Archive for game logs from previous seasons.
I feel like that roadtrip taught us a little something about the '23 Twins - they should beat bad teams, but good pitching is going to stop them. If only they had a guy like Arraez who could consistently make contact no matter who he's facing...
But today we get the home opener, and maybe Spring is finally here? And the sun is out! And the Sonny is out too, since he's our starting pitcher. These are all good things, right? It's a good Friday!
Alright, I have to get back to work. Go Twins.
Pablo López
vs
Jesús Luzardo
López returns to his original park right away this season for a rematch. We will see how well the Marlins remember his repertoire versus López adjusting his pitches this spring.
The Twins did a lot to increase rotation depth and after one turn through, it shows. The starters have a 1.03 ERA after five starts with 10.6 K/9. The relievers too have been great with a 1.53 ERA. The same has not been true for the batters. It was great to win two 2-0 games but I don't recommend it as a long-term strategy.
So few complaints with the Twins start of the season huh?
Twins in Miami for game two of the the 3-game series against the Marlins and this may be the toughest match up of the season thus far. Kenta Maeda on for the Twins in his first game back since August 2021. His Spring Training was meh at best so it will interesting to see if he has his old form back.
Twins face a legimate ace in Sandy Alacantara, the reigning National League Cy Young winner (unanimously no less). Alacantara didn't have a great outing opening day so we'll see how does against the Twins bashers.
Game at 5:40p so get your dinner plans set.
Twins Line up
1. Gordon, 2B
2. Correa, SS
3. Larnach, RF
4. Miranda, 3B
5. Gallo, 1B
6. Solano, DH
7. Castro, LF
8. Vázquez, C
9. Taylor, CF
No Buxton but available to pinch hit apparently.
It's the battle of the M's!!!
While it's not the most robust of opponents, the Twins come into Florida after sweeping the Royals in Kansas City (162-0!). Cueto is actually 5-1 against the Twins with a 2.62 ERA, so hopefully Gallo will smack a couple of dongers for us.
We'll also see our old friend Arraez, who is off to a great start this year. Definitely going to miss him, but hopefully Lopez will soften the blow. Gotta imagine that Luis prefers Florida climes to Minnesota's though. Good on him.
The Twins are so far undefeated on my game log post days (0-0), and I hope that trend continues today. Win, Twins!
It seems reasonable to assume that the Twins will not allow any runs for the entire season. The sample size is getting larger every day! Joe Ryan takes the hill this afternoon with an 18 inning shutout streak to extend. Like all Twins pitchers, Ryan has not allowed a run all season.
Twins pitchers have walked 10 Royals in 2 games, which seems a little high. 4 double plays have limited the damage. and the shutout streak has been held intact by the Royals just not getting any hits.
Jax, Thielbar, and Jorge Lopez have pitched in both games this series out of the bullpen, but with a day off in between games, maybe they'd still be available today.
Byron Buxton is almost the entirety of the Twins offense so far. He has all of the Twins extra base hits and has scored 3 of the 4 runs. He continues to be just ... so good. Buxton and Vazquez each have 4 hits (.500/.500/.688), and the rest of the Twins roster has 7 hits total (.135/.220/.135).
The Twins face Brad Keller today. I swear this is the 30th time they've faced him in the last few years. Keller has allowed 24 runs in 6 starts against Minnesota in the last two years, a rate of 7.9 Runs/9 with a WHIP of 1.90. More like that, please!
Max Kepler is 7 for 19 with 2 HR against Keller in his career (.368/.500/.737).
Dick briefly mentioned yesterday on the broadcast that the Royals are working on getting a new stadium in the near future. I was surprised how much nostalgia I immediately felt for Kauffman Stadium. When we lived in Kansas for 3 or 4 years, we had a lot of great baseball experiences there, tickets were always available, the stadium is really nice, and I met a fair number of WGOM citizens there. We have talked about going back there with little G, as he has only been to that stadium in utero. Now all of a sudden that seems like it might jump up on the priority list.
Baseball is back. The winter was (err.....remains) long, but that doesn't matter now. Baseball is back.
And the Twins will probably be good! Buxton looks ready to go, we still, against all odds, have one of the best shortstops in baseball, and Jhoan Duran still throws a million miles per hour.
Today, it's Sonny Gray's turn to beat up on the Royals. I might actually be able to watch some of this one, so that will be a treat.
Go Twins!
Opening Day greetings from Minnesota, the land that spring forgot. Outside there are still two feet of snow on the ground and there's a winter storm watch until 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Game time conditions in Kansas City, though, should be more pleasant, about 68 degrees and breezy. There's a reason our home opener is never on actual Opening Day.
To say last season was disappointing for Twins fans would be an exercise in understatement. So many things that could have gone right went wrong, and it far too often involved severe bodily harm to key players. By most accounting, if not for a plethora of injuries late in the season the Twins would have won the division. But those are the vagaries of the game that make it so maddening and endearing, and keep us coming back for more year after year.
You generally put your ace starting pitcher on the mound for Opening Day. For Kansas City, that means Donald Zachary Greinke and his 223 career wins, 2882 strikeouts, and 3.42 ERA. It will be the seventh Opening Day start of his career. The Twins, I believe, selected their Opening Day starter by draw and Pablo Lopez pulled the short straw. He'll go to the mound for his first ever Opening Day start with 28 career wins, 489 strikeouts, and a lifetime 3.94 ERA under his belt.
I have no prognostications to offer for how this season will go for the Twins, my crystal ball is perpetually hazy these days. Conventional wisdom says don't be surprised to see the Twins and Guardians battling it out for the division title again come September, but every season starts with a big old question mark. If we're lucky along the way and enough things go right, we get to end it with a giant exclamation point.
Play ball!
Louie Varland
vs
Davis Martin
The season mercifully comes to an end. The postseason starts this Friday with four games each day through Sunday.
The 2022 Twins were projected for about 82-80 and will finish at either 77-85 or 78-84. The 2021 Twins were projected at 88-74 but finished 73-89. They played at a 69-win pace from June onward. They are 9-9 versus the White Sox. A win today keeps them above .500 in the division while a loss puts them at exactly .500.
Game 161, the season is mercifully coming to an end. Except for a 6 week period or so in April-May, this season has been pretty disappointing. Here's some of my notable disappointments.
1. The inability to develop a bullpen.
2. Rocco being super concerned about pitchers going through the line up a 3rd time but replacing the starter with a reliever who can't get through the line up the first time.
3. Carlos Correa having a meh season when the Twins were competing and going lights out when they were out of it.
4. Lots of young good hitters who don't seem to have a natural place in the field
5. Trading for pitchers who are hurt
6. Poor execution on the basepaths
7. Poor execution with men on base
First Pitch at 7:10 from the Southside.
So we're in that "with a whimper" territory for the 2022 season. Ah well. We're gonna need to sweep the Sox to have a better record than them. If we can do that, I'll have a larger measure of peace for this season.
