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  • BAL 3, MIN 2: Opening D’oh!

    Tom Froemming

    By Tom Froemming

    Jake Odorizzi turned in an excellent start in his Twins debut, throwing six shutout innings. Unfortunately, he got no run support and fellow new Twins Zach Duke and Fernando Rodney couldn’t hold down the Orioles. The only scoring from the Twins came in the form of a Robbie Grossman two-run pinch-hit single.

    Image courtesy of Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

    Twins Video

    Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

    Snapshot329.png

    Duke is a left-handed specialist, not a setup man. Over the past four seasons, he’s averaged less than an inning per outing and only averaged 10.2 pitches per appearance last season and 12.5 the year before that.

    Paul Molitor decided to give Duke the seventh inning today. Already 16 pitches into his outing, Duke was left in the game to face the right-handed hitting Caleb Joseph with runners on first and second base.

    Two-run triple. Not the best way to start things off with your shiney new bullpen, Mr. Molitor.

    To be fair, Duke also racked up four strikeouts in the inning. The leadoff man swung through a wild pitch for strike three, Jason Castro couldn’t keep the ball in front of him and the batter reached safely.

    The hallmark of the 2017 Minnesota Twins was that they never died. No matter how bad things got, they always bounced back. If Opening Day is any indication, that attribute has carried over to this year’s club.

    The Twins entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 2-0 and Miguel Sano opened the inning with a strikeout. Eddie Rosario singled and advanced to second base thanks to a passed ball leading to a Logan Morrison walk. Eduardo Escobar struck out, continuing a trend of the Twins struggling to deliver with men on base.

    It all came down to Max Kepler. With the game on the line, Kepler fell behind 0-2. Over the next nine pitches, he put on about as good a display of professional, tough-as-nails hitting as you’re going to see all season.

    Max fouled off five pitches and ended up working a walk. That 11-pitch battle had to have worn down Baltimore reliever Brad Brach. Robbie Grossman pinch hit for Byron Buxton and delivered a game-tying bloop single.

    https://twitter.com/Twins/status/979486309331996673?s=20

    In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Orioles had the bases loaded with one out. Rodney induced a double play. It was looking like the never say die Twins were going to find a way to pull out a W.

    Things didn’t go so well in the 11th. Adam Jones slugged a walk-off homer.

    https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/979490209157951488?s=20

    Odorizzi pitched six scoreless innings, had seven strikeouts and only gave up two hits and a pair of walks. He worked slow and low, high and hot. Here’s a look at his zone profile via Baseball Savant, notice all the green up high in the zone:

    OdorizziChart.png

    Addison Reed pitched two perfect innings in his Twins debut. Logan Morrison was 0-for-3 with a walk in his first official game with the club.

    Postgame With Molitor

    Bullpen Usage

    Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days (includes the exhibition at WAS):

    Bullpen329.png

    Attachments:
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    Follow Tom Froemming on Twitter: TFTwins

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    Featured Comments

    Han Joelo

    Han Joelo 3,058

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Not sure how much I trust Hildenberger right now.  As the radio team was pointing out, the Orioles were trying to give up an out (sac bunt) and he couldn't throw a strike.  I like him, he'll be fine (I hope) and part of learning to win is learning from losses.

     

    Rosario may have made a blunder; I have no idea.  Going purely off my gut, it felt like he showed up to play, and has achieved veteran status.  I think he becomes a bigger part of the heart and soul of this team moving forward.

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    tvagle

    tvagle 2,431

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Game hinged on a fundamental play that wasn't made by a player that is supposed to provide plus defense at his position...Castro

     

    Attempting to pick a left-handed breaking ball in the dirt is not acceptable especially on third strike

     

    If it hit the plate all the more reason to be in position to block the ball rather than to try and pick it

     

    Castro did wake up in time to make a couple good blocks

     

    So ends the fundamentals of catching rant...I feel better now :)

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    slash129

    slash129 1,095

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I had a good afternoon. Went to the Sports Page in Bloomington. Hrbek happened to be there. Kids played darts and pool. Everyone cheered when LaMarre crossed the plate and Rodney induced the GIDP to the five man infield. Everyone groaned and cursed when Jones hit the bomb. I was deflated, but then I smirked when I remembered Jones was on my fantasy team. Hrbek signed napkins for my youngest and our visitor from Japan. I found an '87 Topps Hrbek in the basement for our visitor to pair with his napkin auto. Awesome .... at least 161 to go.

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    jkcarew

    jkcarew 3,876

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Also not a fan of Rodney in a closer role...not for a team that expects to win a division or wild card.  In a game like this, you were going to use him sooner or later, though.

     

    Odorizzi encouraging.  Addison Reed very encouraging, but overall bullpen doesn't seem poised to be a strength.  As a team, the offense should come around. 

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    yarnivek1972

    yarnivek1972 6,290

  • Verified Member

    • Posted (edited)

    Game hinged on a fundamental play that wasn't made by a player that is supposed to provide plus defense at his position...Castro

     

    Attempting to pick a left-handed breaking ball in the dirt is not acceptable especially on third strike

     

    If it hit the plate all the more reason to be in position to block the ball rather than to try and pick it

     

    Castro did wake up in time to make a couple good blocks

     

    So ends the fundamentals of catching rant...I feel better now :)

    I looked up the number of wild pitches charged to the Astros during Castro’s tenure way back when Castro signed. As I recall, they were considerably higher than the rest of the league. My understanding is that his set up for framing puts him in bad position to block pitches.

     

    Personally, I feel that blocking pitches is substantially more important. It’s something that Kurt Suzuki excelled at btw.

    Edited by yarnivek1972
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    Monkeypaws

    Monkeypaws 3,289

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Also not a fan of Rodney in a closer role...not for a team that expects to win a division or wild card.  In a game like this, you were going to use him sooner or later, though.

     

    Odorizzi encouraging.  Addison Reed very encouraging, but overall bullpen doesn't seem poised to be a strength.  As a team, the offense should come around. 

    1 pitch - small sample size. Well if he fails, Reed steps right in, or even Hildenberger.

     

    Not worried about it ... at all.

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    Tom Froemming

    Tom Froemming 9,895

  • Twins Daily Staff

    • Posted

     

    Well, we gave it a good run. Not our year. 

    Whaddya think we could get for Dozier?

     

    Nothing really to worry about based on this game. 

    Yup, we got 161 more of these jokers to go.

     

    At least Adam Jones is on my fantasy team!!

    Nobody cares about your fantasy team.

     

    Buxton's line for the game looked ok, but I think he had about 6 swings-and-misses in 7 swings. We don't need to see games like that from him and Sano.

    He did not look comfortable against Bundy. 

     

    5 hits against a rather pedestrian starting pitcher is a little concerning

    Bundy is better than pedestrian, but the bats did not look good.

     

    Yay ... post game wraps are back ... thanks, Tom!

    Thank you Carole :)

     

    Uh. No mention of Rosario still not being all that baseball smart? To me, that was the lowlight. He got himself out. I don't blame the hitters for struggling against Bundy, that is going to happen. But at this point in his career.... You'd think he would learn.

    Rosie slid into first, dumb move, but a LOT happened in this game. The goal is to keep these things fairly tight.

     

    Rodney: shouldn’t be closer or in high leverage. Wasn’t even a 1.0 WAR pitcher last year. Needs to be a middle innings guy until h proves himself at age 41. 0-1 so far this year.
    molitor : still makes a lot of bad decisions by not managing based on situation or deviating from his plan.

    I think Rodney will be fine if he's only asked to pitch one clean inning. I don't think thing's will go well when he is asked to pitch in two separate frames in the same game like today.

     

    I'm not one for superstition, but I'll still throw this out there: in 2016 the Twins also opened the season by losing 3-2 at Baltimore on a walk off.

    LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALALA

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    Seth Stohs

    Seth Stohs 23,732

  • Owner

    • Posted

     

    Btw, is it just me, or does Castro seem to use his glove way too much, and his body way too little on balls in the dirt off to his sides?

     

    I was on the Twins Daily twitter account throughout the game today, and I 100% agree on your Castro comment. On Duke's first strikeout, yes, the ball hit the plate (which tells you how good Duke's pitch was), but Castro just stabbed at it. The rest of the inning he got back to actually trying to block pitches... But to me, that was the play that bugged me, way more than anything else in the game. 

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    Seth Stohs

    Seth Stohs 23,732

  • Owner

    • Posted

     

     

    Rosario may have made a blunder; I have no idea.  Going purely off my gut, it felt like he showed up to play, and has achieved veteran status.  I think he becomes a bigger part of the heart and soul of this team moving forward.

     

    Yeah, I thought Rosario had a solid game. Robbed of a homer. Another caught at the wall in left. Good defense. The stolen base. yeah, he slid feet-first into first base, but that wasn't so bad. He was avoiding a collision in the way that would best keep the likelihood of injury low. He keeps playing like he did today and he'll be in for another very good season. 

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    Tom Froemming

    Tom Froemming 9,895

  • Twins Daily Staff

    • Posted

     

    Just to clarify, how old is Rodney?

    Rodney is 41 years young :)

     

    Not sure how much I trust Hildenberger right now.  As the radio team was pointing out, the Orioles were trying to give up an out (sac bunt) and he couldn't throw a strike.  I like him, he'll be fine (I hope) and part of learning to win is learning from losses.

    Hildy warmed up in the fifth inning as Odorizzi's pitch count was on the rise. I don't think it's very often that a reliever warms up, sits down for over an hour, then warms up and pitches again. I think that could easily explain his struggles to find the zone. Maybe I'm wrong.

     

    Game hinged on a fundamental play that wasn't made by a player that is supposed to provide plus defense at his position...Castro

     

    Attempting to pick a left-handed breaking ball in the dirt is not acceptable especially on third strike

     

    If it hit the plate all the more reason to be in position to block the ball rather than to try and pick it

     

    Castro did wake up in time to make a couple good blocks

     

    So ends the fundamentals of catching rant...I feel better now :)

    Yeaaaaaah, that sucked.

     

     

     

     I was deflated, but then I smirked when I remembered Jones was on my fantasy team. 

    Someone prepare my catapult. We've got someone to launch out of Twins Territory :)

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    Brock Beauchamp

    Brock Beauchamp 39,328

  • Administrator

    • Posted

     

    I was on the Twins Daily twitter account throughout the game today, and I 100% agree on your Castro comment. On Duke's first strikeout, yes, the ball hit the plate (which tells you how good Duke's pitch was), but Castro just stabbed at it. The rest of the inning he got back to actually trying to block pitches... But to me, that was the play that bugged me, way more than anything else in the game. 

    Castro has mentioned that when he's framing, it's first and foremost in his mind, sometimes to the detriment of other things. I wonder if this is an ugly side effect of his framing.

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    bird

    bird 6,083

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    5 hits against a rather pedestrian starting pitcher is a little concerning.

     

    Bundy wasn't pedestrian today by any measure. He pitched like a guy who deserved to be the 4th overall pick in his draft year, which he was.

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    Mike Sixel

    Mike Sixel 41,021

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    People are upset about Rosario sliding into 1st? Way to nitpick.

    Not upset. Just curious, does he not have a reputation for interesting decisions? Did we not have whole threads on it last year, and how he needed to mature? But not even a little upset. It's a site to talk about baseball.

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    Rosterman

    Rosterman 3,922

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    You have to blame the offense. The Twins offense was light, but Baltimore was even worse. Like people say, mistakes win the game. If that strikeout had held.

     

    Interesting use of the bench. Lose Morrison and Buxton for an extra inning game.

     

    Molitor could've really played the matchups, and had Rogers as the pitcher to go more than an inning (or so) but didn't./ Two lefties sitting in the pen. With an off day Friday, all eight arms were eligible for some throwing.

     

    161 more to go.

     

    Nice job by Odorizzi.

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    Seth Stohs

    Seth Stohs 23,732

  • Owner

    • Posted

     

    Castro has mentioned that when he's framing, it's first and foremost in his mind, sometimes to the detriment of other things. I wonder if this is an ugly side effect of his framing.

     

    It might be because he does it all the time. He's a good framer, but he's a poor blocker and an average thrower. 

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    KirbyDome89

    KirbyDome89 4,113

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Hildenberger looked shaky. Congrats to Rodney for pitching out of the jam but he couldn't record 1 full inning before giving up a homer. Duke was anything but fine, it honestly looked like he was throwing AT home plate rather than Castro's mitt. We can get on Castro for trying to backhand a pitch that was bounced but IMO that isn't exactly fair. We're pissed at him when in reality if Duke just throws the ball anywhere that isn't into the f****** ground it isn't an issue. 

     

    Yes, it's one game, but the above concerns me a hell of a lot more than anything the offense didn't do...

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    tvagle

    tvagle 2,431

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    I was on the Twins Daily twitter account throughout the game today, and I 100% agree on your Castro comment. On Duke's first strikeout, yes, the ball hit the plate (which tells you how good Duke's pitch was), but Castro just stabbed at it. The rest of the inning he got back to actually trying to block pitches... But to me, that was the play that bugged me, way more than anything else in the game. 

     

    Thought I was over that JV attempt...agree with you 100%...not an $8Million play

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    tvagle

    tvagle 2,431

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Hildenberger looked shaky. Congrats to Rodney for pitching out of the jam but he couldn't record 1 full inning before giving up a homer. Duke was anything but fine, it honestly looked like he was throwing AT home plate rather than Castro's mitt. We can get on Castro for trying to backhand a pitch that was bounced but IMO that isn't exactly fair. We're pissed at him when in reality if Duke just throws the ball anywhere that isn't into the f****** ground it isn't an issue. 

     

    Yes, it's one game, but the above concerns me a hell of a lot more than anything the offense didn't do...

     

    Duke did exactly what he's supposed to do...throw pitches that appear to be in the zone then dart out of it for swinging strikes

     

    Castro's job is to block swing and miss strikes in the dirt

     

    If Duke throws the ball in the zone bad things happen...like two run triples to a guy who was way overmatched by mediocre fastballs up in the zone

     

     

     

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    Seth Stohs

    Seth Stohs 23,732

  • Owner

    • Posted

     

    One word to solve this issueL JT Realmuto

     

    Is it wrong that my first thought when reading this comment was... "Is that one word, or two, or three words?" 

     

    I don't see any reason to make that deal unless Castro is the player going to the Marlins. Castro and Garver are fine. No sense in Garver going back to AAA. 

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    tvagle

    tvagle 2,431

  • Verified Member

    • Posted (edited)

    Castro has mentioned that when he's framing, it's first and foremost in his mind, sometimes to the detriment of other things. I wonder if this is an ugly side effect of his framing.

     

    It might be because he does it all the time. He's a good framer, but he's a poor blocker and an average thrower.

     

     

    Yeah, that was kind of my point. He's preoccupied with framing on almost every pitch, which diminishes his ability to react to things like balls in the dirt or baserunners.

     

     

     

    Why so much concern with Castro's interest in farming...if he's preoccupied with the late spring, current market for livestock or when he'll be able to plant his soybeans maybe he shouldn't be a professional baseball player    :rolleyes:

     

    edit...couldn't multiquote (more than likely my fault) and  :banghead:  at :rollseyes:

    Edited by tvagle
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    USAFChief

    USAFChief 58,010

  • Community Moderator

    • Posted

     

    Duke was actually fine. He actually had reverse splits last year.

     

    Reverse spilts in 31 PAs for the year vs RH hitters last year.

     

    He’s had normal platoon splits every other year since 2012, and for his career RH hitters hit him more than 100 pts of OPS higher than LH hitters.

     

    Once there 2 on and one out, you just can’t let him pitch to consecutive RH hitters in a tie game. That’s just silly, when your entire pen is available and you have an off day tomorrow to boot.

     

    That’s a far piece worse than Castro not blocking a pitch in the dirt.

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