Different year, same start. Twins once again are swept in the opening series. It would be easy to say it worked out okay for them last year, but it didn't really. Yes they performed better than expected but they finished three wins behind the Astros. If they instead had swept the Tigers to start the season they would have at least had a playoff game.
I watched barely any of the games and had the radio on for only a plurality of the time so I'm going to fill in the bad and good from the boxscores.
Four negatives from the series:
- Run scoring. Obviously they did better than last year, improving their runs scored by 500%. It is nonetheless difficult to win when you top out at two runs.
- Strikeouts. The batters struck out 35 times but walked only six times. All six walks happened in the second game.
- Dozier not starting well. He finishes the series with a 0.083 OPS. He had one walk in 13 PAs.
- Not pinch hitting for Suzuki in game two. He's the only other player without a hit and he reached base only once.
Three positives from the series:
- Run prevention. Giving up only 3.67 runs a game bodes well for willing. AL teams averaged 4.4 runs a game in 2015.
- Mauer starting well. He had a home run to center and has a nice 1.021 OPS after three games.
- Escobar starting well. He had a double in each game and two in the opener. He has a 1.167 OPS after three games.
Decided to try doing series recaps instead of one for each game. That way the misery can be compressed into a single post. Others, please feel free to do so as well. I can't promise being able to do many of these.
I like that idea quite a bit.
Mauer had a HR to center + a fly caught against the fence. Hopefully there's some two-bagger drives to the alley in the offing there
J.R. Murphy also looked good. Bert mentioned his good framing getting a couple strike three calls for Hughes. He blocked a really wild pitch. And he crushed the ball twice, with his early double called an error.
This goes to show once again that spring training results really mean nothing. Not only did the Twins have a good record in spring training, they also had little trouble scoring runs. Against the Orioles, the Twins were held to 2 runs in each game. In spring training, the Twins never were held to 2 runs or less in consecutive games and had it happen only 6 times in spring training.
Rosario and Buxton have both had 6 strikeouts and no walks. Max Kepler better not do more than a month-to-month lease in Rochester. Buxton at least seems to be having extended at-bats and made contact when needed to drive in a run. Rosario is swinging at everything. It's only 3 games, but he's swinging more often at pitches despite there being less pitches thrown in the strike zone. Plus, he hasn't made contact in 40 percent of his swings.