Category Archives: WGOM

Game 99 — Twins at Blue Jays

All Star Game in the rear view mirror. Trade talks getting dicey. Milwaukee fans acting douchy. Game 99. Wow, where has the season gone?

Twins in their second game against Toronto as they put Jose Berrios on the mound. Berrios has been a bright spot for the 2018 Twins and has been everything I would want from a 24 year old pitcher. Let's hope he continues to improve. Toronto with a new guy Ryan Borucki, who has only pitched 23 innings this year but is getting about a strikeout an inning.

Fun fact: Today's starting pitchers are only 2 months apart in age. 6:10p start.

C'mon Twins, let's smoke those Jays! (that's legal now in Ontario, right?)

Game 98: Twins at Blue Jays

As the old song says, when you hit rock bottom, you've got two ways to go:  straight up or sideways.  We'll see which way the Twins go tonight.  The Twins send Adalberto Mejia to the hill, which does not exactly inspire confidence.  He's pitched well in Rochester, but has yet to translate that to success in the majors.  The Blue Jays counter with Luis Santos, who is not a starting pitcher and who has not done well this season, although he did quite well in Buffalo and pitched well in ten games for the Jays in 2017.

We're obviously not going anywhere, but we still have sixty-five games to play.  Let's have some fun.  Go Twins!

2018 Game 97: (Please Don’t Call Them) Twinkies vs. Royals

Now that the majority of the 2018 season is in the rear view mirror and we're nearing the 100 game mark, I thought I’d take a look to see how the key players added by the Falvine Brain Trust have fared to date. My gut told me that I was in for some disappointing revelations, and my gut is as honest as summer days are long. The front office put most of its focus over the winter on improving the pitching staff and more or less standing pat on position players. It was a solid strategy considering the Twins’ performance in 2017. But the results are far from what we’d hoped.

Starting with the starters, Jake Odorizzi has hurled his way to his highest ERA (4.54) and WHIP (1.446) since a 2012 cup of coffee when he started but two games and threw just seven and a third innings. In other words, when you cut out that small sample size appendage, he’s been having the worst season of his career. Not by large margins, but enough to make him a disappointment so far for fans looking for a much steadier rotation. Considering the Twins gave him a $2.2 million dollar raise over his salary last year with the Rays, it’s fair to say we’ve realized negative value from Jake so far.

Lance Lynn is the other off-season acquisition who has delivered below par value as a starter. With a 5.22 ERA and a 1.653 WHIP, he’s also having the worst season of his career. But to my mind, the more telling stat is his meager 1.65 K/BB rate, which again, is the worst of his career. His K9 rate is actually a bit higher than his career average, but he’s basically walking 2 more batters every 9 innings over his career rate.

In looking to shore up the bullpen, the front office prioritized getting a proven closer in Fernando Rodney. And according to the numbers, our newly naturalized citizen has probably performed closer to expectations than any of Falvine’s off-season pickups. His ERA of 3.12 and WHIP of 1.240 are 58 points and 10 points respectively below his career averages. He’s saved 21 games while blowing 5. That’s a ratio of 4.2 saves for every blown attempt, so not quite up to par with his career ratio of 4.5. In Rodney, at least, the Twins seem to have got the performance they bargained for, albeit with a $4.25 million price tag.

Addison Reed is another pitching get that’s gone mostly sour this season. He’s currently on the DL, but sporting a year to date 4.83 ERA and 1.439 WHIP out of the bullpen filling the role of Rodney’s setup man. How does that compare to his career averages? Not so good – 50 points higher on the ERA, and 25 points higher on the WHIP. With those results it must be hard for the front office to swallow the $8.25 million salary they gave him this year. It’s hard for me and it’s not even my money.

Zack Duke was supposed be another solid bullpen upgrade and for the most part he’s lived up to the billing, posting a 3.38 ERA (128 ERA+) that’s better than his career number by 90 points, though his 1.587 WHIP is higher than you’d like to see in a reliever. But that slightly inflated WHIP this year is more or less counteracted by Duke’s quite low 2.72 FIP, one of the best of his career and 66 points lower than his ERA.

With the new pitchers accounted for, we can turn our attention to Falvine’s main position player pickup, Logan Morrison. I like Morrison. He seems like a solid competitor and a good team player. But unfortunately, he’s been a pretty big bust as a hitter for the Twins. Brought in to spell Joe Mauer at first base with a power-up and anchor the DH role, Morrison’s slash line of .193/.287/.367/.654 is clear and away the very worst of his 8 years in the show. I have no idea what’s behind his struggles, but he’s certainly not earning his $5.5 million. As a fan I’m going to have a real hard time seeing the sense of it if the front office exercises their $8 million 2019 option instead of their $1 million buyout.

Coming out of the break, the Twins have dropped their first 2 games against a dismal Royals team that’s almost certain to lose more than 100 contests, while the Indians won their first two against the Rangers. That puts the Twins 9.5 games behind and takes a lot of wind out of the sails that were billowing nicely from that winning streak before the mid-season classic. Their return to the doldrums also makes them definite sellers with just 9 days before the non-waiver trade deadline, assuming they can find buyers for whomever they try to deal. The Twins send Odorizzi to the mound today, the Royals counter with Brad Keller who has pitched a lot better than his 2-4 record. Play ball!

Roxy Music – More Than This / Jealous Guy

There were essentially three versions of Roxy Music. The Eno Years '71-'73, which encompassed the first two records Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure--and featured an experimental, avant garde, glam rock group. The second version was the Sophisticated Rocker period '74-'75 during which the band blossomed musically and they released the incredible 3 album run of Stranded, Country Life and Siren, after which the group broke up to pursue solo ventures. In 1979, the band reformed and lastly (also sadly least) became the dance-pop Roxy Music/what would become solo BRIAN FERRY that would be the most successful version of the band. In their defense, this period did produce the lushly beautiful Avalon, and Manifesto has it's moments. Still, the era pales in comparison to the first 5 albums, IMHO.
From Avalon (and obviously lip-synched) 1982

We'll end on their swell cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy", a song Bryan Ferry makes his own.

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