Francisco Liriano News

The Minnesota Twins have brought up yet another minor leaguer, recalling right-hander Jeff Manship from Triple-A Rochester for their overworked bullpen.

The offense did as much as they could last night, but the pitching duo of Anthony Swarzak and Francisco Liriano betrayed them, allowing 10 runs between them.

Francisco Liriano is headed back to the rotation after a short bullpen stint, manager Ron Gardenhire said.

The resistible force met the movable object on Friday night, and the latter gave more, as Anthony Swarzak and Francisco Liriano were battered by the Tigers potent offense in a 10-6 loss.

Now that the Minnesota Twins are a little past the quarter mark of the 2012 season, trends have formed not only on the field, but also in the minds of Twins fans.

A couple of months ago, I entertained the possibility of moving Francisco Liriano from the Minnesota Twins starting rotation to the back end of the bullpen.

It only took a little over seven weeks and 43 games for the Twins starting rotation to almost completely turnover.

The Minnesota Twins certainly won't be sweeping this series with the Chicago White Sox , as they dropped game two of the series 6-0. Chris Sale , the young lefty, managed to keep the Twins bats pretty much silent as they only managed 2 hits in Sale's 7 innings pitched.

While their current roster is clearly not working, the 14-27 Minnesota Twins should be looking to make a few mid-season moves in 2012.

There were probably few scenarios, in the mind of P.J. Walters or the people who were putting together the 2012 Twins roster, that would have had him here: pitching at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday, May 22, the same day the team sent Jason Marquis and his $3 million contract packing, and composing the best start by a Twins pitcher this season.

The Twins come to Chicago to play a three-game set, and also to remind the White Sox that things could be a lot worse.

The numbers don't lie: 7 starts, 33 innings, 46 hits, 8.37 earned-run average. Oh wait! Those are Nick Blackburn's numbers.

In Terry Ryan's first stint as general manager of the Minnesota Twins , he made a lot of brilliant moves.

Nobody could call Robin Ventura's transition to managing seamless, but his missteps are all self-contained so far.

Let's pretend the Sunday game in Milwaukee did not happen. Instead, the Twins will try to ride some of the momentum from their recent four game winning streak into the Windy City, where they'll take on the division-rival Chicago White Sox in three rip-roaring thrillers.

Several teams this season have had their fair share of issues with their pitching, whether it be the starters or the relievers.

It didn't take long for an answer, with LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reporting that the Twins will designate Marquis for assignment just seven starts into a $3 million contract given to the 33-year-old veteran who was supposed to help stabilize a shaky rotation.

FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi reports that the Twins are set to designate Jason Marquis for assignment after he gave up eight runs in 1 2/3 innings Sunday against the Brewers.

After two pleasantly surprising victories in the Motor City, the Minnesota Twins try to continue their success against the Milwaukee Brewers .

Baseball is full of surprises. Among the worst performances thus far in the 2012 season, a handful of teams are doing remarkably well, given their statistical inferiority.