Game Score: Dodgers 7, Twins 0

Well, Rocco is using the bejesus out of his bullpen like everyone expected. The 2-4 start to the season shows how inept they are. Offensively, the Twins are batting a combined .182 with 60 strikeouts in 6 games. Yes that is offensive. How many of you still believe this team is going to compete for the Division?  HA!

14 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

The words of an actual MLB pitcher:

Brandon McCarthy

@BMcCarthy32

There was barely a spring training. Nobody's fully built up. Starters were barely ready to start a real season. This isn't some new-age thing or whatever strawman you want to rail against. It sucks.

12 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

From his catcher today:

Mike DiGiovanna

@MikeDiGiovanna

#Dodgers C Austin Barnes on Clayton Kershaw being pulled from PG: "Later in the season, when he's a little more built up, I think he goes out there, but I think that's the right call, taking him out there. It was the right move, for sure. I think he was getting a little tired."

End of the day, as a fan, why would you not want to see a perfect game or a no hitter? We tune in to be entertained. It's ok to think the decision to pull Kershaw sucked, regardless of the rationale behind it. 

Paddock looked terrible to start.  Could not find the zone.  He did not get a few possible called strikes, maybe Jeffers would have helped that.  The fact the team was going to need to let the pen rest it was nice to see him recover to at least fight through a few innings.  Still terrible start.  New guy stepped to eat up some innings.  Yes he got stretched out and got blown up in 8th but he did what was needed in this game.  Lets hope the road helps get some of these bats going because we need more than Buck to hit if we want to compete. 

Perfect games and No hitters are romanticized feats hyped up by the sports media. 

Are they cool and impressive? Absolutely!  Do they mean anything in a team's quest to win a championship?  No!

Any team trying to win a championship should be focused on the big picture and protecting an injury-prone pitcher in his first start of the year, after a weird Spring Training schedule, on a cold day, and with a huge lead makes perfect sense to me.  I support the Dodgers decision.

This right here is what has been wrong with the Twins going back to TK, "Get away day" line-ups. Terrible C, starting 2B at SS, and AAA guy in CF. They did not stand a chance to win this game and its no surprise they were almost no-hit. Rocco has enough issues making out a line-up, he doesn't need to keep trotting out the back-ups on "get away day." 

1. Byron Buxton (R) DH
2. Luis Arraez (L) 2B
3. Gio Urshela (R) 3B
4. Jorge Polanco (S) SS
5. Gary Sanchez (R) C
6. Max Kepler (L) RF
7. Miguel Sano (R) 1B
8. Gilberto Celestino (R) CF
9. Nick Gordon (L) LF

I was pretty much enjoying the season - outside of Duffey's blown save - until the 8th inning last night.  Now I am having flashbacks to the 2021 Minnesota Twins.  At least Shoemaker and Happ are no longer in our rotation.  Here's hoping to brighter days ahead!  

Yes leave him.  If he tired he and Robert's would have known.  As easy as the Twins were today he was still coasting and there was nothing else left for a fan to care.  Can't judge Paddack yet, but not a good beginning to his Twins era.

I see a complaint about the lineup - would Jeffers have really made a difference?  Kiriloff has one hit this season.  All we are really missing is Correa and he is batting 211 so far.  It was not the lineup - it is the fact that we have proven over the years - we are not ready to contend for the WS.  We are not a post season team.  Teams that do well in the Post Season have great pitching - we do not.  Paddack is an example of our teams pitching - a filler, an inning eater.  They have Buehler, Urias, Kershaw, Heaney, Gonsolin with one of their best starters out  - compare to Gray, Ober, Ryan, Paddack, Bundy.

Their bullpen has Kimbrel, Graterol, Treinen and we have Duffey, Duran and Thielbar.

We cannot out spend the Dodgers, but we have to find a way to get a staff that gives us a real chance against the high quality teams.  Sonny Gray is number 42 on Bill James list of the best starting pitchers.  Berrios, Lynn, and Gibson are all in the top 40.  Rich Hill and Jake Odorizzi rank above our second pitcher #95 Dylan Bundy.  Ober ranks #98.  Ryan, Archer, and Paddock are not in the top 100.  What does that say about our FO choices and our chances. 

I know it is early in the season and in a month it might be turned around, but I sure did not enjoy the Dodgers coming in and kicking butt - scoring more runs per game than all the hits we accumulated in both games combined.  

1 hour ago, Trov said:

maybe Jeffers would have helped that

42 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Terrible C

4 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I see a complaint about the lineup - would Jeffers have really made a difference?

Look at the box score. Gary Sanchez had the only hit today. Seems like an odd player to make the scapegoat.

Removing Kershaw was bad on several levels. The idea that these athletes are worth 100s of millions of dollars, yet teams treat them like pieces of porcelain because they didn't get two more spring training starts this year is frustrating and illogical. The idea that Kershaw just can't crack 80 pitches belies his actual performance that was visible to anyone watching; he showed no signs of fatigue or fading. Most concerning of all is that baseball is in an era of "anti-drama" where historical performances are intentionally avoided or aborted, always reasoned away using the word salads of new-age baseball philosophy where players are reduced to never-ending stat lines and probabilities. The role of the starting pitcher is becoming extinct, and unnaturally so - teams are purposely limiting the impact of the starter for various reasons. It's perhaps the main reason why I've found the postseason to be nearly unwatchable over the last half-decade. For a sport in decline, which already is light on drama, this strikes me as suicidal for the long-term health of the sport. Bad, bad stuff. 

Color me concerned when it comes to this offense--17th in wRC+, 22nd in OBP, 7th worst in k-rate, 19th in bb rate, 11th worst in soft contact, 4th worst in going oppo, 3rd worst in called/swinging strike rate, 3rd worst in contact rate.

There will be days like Sunday when it clicks, and the Twins will look like world-beaters.  But too often the Twins are going to fail to make contact, not get on base, hit harmless grounders/flyouts, and go down meekly, like they did the last two days.

29 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

So do I, and I have no idea why they rested him today......

So what you’re saying is that we might want to wait unto see if there is more information and even take into account that if there was a minor injury, today’s day off actually created nearly 72 hours of recovery? Or recognize that even if there IS more to the story, we may not be privy to that info?
 

But, but this is the internet. We can’t do that. We have to jump in and proclaim ourselves smarter than people who do this stuff full time. 

15 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Color me concerned when it comes to this offense--17th in wRC+, 22nd in OBP, 7th worst in k-rate, 19th in bb rate, 11th worst in soft contact, 4th worst in going oppo, 3rd worst in called/swinging strike rate, 3rd worst in contact rate.

There will be days like Sunday when it clicks, and the Twins will look like world-beaters.  But too often the Twins are going to fail to make contact, not get on base, hit harmless grounders/flyouts, and go down meekly, like they did the last two days.

Not sure if there's statistical truth to the adage that bats take longer to get rolling than arms to start a season, but they're swinging in 30 degree weather right now, I wouldn't be all that concerned just yet.

With you on the Ks/reliance on the HR though, it's not a fun style of play to watch. 

Depressing. Last night before the heinous 8th...I wondered why they wouldn't try to squeeze bunt a runner across - is that just considered a lost art now, and not to be considered? 

The Dodgers are a perennial division winner. playoff team, battling for a World series every year.  I am not too surprised we had trouble handling them early this season with castoff pitchers and pen arms.  Lot's of great lineups can get silenced by great pitchers and Kershaw was on today.  Heck even this great Dodgers lineup can get silenced by great pitching.  Not that the Twins lineup doesn't have a fair number of holes like Kepler, Sano, Celestino and even Gordon, but credit Kershaw with pitching well in the cold.  

All this series says to me is that right now early in the season the Twins don't appear to be able to compete with world series type teams.  I expect they will have issues with Boston as well.

Maybe it is my rose colored glasses but I do think they will grow with some of the young arms as the season moves along and I still believe in a lot of the bats they have.  These were two games played in sub-optimal conditions and the Dodgers were just more ready and quite frankly the better team talent wise all the way through.  The Twins will rebound and I still think if they stay fairly healthy they have a shot for a wild card spot.

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

So do I, and I have no idea why they rested him today......

He's got a bit of an injury track record, and the Twins philosophy does seem to be to get players regular rest/breaks to try to make sure they don't wear down as the season goes along. It's not unreasonable.

I understand hating on a "get away day" lineup, but I dunno if this one qualifies: Gordon dropping into the OF is the most egregious...but Kirilloff just hit the injured list and we aren't carrying much of a bench. Buxton still played, just got a day at DH. Sanchez catching over Jeffers...we should expect Jeffers to get the majority of the starts, but the even split this early in the season isn't all that objectionable either. (and Sanchez has been better than advertised back there)

some seriously cold bats today and the pitching wasn't great. bad day for the Twins. Hope they kick it in gear, because I'm not sure this fanbase can handle a slow start...

To beat the Dodgers, you have to hope their pitching isn't working, and avoid their best hitters. Unfortunately, the pitching almost always works and their hitters are all really good. I didn't learn much about the Twins over the last two days that I didn't already know. We will struggle to beat the Dodgers, and so will everyone else a lot of days.

Seattle was almost a playoff team. I want to see how we do against some other teams before I panic too much

Oh yeah, and I want to replace at least three guys in the bullpen.

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

 

 

Look at the box score. Gary Sanchez had the only hit today. Seems like an odd player to make the scapegoat.

Sanchez has 15 ABs and 7 Ks - do you want to make him a positive example?