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Eric Milton's surgically repaired left knee is fine. He needs to build up
endurance. Most importantly, he needs to be sharp.
And he has a lot of work to do in that area.

Making his third start since returning from surgery, Milton looked far from
ready for the postseason as he was shellacked in the Twins' 12-5 loss to
Cleveland at Jacobs Field.

Home runs by Jim Thome, Travis Fryman and Karim Garcia showed that he doesn't
have his best control yet. The radar gun at Jacobs Field read just 92 miles per
hour on his best pitches, 3 mph slower than normal. And the fact that his 1
2/3-inning stint matched the shortest outing of his career showed he needs more
starts, more innings to prove he can be trusted in October. He was ripped for
nine earned runs on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Pitching coach Rick Anderson can rig the rotation for Milton to make three more
starts. Is that enough time for him to be a factor in the postseason?

"We're taking the best people we can to the playoffs," Twins manager Ron
Gardenhire said. "If he is one of them, that's great. That's the way it is.
Everyone on this team understands that. Win this division, and get to the
playoffs. We're taking the best people."

The Twins lost for the second consecutive night at Jacobs Field, as Cleveland
did what it could to delay the Twins' coronation as AL Central division champs.
Matthew LeCroy saved the Twins from a shutout by slugging a couple of two-run
homers. With the White Sox beating the Yankees on Friday, the Twins' magic
number to win the division held at three.

Milton's struggles were significant enough to, for a moment, take the focus off
the Twins' inevitable clinching of the Central title. His value to the rotation
in October is significant. He once was on track to win 20 games, but a partially
torn lateral meniscus suffered Aug. 6 required surgery that forced him to miss a
month. Now he's playing catchup.

"It's going to take some time," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "He didn't miss
that long, but he got out of a routine. He was still throwing, but it's
different."

Milton was unavailable for comment after the game.

The Twins were concerned when they noticed that Milton was not using his left
(back) leg as he normally does. But Milton, after he came off the field, assured
them he was healthy.

"Our goal is to make sure if he's healthy," Gardenhire said. "If he's healthy,
then it's a mechanical thing. Once he uses his backside better, he's down in the
zone and he uses his breaking ball and he'll be fine. I talked to Milty when he
came out of the game. He was very frustrated. He couldn't keep the ball down and
they whacked everything he threw up there."

The first four batters Milton faced Friday scored, three of them coming when
Thome jumped on an inside fastball for a homer to right. Two batters later,
Fryman crushed a fat Milton pitch 412 feet to left to make the score 5-0. Thome
delivered an RBI single in the second to make it 6-0. Then Milton threw a
curveball toward the dirt that Garcia got down and slugged out for another
three-run homer to make the score 9-0.

It could be just rust. Brad Radke, who missed two months because of a groin
muscle pull, said he failed to use his lower body enough for the first few
starts after he returned. "He's trying to get strength back in his leg, and he's
trying to get back in a groove," Radke said.

That groove needs to be carved out in three more, perhaps two more, starts.

"That's a possibility," Gardenhire said of three more starts. "I haven't looked
at it . . . I'm going to sit down with Andy and see what we can do here to give
him every possibility we can."

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