We've seen this before from Glen Perkins: He gets to the middle of the game with a decent-sized lead, and then baseballs start flying over the fence.

August 17 vs. Seattle: Perkins leads 8-0 going into the sixth, then gives up three homers. Twins survive 11-8.

August 4 vs. Seattle: Perkins leads 6-0 after five, 6-1 after six innings. He gets one out in the seventh, serving up a grand slam in the process, and the Twins go on to lose 11-6

June 9 vs. the White Sox: Perkins leads 5-2, can't get out of the sixth. Twins lose 7-5.

So Tuesday's middle-inning meltdown — Perkins took a 5-1 lead into the fifth, then served up back-to-back gopher balls good for a total of three runs and didn't come out for the sixth — is hardly unique.

I've started wondering the past few days about how the Twins might reshape their bullpen for 2009. Joe Nathan is a certainty, what with his new contract and all. Dennys Reyes , Eddie Guardado and Matt Guerrier are at the end of their deals; Jesse Crain has a year left on the contract he signed before last season. Everybody else is still serf status ... well, maybe Boof Bonser will be arbitration eligible this winter. How many of these guys do the Twins want to bring back after a season in which bullpen meltdowns are all too common?

Anyway, I am growing increasingly skeptical about Perkins as a starter. I know: he's 12-3. I know: Ron Gardenhire has been publicly congratulating himself for deciding that Perkins was too a starter (pitching coach Rick Anderson has said that he had seen Perkins as bullpen material). Every indication is that the Twins now view Perkins as a long-term member of the rotation.

But I look at these mid-inning problems, and I look at his splits on ESPN.com and see how much more effective he is for the first 15 pitches than he is after that. And I look at his strikeout rate — 4.25 K per nine innings — and I don't see a quality starting pitcher there.