Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer have been on the shelf during the early part of the season. The batting order hasn’t even come close to picking up the slack in their absence. Michael Cuddyer looks lethargic in his body language and Delmon Young’s production is nowhere to be found. The team had two national television appearances in the past week and both games contained striking similarities. They lost close games at the conclusion due to lack of execution against mediocre teams at best.

The good news is that Friday’s game against divisional rival Cleveland Indians was rained out. This is the best thing that could have happened since the latter is so hot and the former is extremely shorthanded. Ron Gardenhire should have taken the heat for moving closer Joe Nathan to a holder role because now it looks like the players make the roster moves instead of the manager.

In addition, a player’s confidence is a fragile thing. A conversation like that must be held in confidence, even if the pitcher doesn’t mind it getting out. Doubt is a fragile component in the late innings. The moment that it enters a reliever’s mind, bad things are looming on the horizon. No make-up date has been determined for Friday’s contest, which is also a good thing. If the teams didn’t meet so often throughout the season, then a doubleheader likely would have been decided upon. Splits are almost always the case when this transpires. It takes away from the intrigue of a single game when both best possible line-ups are not on the field.

Some credit has to be given to a few hitters. Danny Valencia is hitting for a low average, but some timely hits have garnered him a healthy number of runs batted in. Outfielders Jason Kubel and Denard Span have both hit over three hundred on the year and provided energy to this largely lackluster band of characters. With runs so hard to come by, the squad should be stealing more than Mike Leake at Macy’s.

At  least the movement might provide some holes for hitters who are in the batter’s box or decrease the necessity for extra base hits to score runs. While it’s true that the team’s winning percentage is hovering around a typical Tony Gwynn batting average, things can only get better. The White Sox haven’t looked much sharper and Detroit has proven to be vulnerable as fall approaches.

Fans have to ask themselves if it is okay for the team simply to be patient and wait for players to become productive and get healthy or is it time for some action?

They can no longer call themselves small market because of all the revenue generated from Target Field. In addition, they really do have a regional following because they are the only team in the area for fans in North and South Dakota to embrace. A substantial part of Iowa is even on their side due to the Cubs ineptness. So, the news is bad but it could be worse.