First pitch 1:10 p.m.
Ricky Nolasco (1-0, 3.25 ERA, .904 WHIP, 24 K)
Mike Pelfrey (0-4, 4.64 ERA, 1.922 WHIP, 9 K)
I'll admit to inaugurating this season with a sense of irrational exuberance. The first few series knocked that out of me in pretty short order, though. And there's still plenty to be pessimistic about as we start the second month of the season today. After appearing to be righting the ship, the Twins have lost 7 of their last 10 games. They are 10 games below .500, 9 and 1/2 games behind division leading Chicago, and 6 and 1/2 games out of the wild card race. The starting rotation has been more than decimated by injury with Santana and Gibson on the DL, our regular closer is injured and ineffective when healthy, and his substitute isn't nearly as solid as he was last year. The bullpen has shown flashes of brilliance but an annoying inconsistency. The offense is improving but remains sub-par in many spots up and down the lineup. Jeebus, what I'd give to have a catcher who can hit again.
The odd thing is that I'm not terribly concerned. I never expected this team to do any more than than contend for a wildcard, and to be honest I'm enjoying watching this team, even with all of its flaws and miscues. There are bright spots here. We have pretty decent starting pitching with some depth in the organization, and now we finally get to see what Alex Meyer and Jose Berrios can do in the show. Duffy continues to impress. There are some good arms in the bullpen and some good hitters always worth watching. The return of very-high-BA/OBP Joe Mauer has been thoroughly satisfying to watch. Every time our Korean crusher comes to the plate, my wife starts chanting "Park bang, Park bang, Park bang..." After finding a regular spot in the lineup due to injuries, Nunez at first blazed and continues to burn brightly at the plate, hitting the ball like it sassed his mother. But we sucked in April. Nothing new there for this team, the Twins haven't finished the month above .500 since 2010. We've got a young team (average age just over 27) with too many infielders playing outfield, so there will be errors in the field and streaks at the plate. But there should also be some exciting baseball and in the end that's all I ask for, just make it interesting.
Today I'm feeling a little upside-down because I'm actually looking forward to watching both Mike Pelfrey and Ricky Nolasco pitch -- Pelfrey because I expect him to be the same pitcher we let go, and Nolasco because he doesn't appear to be the same pitcher we've had (off and on) for the last two years. That's all I got.
Play ball!
Pelfrey really sucks
Not only does Molitor have a poor challenge record, but he takes forever to decide not to challenge some obviously correct calls
And needs 14 pitchers.
They're at 13 now, just like the Tigers. They only went to 14 for a couple days after that marathon game forced them to wear out their bullpen.
Last year it was easy to find detailed challenge results but this year it's strangely hard. Overall results are still easy and I can see the results for a single manager but no more detailed summary.
I do not miss Mike Pelfrey. Dude takes forever to be terrible.
Tigers signing Pelfrey will be the gift keeps giving.
If there's anything the Tigers like to do, it's keep giving gifts for a looong time.
Of course, Twins hitters seem to always demand the gift receipt.
I'm watching the free game of the day. There was justa play at the plate and I got to thinking. I no longer hear any complaining about the plate blocking rule (of which I am a big, big fan). I look forward to either later this year or next year when all complaining about the second base role dies off. (if it hasn't already. I haven't heard much recently about that either.)
He just struck out, so probably not the best time to say this, but Park, so far, completely makes up for the Nishioka signing, right? I know he's not Japanese, but I figure it's the same type of signing since the posting rules for the Korean league are basically the same.
Arguably a riskier signing than Nishioka. Fewer players from Korea have come over than from Japan so harder to project. The level of play in Korea is lower than Japan so Park has to make a larger jump to succeed.
Hopefully he keeps it all up through the rest of the year.
What a waste of an inning.
TWINS BASEBALL!!
This team... WTF?
The routine 4-5 scoring play
Twins and Tigers contributing to comedy of Cabrera's high single. And I think he may have been safe at second. Too bad about that challenge.
Jersey/shirsey count (to be updated throughout):
Mauer 23
Radke
Cuddyer 3
Morneau 13
Span
Carew 4
Killebrew 9
Hunter 7
Sano 7
Punto(!) 2
Blyleven
Buxton 2
Thome 5
Perkins
Park
Arcia
Dozier 7
Puckett
Johan
Trammell
Plouffe 2
Scandella
Hardy
Kinsler
Verlander 2
Fidrych (!!!!!!)
Hrbek
a bit bad luck this inning for Nolasco.
The staff should just stop allowing fly balls because we give up extra bases every time. Rosario butchered that play.
How was that not a home run?
You know, in starting to really dislike replay.
But I still really like JMIVGABB.
PaueRR!
I love Mauer crushing Big Pelf and Boyer.
The kid PA just announced Designed Hitter Bung-Ho Park.
How the hell are they gonna score now that they've loaded the bases?
no more give back runs please.
son of a rutabega
I just turned on the game. Blarf.
Hate that guy. And he does such a great job with voices on The Simpsons, too
Time for Mayday Malone
Everyone else heard that, right? Jack's opinion is that May should be a starter....
To be honest, I tune Jack out. His ultra "get off my lawn" shtick was too grating to my ears.
I liked this game more when it was 5-2
why are you trying to bunt? ugggh.
I don't mind the bunt with Suzuki when down a run with no outs in the eighth... But not to bring up Rosario against a lefty.
Since the Twins are still using sound effects from Wrestling Night, the Valet is now Wooing like Ric Flair.
That's pretty awesome.
My guess: Brian Dozier get on base, Mauer knocks a HR to win it.
Predicting Dozier would get on base was your first mistake
OH NO SANO
What did I say about baserunning guru Molitor actually instilling something?
I would like to be gloating over the Yankees W/L, and we can't even do that.
So, Mauer, Sano and Park, our 3-4-5 hitters, went 7-12 with 3 doubles, 2 BBs and 4 runs scored. They have OPSs of 920, 804 and 850, respectively.
If only we could get a little more production from a couple more guys....
Plouffe will be back in a couple days. He had an OPS of .868 before getting hurt. Hopefully, Nunez will still get regular playing time at second and short. No reason not to at least rotate days off for 1 of Nunez, Dozier and Escobar at the moment. Santana is doing well so far. Just hope the Twins don't count on it. Hopefully, he can do well long enough for Buxton to get it figured out in AAA.
.214/.267/.357 in 30 PAs.
I'm shocked that is hard to win with 8 relievers, 0 bench, and 2 outfielders.
It's like Molitor is really just Gardy with some upgrades. They gave him the relief pitcher augmentation.
Remember, the bench started out the year as Nunez, Arcia, Santana and Murphy. Ineffectiveness and injuries by the starters has forced them off the bench. Only Murphy hasn't performed at or above expectations. And 8 relievers isn't a disadvantage when both teams have 8 relievers, which is the case in this series.
8 relievers is always a disadvantage. Just because other teams also embrace the stupidity doesn't mean it isn't stupidity.
I'm with DPWY.
Trido.
I haven't had FSNorth in almost 3 years. The Twins are 0-3 since I signed up for the new Sling. Perhaps I should rethink before the free week is up...
On Apr 21, Eddie Rosario went 4-4 and had a slash line of .245/.288/.408/.697
Since then he has played 7 games and has gone 3-30 and now has a slash of .190/.220/.349/.549
His numbers didn't really add up last year. I wouldn't be surprised if he swapped with Buxton.