Bad baseball teams are not fun to watch

When you see this picture, you understand the mullett.

I'm not saying Sidney Ponson hasn't pitched poorly, but the fans that seem to think calling up Matt Garza will rocket the Twins back north in the standings are delusional.
Ponson is nowhere near the biggest problem on this team right now.

It's funny, last year the Twins were a bad baseball team for most of April and May, and I was livid; spitting mad every day. I ripped them on the blog, ripped them in the paper, ripped them whenever I could.
They're playing just as bad right now as they did at any time last year, and for some reason I'm just not that worried yet.
I don't think it's because of how they came back last year, because I have no confidence at all that any team can simply count on a 71-33 stretch to save their season. Lighting doesn't strike twice (at least not like that).

I guess maybe it's because nothing that's happened is really all that unexpected.
We knew (or at least we were pretty sure) that Nick Punto had no business getting 500 ABs in the 2-hole, and he's proving it.
And we knew that there was no positional depth. If there were any injuries the Twins were going to be in trouble, and here we are.
Luis Castillo, Rondell White and Jeff Cirillo were all supposed to play big roles this year, and with them down, the lineup is a joke in the 7-through-2 spots.
Think about it. If you're a pitcher, and you get through Joe Mauer, Mike Cuddyer, Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter, you will then face some combination of Jason Kubel, Mike Redmond, Jason Tyner, Jason Bartlett, Alexi Casilla, Luis Rodriguez and Punto - IN SUCCESSION!
The only way to survive with a lineup like that is for the guys in the middle to go nuts, and that obviously hasn't happened.

Morneau is officially in a slump, and that worries me a little bit.
And Hunter is hitting the crap out of the ball, which also scares me. Because how the hell are the Twins going to replace his production if, as expected, he signs elsewhere next year?
Mauer is doing a terrific job getting on base, but I'm starting to become convinced that he should be batting either leadoff or 2nd, not 3rd.

On the other hand, maybe the reason this year's slow start isn't as troublesome as last years is the pitching. Last year, the starting pitching was godawful in the early going, and that was certainly scary.
This year everyone thought the pitching would be horrible and it's actually been pretty good.
I'm not expecting Carlos Silva and Ramon Ortiz to compete for the Cy Young this year, but I'm becoming reasonably confident that they both are back on track, and could produce a solid season. Johan will still be Johan, and I still feel good about Boof. And with Garza, Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey in Triple-A, this is one area where there is some depth.
Pitching is still the most important thing, and the Twins have lots of it.

We'll just have to hope that keeps them in it while the offense tries to get healthy.