The big news from this game was that Mike Pelfrey hit the wall hard in the sixth. Of course, it really began before that since all the balls in play in the early innings were on ground balls and that changed to fly balls later, which is a bad sign for a guy relying exclusively on a sinker.

Of course, what should the Twins expect when he never went more than 4 IP in a spring training game. The Twins really coddle pitchers in spring training. They also have a history of struggling in April under Gardenhire. The two may not be unrelated.

Still, the final line for Pelfrey was 5 1/3 innings and 3 ER allowed. A team with a strong bullpen or a strong offense should win a lot of games win they get that from their starter. Unfortunately, the Twins had neither on Friday. The offense disappeared after the first inning and Fien and Thielbar were terrible.

The only real positives were Dozier getting 3 hits after starting the season looking clueless and a home run and a wicked line drive with two RISP for Colabello. It's too early to draw conclusions, but I like what I see from Colabello. He's pretty much guaranteed himself a spot in the lineup against lefties and has already had a couple starts against righties. He'll make sure that Willingham and Kubel have to hit to stay in the lineup.

Well, as Bert said in the post-game, this was an ugly loss.  When the Twins get decent starting pitching and manage to score six runs, they really need to win the game.

Continue reading Game Recap #2: Almost Winners 6, Almost Losers 7 →