Here’s your pinch-hit game log.
Lance Lynn will take the ball in his Twins debut, while Jameson Taillon makes his first start of the season.
PNC Park is the top of my Ballparks To Visit list. From everything I’ve heard, it’s one of the few modern ballparks that might rival the LOL for Best in MLB honors.
This is here.
Sorry, my bad. Thanks.
Looks cold in Yinzerville.
Way to break the streak, LANCE.
so long, starting pitcher 0 ERA
There goes the scoreless innings streak.
Uffda.
Oh, man. We don't have Gimenez anymore. What are we going to do if this gets out of hand?
Should have tried harder for Ohtani.
If Mauer takes the ball, is he automatically the second-best-hitting pitcher of all time?
Sounds like a question for Play Index. Turns out, maybe top-20.
I feel confident in saying that while some of the people on that list have more career WAR than Mauer, Joe is still a better hitter than, say, Glasscock, Campaneris, and George Davis.
I should have excluded pre-deadball era baseball too. Here's another list sorted on OPS+ with a PA minimum to exclude Alex Meyer's 175 OPS+. For reference, Mauer is at 126 OPS+ now and had a 135 OPS+ from 2004-2013.
So, still barely top 20.
I should’ve figured that Cobb or Sisler pitched at some point.
Ichiro’s 17th. I think Peak Mauer was as good a hitter as Peak Ichiro.
Yuck.
Even over the radio, I saw that grand slam coming.
Spooked that
Positively Gibsonian. FFS.
If Moran didn't swing, that looked on replay like it would have been ball four it was so high. Oh well. How many times have we seen the Twins put up a big number in the first and then get nothing the rest of the way and the other team comes back and wins? Let's do that to the Pirates.
Buxton has not looked good early in the season. Overanxious and too easy an out. Curveball over for strike one. Chase high fastball. Chase breaking ball. I was hoping getting a few hits in the first series would calm him down and prevent him from jumping at the ball, but I would expect another slow start for him. Hopefully, the adjustments come much quicker this season.
Buxton looked fine yesterday. I think it’s premature to draw any conclusions; they’ve only played four games.
Wonder if the cold weather is affecting Lynn's grip on the baseball. He hasn't been really close to the strike zone.
I doubt it was that since he pitched in the Midwest for so long in an outdoor stadium. Probably more to do with being pumped up pitching for the first time after switching MLB teams. He had only played for the Cardinals, so this is a new situation. If anything, the cold may have exacerbated the situation.
Lynn has already done better than the last time he started in Pittsburgh.
Lynn's biggest problem was walking righties and letting lefties hit the ball. He has pretty wide career splits. The only 2 hits were extra-base hits by lefties. That's why walking Cervelli really hurt. He really has to challenge the righties.
So how long do you go with Lynn? With the off day tomorrow, you could argue the Twins could pinch hit for the pitcher every time he's up, especially with Berrios' complete game yesterday.
Bert gave up 8 grand slams, 430 home runs total.
Lynn at 89 pitches in the fourth. Berríos had started the ninth with that many pitches.
Well, it's a good thing Berrios was a beast yesterday.
Day off tomorrow, too. He could have been knocked out in the first inning and it really wouldn't matter. Kinley and Rogers have yet to pitch.
Assuming relievers can get a reasonable number of outs.
Has anyone tried to bunt against a shift to just get on base? If not, that's infuriating to me when they are down 5 runs. We need base runners!
Twins starting pitchers through 4 games have a 1.80 ERA.
Dozier is looking for a big payday. Wow! And he's traditionally been a better second-half player.
SSS
Well, duh.
Dozier now tied for the MLB lead in HRs with Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies and Matt Davidson of the White Sox.
Davidson hit all 3 Opening Day
They kept Tiangong-1 up for a few extra hours.
Pirates bullpen has a 6.28 ERA thus far.
And undefeated
Not a great slide by Mauer. I’d much rather see the fadeaway there, both for evasion of the tag & injury prevention.
Eddie Rosario swinging at pitched 4 feet inside make him in midseason form
Well this is getting more interesting.
MAX!
dang I thought that was gone! So did Dick
The ol’ Reverse Gordo.
Speaking of guys who are on fire to start the season...man, Kepler's looked good.
Smoker: burned.
oh, sure -- rally during my 20 minute conference call
That would have been a stand up triple if it went over Fraziers head
I suppose I’ll take the HBP, but I’m not a fan of Morrison showing bunt there.
Even if for a hit?
I get that a decent bunt is a gimmie with the shift on, but Morrison’s profile suggests his strengths might be better leveraged swinging away. Plus, he’s coming off the bench on a cold day — don’t want him pulling a hammy in the fourth game of the year.
A bunt by Dozier would've made more sense. I know it's easy to say that after the fact, but I was thinking it at the time, too. It puts runners at second and third for Mauer, and if they walk him the bases are loaded for Sano. I'm not saying it was a mistake to swing away, just that I could've understood bunting, too.
This is a very enjoyable Pirates bullpen.
Duke still has more Ks than outs he's gotten (5 to 4).
Now 6-5.
Nice walk Kepleroni.
Holy crap with the walks, guys!
wiggle wiggle wiggle
time for a run or 8.
Well that was not very smooth by Adrianza.
In better news, I bowled today and had my second 500 series of the season. 157, 148, 201 for a 506. I also tried using a wrist support for the first time. SSS, but it seemed to help me keep my wrist straight.