Once again, the Twins seemed more than willing to allow fans to lose interest early and spend time with friends and family on a Sunday afternoon. The Twins had already won the other two games of the series and homestand against a good Rays team, so this again could be considered a case of losing efficiently.

This was the first time in about a month that we didn't see Good Kyle Gibson. However, he only gave up three runs in five innings. It was the middle relievers that got hit hard and turned the game into a blowout. This was not the Bad Kyle Gibson we had seen last year. If this is this year's version of Bad Kyle Gibson, he and the Twins could have a very good season.

One thing I noted recently is that manager Paul Molitor is showing his preference about veterans vs. non in his lineup construction. The five most veteran hitters for the Twins have been occupying the first five spots in the order. This has led to Kurt Suzuki and his career .375 slugging and 88 OPS+ batting fifth regularly and occasionally second and fourth. Suzuki had Sunday off, so at least Molitor dropped light-hitting Chris Herrmann down in the order, unlike previous manager Ron Gardenhire, who often seemed to have lineups with preprinted positions on them and would fill in the names of backups in the same spot in the order. Continue reading Game 38: Rays 11, Twins 3 →