Panic yet?

[Riverbrian]

Put me in the club that says Liriano didnt look that bad. He threw a lot of pitches but I thought the strike zone was a bit tight and the real reason was is his defense was putrid. I think Valencia in particular has looked listless and uninspired and Willingham has just looked clueless. I dont see how in the world he could be worse in right. Valencia missed 2 of 3 2 out hits that were playable, not easy but not impossible and he hardly moved. Willingham cost another earned run and 1 unearned one.Uninspired and poor play is not fun to watch. You dont have to win 100 games to be interesting...but that effort last night was painful.

Here's a quote from Danny Velencia from the Trib.

 

"[Liriano] kept us in the game," Valencia said. "We didn't get any run support for him, and we didn't make a couple key plays."

 

What's this "WE" crap.

 

Velencia misplayed two balls with two outs in the 4th inning. Personally costing the Twins 3 runs in that inning. Down 3-0 after 4 is better then Down 6-0 after 4. Liriano wasn't compeletely sharp but he wasn't completely bad either.

 

Neither of those balls that Velencia misplayed were ruled errors but a major league ball player has to make those plays. If he does... Liriano works out of the jam down 3-0 and his pitch count is at 64 and he's ready to go in the 5th and then who knows.

 

I love stats... they do have value but sometimes a pitcher with a high ERA... has a high ERA because they suck and sometimes a pitcher with a high ERA... has a high ERA because of his defense playing behind him or bad luck. Sometimes the defense looks like Velencia did yesterday and no error is charged or sometimes the perfect pitch is blooped down the line for a bases clearing pop double. This stuff doesn't show up in the Box Scores or stats.

 

Even Halladay will work himself into jams on occasion and needs his defense to make a play to get out of it.

 

Velencia needs to understand that he has not cemented an every day major league job for the long haul. Twins fans are waiting for the arrival of Sano. Velencia needs to get back to that energy he displayed as a rookie when he was trying to prove he belonged instead of assuming he belongs.

 

I'm looking forward to Burroughs getting the start today. I hope Burroughs plays well and gives Velencia something to think about.

[whydidnt]

I'm not ready to panic. I'm sure they will play better at points throughout the season. I didn't have high expectations though. When you lose 99 games and then cut the payroll by more than 10% what do you think is going to happen? The team is put together poorly, they build their pitching staff around guys that put the ball in play and then put guys in the field that are average at best, and in many cases below average defenders. Valencia is playing like he did in the minors, the entire organization was blinded by his 1/2 year performance in 2010. I hate to say it but we are seeing the real Valencia, a below average fielder and mediocre hitter. Have to agree the offense has been very disappointing. Facing probably the worst 1-2 starting pitchers in the league and have looked absolutely lifeless. Hunter was the throw-in part of a deal for a middle reliever last year, that should tell you about his pedigree, yet the Twins hitters couldn't square up on him all night. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Twins but up 8-9 today though, you just never know with this team.

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

Way too early for everybody to be panicking...yes Twins lost 2 to Orioles...yes it looks bad but...

 

We need defense to back up the Anderson pitch to contact...we dont have defense...play Revere in CF...he will catch everything and move Span to RF...if we survived Delmon (and Ford) in LF we can survive Josh. Bring up Dozier and play him everyday at SS until he proves he cant play there. Play Carroll at 3B (or Hughes) until Valencia realizes he has to play decent defense to stay in the lineup.

 

This team is not a 500 team--we have to remember.

[Neinstein]

We should not forget that Baltmore started out HOT last year as well.

They swept 3 games against the Rays, won 2 of 3 against the Tigers, took 2 of 4 against the Twins, 2 of 3 against the Red Sox, and almost swept the White Sox taking 3 of 4 to start out their first month of ball.

Many teams begin the year slow. It's nothing new for the Twins to start out a little slow in the Wins column.

Yes, some mistakes being made... defensively and offensively.

It's only 2 games. At the end of the day, one team wins and one team loses. Some lose big, some lose by a little. Some win big, some squeak out a win.

It's baseball. Go Twins!

[JB_Iowa]

72-88. So far they are ahead of that pace in the loss column but I suspect things will even out a little at some point.

 

Went into this season without many expectations (good or bad) -- but I would appreciate it if they'd at least make the games competitive.

[Riverbrian]

The one thing that Mr. Ryan did was give this team a little more depth and that is a good thing. Use that depth and move the players around. Go in with the attitude that no one has a job cemented. Make them play well for more playing time. Make them contribute and hold them accountable. Our depth is one of our best features. Utilize it and I love the lineup today for that reason.

[TwinsFanLV]

Gardy ran off Hardy, Papi, Garza and I'm sure others because of his philosophy. I like the pitch to contact and hit the other way philosophy for the replacement level guys we have but when you have power bats or power arms you have to let them fire/hack away. Gardy's failure to handle "power" players is embarassing. His coddling of Mauer and failure to develop young players is very obvious.

This team lacks a clubhouse leader. It's time for the home town boy with the huge contract to call his own press conference and seperate himself from both Ryan and Gardenhire. He's more valuable than the two of them put together. It should sound something like, "The Twins are paying me x dollars. I'm planning to catch 120 games and hit .330. When I'm not catching, I'll DH or play 1B. I'm challenging my teammates to play up to their full potential. We need to pitch, field and hit better than we demonstrated last year. We should win 95 games and our division. If our current roster doesn't win, players should be gone and new players should arrive. Nobody in the clubhouse should be looking to the manager or General Manager to offer excuses. We're all supposed to be professionals. It's time to start playing like professionals and win games".

 

Who cares if they can't finish above .500? Isn't it way past time for Mauer to grab the reigns and show some (any) leadership?

[StormJH1]

This team lacks a clubhouse leader. It's time for the home town boy with the huge contract to call his own press conference and seperate himself from both Ryan and Gardenhire. He's more valuable than the two of them put together. It should sound something like, "The Twins are paying me x dollars. I'm planning to catch 120 games and hit .330. When I'm not catching, I'll DH or play 1B. I'm challenging my teammates to play up to their full potential. We need to pitch, field and hit better than we demonstrated last year. We should win 95 games and our division. If our current roster doesn't win, players should be gone and new players should arrive. Nobody in the clubhouse should be looking to the manager or General Manager to offer excuses. We're all supposed to be professionals. It's time to start playing like professionals and win games".

 

Who cares if they can't finish above .500? Isn't it way past time for Mauer to grab the reigns and show some (any) leadership?

Totally agree with the "Mauer sucks as a leader" angle...but with this roster, what would be the end goal? Do you expect our staff "ace" to strike out more than 120 guys in 200 innings? Is Liriano suddenly going to stop losing his control if he "tries harder". Is Morneau going to "suck it up" and pretend like his concussions and four surgeries last year didn't happen?

 

My fear is that this IS pretty close to the Twins potential. Obviously, they could hit a little better. Mauer and Morneau can drive some balls into the gap with regularity, even if it isn't fully realistic to expect consistent power from either of them right now. Willingham can hit one in the stands every few games.

 

But beyond that....what? Is Liam Hendricks going to rip off his hospital arm band and start fanning guys like Brandon Beachy? Is either Casilla or Carroll going to decide that "Whoops, I'm actually a power hitter now!"? You look at other "bad" teams like the Mariners, and you see the potential for breakout seasons. It's "possible" Jesus Montero blows up and hits 30HR's this year. Or that Danny Hultzen gets called up and wins like 12 games with a 9.00 K/9 rate. Or that Dustin Ackley plays like Chase Utley of a few years ago. This Twins team isn't "underripe"...this is actually a team composed of players already in their prime, or beyond it. And that's the reason for panic.

[EXTC]

"hitting a collective Butera"

 

priceless.

 

[CDog]

This team lacks a clubhouse leader.

How much time have you spent in the clubhouse?