2018 Twins Game Logs

2018 Game 42: Brewmeisters at Twins

92 Comments

I'm actually happy that the Brewers are doing well, just not so happy that they've done so at the expense of the Twins this weekend. A quarter of the way through the season, the Twins are below .500, tied for second in the division at 2.5 games back and 6 games out of the wild card hunt, which doesn't seem likely to include the AL Central at this point. Starting catcher Jason Castro is gone for the season. Joe Mauer is on the DL with a neck strain and concussion-like symptoms. Miguel Sano is also on the DL, but started a rehab assignment with Rochester yesterday. Among the healthy players, Buxton, Wilson, Morrison and Adrianza are all hitting near or south of the Mendoza line. Garver, Kepler, Dozier and Grossman are hitting .250 or below. I'm not unhappy with the quality of starting pitching, but the rotation remains fairly inefficient, notching just 210.2 innings over 39 games - just a smidgen over five inning per start (I didn't include Hughes' 2 starts because he'll never be a starting pitcher). Meanwhile, the bullpen has been just bad enough to keep us from contending in the late innings of too many games. Overall, the pitching staff sports a 4.54 ERA (96 ERA+), 4.53 FIP, 1.39 WHIP, and a 2.27 K/BB ratio. On the mound today, Jake Odorizzi (3-2, 3.35 ERA) takes the ball for the Twins, while Junior Guerra (3-3, 3.08 ERA) will sling for the Brewers.

!Pleibol!

92 thoughts on “2018 Game 42: Brewmeisters at Twins”

  1. At the risk of agreeing with Dazzle, I'd like to see the Twins try to put some people in motion and try to force the action. It just seems to me like the Twins have fallen into a mode of sitting back and waiting for something to happen, rather than actively trying to make something happen.

    Besides, the Twins have a lot of guys who can run a little bit.

      1. If someone could put together a team like the '85 Cardinals, nobody today would know how to react to it.

  3. Well, three of the four Twins batters hit the ball hard. Maybe it's a start.

  8. The Twins seem to do a lot of complaining about balls and strikes. I don't know if it's justified, but it doesn't seem to be helping much.

    1. We've seen our share of bad umpiring this year, but I don't feel like it's been egregious or terribly biased, just a little below par. When you're struggling offensively like we have so much this year, you clutch whatever straws are available.

  11. Dazzle with a good take on the safety screens, basically saying that it doesn't hamper the sight lines and as a player, the worst feeling is to hit a ball that hurts a fan.

    1. Morneau in the booth with Dick’n’Bert saying the same thing. Said players had been asking for more netting for like 15 years.

  15. Provus(??) noting the problem with the 3-man bench in light of Mauer's injury.

    Gee, what could they do about that problem?

        1. I think you mean Francona. LaRussa I believe developed the you get 7th inning, you get 8th inning, you get 9th inning. At least that means few mid-inning pitching changes. Francona is the infuriating one that uses the left-right matchups managing. It's probably more effective but way more mid-inning pitching changes and he would do it with 2 outs, no one on base and a 4-run lead.

  18. Gaack.

    Run expectancy from runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs: ~1.4.
    Probability of scoring at least one run: ~61 pct.

    2. They hit two balls hard for outs. They're just not getting much luck at the plate today.

  19. All the hard-hit outs the Twins have had, and then the Brewers get a hit like that.

    1. Jake with the ‘next up’ approach; doing his job ... certainly wouldn’t mind seeing the fellas give him some help in the home half.

    1. The guy that broke his leg on home plate celebrating a walkoff homer doesn't seem like the ideal candidate for sending to the mound to eat up an inning or 2 in a blowout.

  29. Farm Report: Rochester beat Pawtucket 3-0. Aaron Slegers with seven shutout innings, giving up five hits and no walks and striking out five. His ERA is now 1.97 and his WHIP is 0.94. I'd a lot rather have him in the Twins' starting rotation than Lance Lynn. Chattanooga leads Biloxi 2-1 in the fourth. Cedar Rapids leads Clinton 2-1 in the fourth. Fort Myers, trying to complete a suspended game, got as far as the sixth inning and is tied with St. Lucie 2-2.

    1. Farm report update: Chattanooga at Biloxi are tied 2-2 after nine, with the game to be decided by the Manfred Rule. Randy LeBlanc came out of the game after 3.1 innings for no obvious reason. Cedar Rapids leads Clinton 3-1 going to the ninth.

  33. I hope that's just Dazzle talking through his hat again, and that "getting the win" has nothing to do with Odorizzi staying in the game. I'm fine with him staying in the game--he's been pitching well--but don't do it because you want him to get the win if you wouldn't leave him in otherwise.

    1. I don't feel like Molitor woyld leave him in for just that reason. Odorizzi has pitched very well this game. He just kind of ran into a wall here.

  34. Anyone know what that was about? Or was Joe West just looking for some face time?

  35. The Twins hit balls hard all over the place for outs, and the Brewers have one hit on a ball that barely left the infield and one on a ball that wasn't hit hard enough to leave the infield.

  36. On the plus side, we have our secret weapon, Bobby Wilson, on the bench ready to go!

  37. How come the other teams never seem to lose "momentum" the way the Twins do?

  40. A lot of hard-hit outs early, but in the last few innings Twins batters have seemed pretty helpless.

  44. Every time they play a Yankees highlight, I'm thankful John Sterling isn't a Twins broadcaster.

  52. Another run would've been really nice. Can we for once hold the lead through the next half-inning?

    1. It was nice of the brewers to leave the ninth up to the bottom of their lineup.

      1. That helped, but it seems like the Twins have had their share of problems with the bottom of the lineup lately.

  59. Francisco Liriano has only allowed two baserunners, both on walks, through six innings in Seattle. He has thrown seventy pitches.

    1. He gave up a hit in the seventh but that was it in eight scoreless innings. Detroit lost in the eleventh though.

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