Different year, same start. Twins once again are swept in the opening series. It would be easy to say it worked out okay for them last year, but it didn't really. Yes they performed better than expected but they finished three wins behind the Astros. If they instead had swept the Tigers to start the season they would have at least had a playoff game.
I watched barely any of the games and had the radio on for only a plurality of the time so I'm going to fill in the bad and good from the boxscores.
Four negatives from the series:
Run scoring. Obviously they did better than last year, improving their runs scored by 500%. It is nonetheless difficult to win when you top out at two runs.
Strikeouts. The batters struck out 35 times but walked only six times. All six walks happened in the second game.
Dozier not starting well. He finishes the series with a 0.083 OPS. He had one walk in 13 PAs.
Not pinch hitting for Suzuki in game two. He's the only other player without a hit and he reached base only once.
Three positives from the series:
Run prevention. Giving up only 3.67 runs a game bodes well for willing. AL teams averaged 4.4 runs a game in 2015.
Mauer starting well. He had a home run to center and has a nice 1.021 OPS after three games.
Escobar starting well. He had a double in each game and two in the opener. He has a 1.167 OPS after three games.
Trimmed some bushes and pruned the raspberries yesterday. Still more bushes to trim hack back but I might remove them instead this year. They're too large for where they are but with all the rocks on the soil I've been avoiding outright removal.
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