There's a reason he's called King Felix.

I was at our local high school graduation and heard none of the game.  From the play-by-play, it appears that the Twins didn't have a particularly bad game.  They just didn't have a particularly good game, either.  And that's the problem.  Going up against the King, they were going to have to have a really good game to win, and they didn't.

I did catch a little of the post-game show, and there was some talk of plays not made in the field.  Since the play-by-play doesn't indicate that, I'll have to let those of you who watched or listened talk about that.  But the Twins have some spots in the field where they are average to below average, and that means sometimes there are going to be plays not made.  You either have to get better or you have to live with it.

Nolasco pitched about the way Nolasco is going to pitch--not great, but good enough to keep them in the game.  The bullpen did not exactly come through, with three of the four pitchers allowing a run.  All four relievers used have ERAs over four and two of them have ERAs over five.  ERA is obviously not everything for a relief pitcher, or even necessarily the most important thing, but they're not nothing, either.  While these four were not the best four in the bullpen, they're still guys the Twins are counting on to get the job done, and they're not doing it.

So, the Twins are off today and then head for the West Coast, playing games that will start about the time I'm getting ready for bed.  With National League rules games looming, the Twins decided they needed to send out a pitcher and promote a position player.  In a better world that would be Oswaldo Arcia, but given when the Twins optioned him out, that's not possible.*  So, instead we get the rreturrnn of Chris Herrmann, who batted all of .128 in his first stint with the Twins.  To be fair, he did hit well in his time in Rochester, and he does give Gardy the all-important third catcher.  On the other hand, with no DH, that third catcher would seem even less important than it is otherwise.

This is not an excuse for the Twins, by the way.  Presumably somebody in the front office can read a schedule and knew that National League games were coming up.  If they wanted the position player to be Arcia, they should've thought of that ahead of time.  I can only assume that they decided they wanted it to be Herrmann instead.

Regardless, though, the result will be the same.  Tuesday night will begin our season-ending 120-game winning streak.  We'll just have to settle for 141-21!