Well, as Bert said in the post-game, this was an ugly loss.  When the Twins get decent starting pitching and manage to score six runs, they really need to win the game.

The good news, of course, is that the Twins did get decent starting pitching, and they did score six runs.  In fact, if you throw out the second inning, Kevin Correia pitched extremely well.  Unfortunately, the rules don't allow you to throw out the second inning, but even so, Correia's line is six innings, five hits, a walk, five strikeouts, and three runs (two earned).  He looks like he'll continue to be what he was last year--a serviceable major league starting pitcher.

On offense, the top of the order did little, but the rest of the order made up for it.  The top three slots were 2-for-15, and that includes a pinch-hit by Chris Colabello.  But Trevor Plouffe had three hits and drove in three, Kurt Suzuki had three hits and drove in one, and Jason Kubel and Aaron Hicks each contributed two hits.  I predict that if Kurt Suzuki hits .500 for the season, the Twins will win a lot of games this year.

Not that I'm a catching expert, and not that I've seen him a lot, but I'm far from convinced that Suzuki is all that behind the plate.  Yes, Deduno was all over the place (more on that in a moment), but I was not impressed with Suzuki's efforts, either.  He doesn't seem to move his feet at all; he simply leans with his upper body.  That doesn't seem to me the most effective way to catch, especially when you have a pitcher who you know is likely to be all over the place.  It is only two games, however, so I may change this opinion as the season progresses.

Obviously, Samuel Deduno is not the pitcher you want to use in the late innings of close game.  I assume Gardy knows that, too.  However, he had already used four relief pitchers, he had no idea how many innings the game might go, it is reasonable for him to not want to use his entire bullpen, and Deduno is someone who can easily pitch multiple innings.  I can't say that going to Deduno there was the wrong decision.

The biggest disappointment, of course, was Perkins blowing the save in the ninth.  I was not watching at that point, but looking at the play-by-play, it appears that almost everything that could go wrong did--three singles, a wild pitch, a bad defensive play.  I'm not particularly worried about Perkins, and I doubt anyone here is.  It's just one of those things that happens during a season.

I'm curious about Gardy's decision to play Kubel in left and DH Willingham.  It probably doesn't matter much--I don't know that one is any better defensively than the other--but I'd be interested to know Gardy's thinking.  Does he believe Kubel is a better defensive player than Willingham?  Does he believe Kubel hits better when he plays in the field than when he's used as a DH?  Does he believe it will keep Willingham fresher during the season to use him as a DH when Kubel plays?  Again, I don't know that it matters much, but I assume that when a big-league manager does something like that he has a reason for it, and I'm curious about what it is.

At any rate, the Twins start the season 0-2.  They go after their first win this afternoon.  Between a graveside service and a United Methodist Women's meeting, I won't be around for much of the game, if any at all, but I'm confident it will be the win that starts their one-hundred-sixty-game winning streak.  We'll just have to settle for 160-2!