We inaugurate a new year with our own home opener. If the first 6 games are any indication, this should be a pretty exciting year!
Kansas City Royals vs. Minnesota Twins
(6-0) (1-5)
Target Field
353 North Fifth Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota
3:10 PM PDT
Game Previews
Minnesota Twins Official Game Notes
Baseball-Reference
MLB
Yahoo! Sports
Seattle Mariners Starting Lineup
1. Escobar, SS
2. Moustakas, 3B
3. Cain, CF
4. Hosmer, 1B
5. Morales, DH
6. Gordon, LF
7. Rios, RF
8. Perez, C
9. Infante, 2B
Minnesota Twins Starting Lineup
1. Santana, SS
2. Dozier, 2B
3. Mauer, 1B
4. Hunter, RF
5. Vargas, DH
6. Plouffe, 3B
7. Arcia, LF
8. Suzuki, C
9. Robinson, CF
Probable Starting Pitchers
Daniel Richard Duffy
0-0, 9.00
v.
Trevor J. May
0-0, 0.00
Photo courtesy of Joe Kunzler
Zero wins first series, one win second series. I predict two wins this series! Sorry Jeff, I don't think the Twins are going to reach 157-5 and we'll have to settle for 156-6.
A clean first inning!
And even a K!
Time for some veteran-ii leadership.
Psh. A walk. He's supposed to be teaching Mauer, not learning from him.
Solo home runs can't hurt you ... right guys?
Was that inning as dink-and-dunk as it seemed on Gameday?
Yep. I think that'll be a common thing this year with this defense.
I didn't expect Dozier to be part of the defensive problems, but his last three plays have left a lot to be desired.
Yup. The last 3 batters (2 Twins, and then Morales) really show the discrepancy in OF defense for these two teams.
What happened? (Gameday ain't great at conveying what happened)
Rios showed good range to catch Dozier's deep fly. Gordon charged in and made a diving catch on Mauer. Then Arcia clanked a high popup after running about 40 feet.
sigh.
Reminds me of the time Gardy trotted out a _elmon, Cuddy, Kubel outfield during interleague play. Except now it's three statues every day!
Do we not remember Colabello and Bartlett in the OF?
I was actually impressed how far Arcia went to get to the ball, but yeah, I was thinking that he never would have caught the one Gordon had caught and Gordon would have caught the one Arcia didn't, so that made the Royals plus two on hits just from defense on just those two plays. Of course, we are comparing probably the best OF defense to probably the worst.
mlb.tv is giving me some real problems. among other things, the audio keeps switching back to dicknbert.
might try listening to some music instead.
I'm having no problems listening to the radio guys on mlb.tv. Are you watching on a computer or on a device?
It just switched on me, too. Don't even have the option to change back or go to park sounds.
The KC TV is working fine for me on PS4.
Stauffer in?
This ought to be good.
Go take your base, Rios. No one's throwing at you. Don't be a moron.
The KC announcers are openly feeling bad for Molly and what he's got to work with.
You know it's bad when the KC guys are throwing sympathy bones, considering how bad they had it for so long.
Even Dick was sure Torii wouldn't cut that hit off. That was funny.
It was 5-3 when I got here. I'd take responsibility, but let's not kid ourselves.
Just got home. Boy, I missed a good one!!!!111
So the bullpen is basically Glen Perkins and six arsonists, huh?
Aaron Thompson has been great thus far. Sadly, he didn't originally make the team. J.R. Graham looks like a keeper, but he should be getting his feet wet in mop-up situations not being the second-best righty out of the pen. Fien is fine as long as he's healthy. Stauffer and Boyer should be gone before June. The Twins have plenty of options in Rochester I would want to see instead: Mark Hamburger, Michael Tonkin, Stephen Pryor, Lestor Oliveros. Of course, the Twins would probably just promote Ryan Pressly and Caleb Thielbar first, although that would still probably be an improvement. And none of these include the big power arms in AA with Nick Burdi, Jake Reed and Zack Jones.
I wouldnt mind Oliveros instead of Boyer.. He walks a lot of people, but at least he is a treat to strike someone out.
Graham should stay on the team if for no other reason than the opportunity to use s'mores graphics with him.
Plus, we can call him Moonlight.
Game report filed from the Blue Line train:
The pregame tribute to ii was just obnoxious. They actually interrupted the announcement of the starting lineup to play a greatest hits video.
Also, as you guys noted, the defense is turrible.
Looks like I picked the right time to take the Valet for a walk.
On the plus side, Trevor May pitched well for five innings, and his line would still look good if he'd had some defense and a bullpen to back him up. Turns out sean was right. We'll just have to settle for 156-6!
Yeah, I was very pleased with May. He probably tired at the end because the Twins never stretched him out in spring training. The home run came on a pitch that was hitting the glove, so location wasn't the problem. It was pitch selection if anything. Or maybe just a great swing by a good power hitter. The second run was a combination of bad luck and bad defense. And of course more bad defense on the third and fourth runs and the fifth run scored after he was out of the game. Just one walk, which was intentional, is huge, although KC has never been known to be patient.