2012 Twins Game Log

Game 70: Twins @ Reds

58 Comments

10 starting pitchers before the All-Star break. I wonder how often that happens (idle question... don't anyone look up how common this occurrence is, or anything).

It seems like it's probably Brian Duensing's destiny to be a starter. By all means, he's a much better reliever, but he ends up being the type of pitcher who's just good enough at starting every once in a while that he get more and more looks at it. Also, to be honest, I'd prefer him in the starting rotation to Blackburn. We already have two late inning guys (Burton and Perkins), and Duensing's got to be a better option in the starting 5 than Blackie, right? (right??)

Duensing (1-2, 4.44 xFIP*) vs Cueto (8-3, 3.73 xFIP) today. Not many strikeouts, not many walks, not many home runs. Seems like a good time for Revere to be up to some shenanigans.

* He does has a pretty nice 3.03 FIP. Getting lucky on some fly balls, it seems (only 2.3% have left the park).

My buddy is a huge Reds fan, so after the game last night, he of course had to send me a text...

Sweep the Indians. Sweep the Mets. Lose to the freaking TWINS?!

I reminded him that a Dickey-free sweep of the Mets only counts as a half a sweep, and that he shouldn't expect to win any more games until the Twins leave town. Here's hoping they can make that slightly exaggerated trash talk come to pass.

58 thoughts on “Game 70: Twins @ Reds”

  1. I get that it's better than an uno, but is it really always a "good at-bat" when you see a lot of pitches?

  2. Well, go get 'em, Duensing. If you want to be a starter again, here's your chance.

  3. Cueto sure threw a lot of offspeed stuff. 2-0 and 2-1 to Ben Revere and he threw a slider and a changeup.

    1. FanGraphs says 56% fastballs overall, but doesn't break it down for right and left-handed hitters.

      1. That seems a like a low percentage. I would think the average would be somewhere around 70 percent.

  4. I'm going to be at my nephew's birthday party in fargo for the duration of the afternoon. Anyone up for taking the recap duties for tonight?

    1. Few too many pitches, but good enough. Better to walk Votto than to let him get a good swing.

  8. Josh Willingham has 67 strikeouts so far this year. Next on the team is Morneau with 43.

  22. the trivia question on FSN is pretty easy today: name the 2 managers to win a World Series in each league.

  24. I dislike it when the other team screws up and tries to give us an out and we don't take it.

  27. Given that he hasn't started all year, Duensing's line is going to look a lot worse than it was.

  28. Hey everyone. I was watching the game over at the baseball card shop. Somehow it went from 0-0 when I left there to 4-0 when I got here. What the heck??

  29. I'm going to have to miss the rest of the game. I hope, when I hear the result, I'll feel like I actually did miss it, rather than just not being here for it.

  30. well, the TV crew has checked out of this game because Dick Bremer is talking about his field trip to a sewer treatment plant. There is probably a joke about the Twins starting pitchers somewhere in there, but Im not bright enough to find it.

  31. I bet Anthony Shortstart will end the year with at least 70 IP out of the bullpen.

  32. that is the 10th time this year Willingham has been hit by a pitch. The last time a Twins player reached double digits in the HBP column was Denard Span in 2009.

    1. further, Willingham has 85 career HBP. That places him 21st on the active list and 132 all time.

  37. I think Dick just said that Capps is under performing because this isn't a save situation. To be fair, I am only half paying attention and and hoping that I am wrong.

  38. A disappointing effort from the boys. Just have to turn the page. We'll just have to settle for 119-43!

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