What's wrong with Twins' Blackburn?

SEATTLE -- Nick Blackburn doesn't know how to fix his problems. Neither do the Twins, who are debating how to fix the right-hander, whose confidence seemed to bottom out in a 5-3 loss to the Mariners on Friday.

Blackburn gave up five earned runs on 11 hits, including two home runs, to fall to 4-9 with a 7.39 earned-run average.

"Make a couple bad pitches and give up home runs, make good pitches and give up singles," he said afterward. "I don't know. I don't even know where to start."

That quote, and others like it, raised a red flag for assistant general manager Rob Antony.

"When big-leaguers have thoughts like that, then you know their confidence is struggling," he said.

Blackburn hasn't won a start since June 22 in Cincinnati and has made just three quality starts in 19 appearances this season.

He has twice been sent to Class AAA Rochester, once on a rehab assignment (quadriceps) and once to help clear his head and find some sort of groove, something he hasn't been in since early 2011, when he went 5-1 with a 2.29 ERA from May 4 to June 22.

Since then, Blackburn is 5-14 with a 7.26 ERA and has made only five quality starts out of 30 total -- not what the Twins expected when they signed him to a four-year, $14 million extension before the 2010 season.

Blackburn, the only current starter under contract for next season, is due to be paid $5.5 million in the final year of his deal.

"We've said all along, we're going to be losing some pitching (after this season). If we can get the Nick Blackburn back that we had when we signed him to this deal, we'd be thrilled," Antony said. "But it's not as easy as just saying, 'Hey, go back to doing what you were doing and you'll have success.' If it was that easy, he'd be doing it."

After Friday's loss, his third straight and fifth in eight starts, Blackburn was beside himself. He fell behind 3-0 on a pair of home runs -- a two-run shot by John Jaso in the first and a leadoff homer by Miguel Olivo in the second -- before battling through three scoreless innings. He was chased after allowing two runs on three hits in the sixth.

Blackburn, 30, said he's healthy and feels good when he pitches, but he also acknowledged that he doesn't know whether his stuff is any good. He always has relied on natural movement on a "heavy" fastball, or sinker.

"I'm pretty pleased with the way everything feels coming out," he said. "Maybe it's not moving. Maybe it's not sharp anymore. It's hard for me to know. I can't tell by looking at film; I can't tell by the way the ball's coming out of my hand. Maybe it's just ineffective at this point. That's what I'm starting to think."

That's no way for a major leaguer to pitch, Antony said. The question now is whether Blackburn is better off continuing the season with Minnesota, taking some time off or making another trip to Rochester to find the confidence that seems to have abandoned him.

"We'll explore all options, whether it's putting him in the pen, whether it's sending him down, skipping him a start; there are a lot of different things you can do," Antony said. "We're going to get together and talk about it, try and see what answers we can come up with and what we can do differently and what he needs to do differently, how we can try and get him going again."