I'll admit that I'm a geek and one reason I want the Twins to win today is so they'll be 26-13, with as many wins over .500 as total losses on the year. I'm not sure what you can say about this team anymore. The funny thing is, as good as the team is right now, it's pretty easy to see opportunities for improvement. We need more starting pitching depth. We could get that through acquisition or staff improvement. I think Gibson has the chance to be a very solid middle rotation pitcher and has plenty of room to grow as a player. I'm less enthused about Pineda, who did manage to turn in a quality start yesterday in a losing effort, but it it still kind of early. Too early to talk about Jose Berrios (6-1, 2.53 ERA, .919 WHIP), and/or Jake Odorizzi (5-2, 2.32 ERA, .938 WHIP) in the same breath as Cy Young, maybe, for the season is long and full of errors. Still, right now the Twins have a pretty solid starting rotation pitching as well as any in baseball. Berrios and Odorizzi are worth 1.5 and 1.4 WAR respectively. They tend to overshadow a fine run by Perez checking in at 1.1 WAR. Showing the most room for improvement, Gibson charts a 0.6 WAR and Pineda a meager 0.1. So, Gibson needs to step up to the next level, and Pineda at least needs to stabilize and take on some ballast at the back of the rotation. The bullpen continues to impress, especially when it's not being overused, although you can see some obvious depth issues there as well. Still, we have 7 relievers with an ERA+ above 100, and 5 of them above 200, and that's a nice thing to see. Fangraphs gives the Twins a 64% chance of winning today and taking the 4-game series with Perez on the mound going up against Daniel Norris (1-1, 3.81 ERA) for the Tigers. I'd say that sounds about right. Play ball!
Wow, that Jared commercial was...Oedipal and shallow.
is that the one where they suggest getting engaged as a mother's day present? cause that one was a doozy.
I'm sorry, what?
Walking the lead off- why??
Because no one likes solo home runs?
Giving up the HR - why??
I hate to go too far out on a limb, but my guess is that Perez didn't do that on purpose.
Oy
At least we had baserunners that inning!
I'm not a fan of leading off with Astudillo. He's a bit removed from his season-starting awesomeness, he's just back from the IL, and he's not exactly speedy.
And he's not exactly a patient guy.
On the other hand, he's double play prone, so that avoids one of those situations.
Nelson Cruz is due to hit a home run
or hit the pitcher and the ball perfectly caroms to the SS
I know they say two-out hits are important, but some hits with none out or one out are helpful, too.
There's that OB% thing again I've been concerned about...
Their OBP for the game wasn't bad. Too many of them just came late in the inning, when it's harder to make them into a rally.
"Ground-rule double", Gameday? Really, MLB?
Not that I was really here, but I'm probably out now. Good luck, boys. Kiss your mothers (and get engaged if you aren't already).
Oh, thanks dude - you got four more of those?
Paper cuts, guys, more paper cuts
okay, still listening while doing stuff. just stopping back to say:
Obviously Adrianza with a home run to open the scoring for the Twins.
Isn't it about time to give Hildy a bit of a rest?
*yawn*
2bux
I thought sure A-Stud was going to come through there.
I didn't see it, but shouldn't Adrianza score from first on a two-out double?
It was a double in front of the right fielder. Not even sure Buxton scores on it.
Got it.
The radio call made it sound like it was down the line.
It was, but not hit hard and the right fielder got to it before Adrianza hit third
These missed opportunities are sucking my will to live.
Game Over, Spooky Over?