead (the Brewer bullpen gave up the tying run in the 9th but the team was able to tack on 3 more in the top of the 10th). With the fifth spot coming up tonight, Dave Bush will face the Houston Astros at home.
The Twins could replicate the Brewers by pairing Hernandez with another starter to tackle the away games. The most likely candidate to couple with Hernandez on the road is Glen Perkins. Admittedly, Perkins has had success at home, more so than Hernandez, though they have almost identical opponents' batting lines. Hernandez's opponents are hitting .304/.342/.463 at the Dome while Perkins's opponents are hitting .301/.341/.461. But Perkins is the second best Twins starter on the road, giving up only 2.8 runs per start with a 4.17 era. Perkins is an ideal candidate based not only on his road success but because of the amount of innings he is currently accumulating. So far in 2008, Perkins has pitched 123 innings, 12 fewer than the most he has thrown in his professional career. Using him even 10th day (with relief work in between starts) would keep him fresh. The next step to making this a reality would be to waive Brian Bass, with the hopes that he would pass through and be reassigned to Rochester, freeing up the space for a recall of Francisco Liriano to take Perkins's former spot in the rotation.
The Twins are far from experimental when it comes to managerial decisions. The relief ace is sequestered in the bullpen until a save situation only. The idea of a implementing a sixth starter to keep pitchers like Nick Blackburn, who hasn't thrown more than 152 innings in a given season, or Glen Perkins strong as the season progresses was dismissed by Ron Gardenhire. So the option of creating a platoon for the fifth spot in the rotation is a stretch. A team like the Twins who have a small margin of error needs to create an advantage wherever possible.
