I heard all offseason that the club this year would play insufferable defense and have improved (but still mediocre at best) pitching. The talking heads and conventional wisdom suggested that, based on the performance last year, this team wouldn't have much trouble scoring runs.
The boys had one really nice inning yesterday, plating four runs off of Jeff Samardzija, before he settled in and the Twins' offense went missing. There were a few really nice defensive plays that were key to this, but mostly the Twins just couldn't do any additional damage.
Let's hope that they get it figured out today...unlikely considering they face Chicago's ace Chris Sale (0-0, -.-- ERA ... but 6-1, 2.45 ERA over 16 appearances and (eight starts) against the Twins). On the bright side, this is his first start of the season, recently off the 15-Day DL from a broken foot bone.
He'll be opposed by Minnesota's ace Phil Hughes (0-1, 6.00 ERA), who we're hoping can rebound from an unremarkable start to the season in Detroit (4 earned runs off of 8 hits (including 2 HR's) in six innings of work; 6 K's & 1 BB).
The twitters machine is telling me that Trevor Plouffe is starting at 1B today.
ooooohhh kaaaayyyy....
Preparing Mauer for his move to third.
That deserved at least 50 cents worth of a wgom buck.
Ventura's been at the helm for four seasons?! Really?
Hughes is regressing past the mean.
If this game gets crappy, go listen to section six of this episode of Ask Me Another.
I about ran off the road I was laughing so hard.
http://www.npr.org/programs/ask-me-another/349230939/too-soon
This defense is making it awfully tempting.
i'm at the game, so it's more amusing to see it in person. i want the twins to win, obviously, but if the WS win, i get a free medium fries, so...
What kind of fries?
This defense....
aw man, I thought that was going to be a triple.
but we are on the board!
I've been ticked that I have class and have to miss the home opener. Turns out, this may be a blessing in disguise.
This defense....
httpv://youtu.be/4V0TYIO6yv4
Hey party people! What did I miss?
Everybody dropping fly balls.
Today's stupidest comment from the TV booth :
Bert: On a scale of one to ten, I would give Pelfrey an eight for yesterday.
Pelfrey didnt qualify for the dreaded "Quality Start" because he only went 5.
Pelfrey wasnt awful, but he wasnt good.
Maybe he was rating him on something other than pitching.
Or it was on a scale of 10-1.
Ugh.
If one is looking for positives, Jose Abreu has been pretty quiet this series.
Except he's on my Fantasy team. I really can't win this season.
Former All Star Zach Duke.
Mauer gets Dozier into scoring position for Torii. What a nice guy.
Hunter gets an RBI because Jose Abreu done messed up. LOL
TWINS BASEBALL!!
I know the pen is down a man with Fein being sore, but Molitor has hitched his wagon to Blaine Boyer.
Who?
joaking aside, who? I really haven't listened / watched / pay'd any attention to the Twins in the last 2.5 years. Is Justin Mauer still on the team?
He is with Montreal.
Can we all just agree that Boyer should never be allowed to pitch again?
You've got my vote for this one!
Boy, you're really trying to get off the roster
I blame Casilla.
You take that back, mister. I'll have none of this trash talk. None.
I'm so old, I remember when this club was good.
I'm so old, I remember when both the Twins and the Wolves were good at the same time.
I think we're the same age.
That was the best five minutes of my sports fan life.
The Wolves, Wild and Vikings all won on the day I got married. The Twins were good at the time too, although it was the offseason.
Remember that? That was awesome.
I missed the game, but just wanted to say that we'll just have to settle for 157-5!