TOR 6, MIN 5: Gut Punch

Still kinda miffed about Kepler swinging at that first pitch, grounding into a DP with Buxton on 1st....Polanco goes yard the next at bat...a 3-run HR turns into a solo shot. Eeef.

That one bothered me the whole game ... Taking Buxton's legs out from under him seemed a poor decision .... Even if Kepler gets himself out, Buxton has a high percentage chance to be on third with the locked-in Polanco at the plate with 1 out ... Hope it is a learning moment

Buxton had the day off after he ran into a wall. Rosario and Polanco have been in all 14 games.

I dont know why anyone would need a day off at this point anyway. It's April, and they've played 14 friggin games. I have little to complain about Baldelli so far but that's one thing I hope changes. I can see giving someone a rest in the middle of this upcoming stretch if games, or to help heal a nagging injury, but now?

It's a long season. I prefer to watch the A-Team, but keeping everyone sharp is important. I think the fact that most of the bench players have cold bats right now is evidence of why.

Hell of a game. 

Kyle Gibson looked good, until he didn’t. That’s pretty much been the case in all of his starts so far this season. Very Odorizzi-esque.

I didn't follow Odorizzi in Tampa, but I've followed the Twins since (and before) Gibson came up. I'd reverse that description. Gibson has been like this for most of his career, with 2-3 hot streaks in between.

Good teams dont get swept at home. Not to last place teams. Not ever. Not today.

Which is why I'm much more worried about the bullpen than I was two weeks ago (when I was still worried about the bullpen, just not as much as now).

 

May was supposed to be something of a rock in the seventh or so inning.

Trevor May is not quite a rock, he's an anchor around our necks. Need to move him and Mejia while they still have some type of trade value. Also, since neither have an option left, it would give us flexibility when the shuttle is going full bore.

All I know is that I somehow felt ecstatic there at the end, when Buxton put good wood on the ball and gave the team a chance.  Man oh man, I was dreading the inevitable flailing at pitches in the left-handed batting box.  And it didn't happen.

The fact this team is having close games to feel angsty about is a good thing.  Very few ass whoopings here; they're kind of beating themselves--but just barely.  Let's hope the learning curve is steep.  In the right direction...

After letting this one settle in a bit, my take on where things went wrong is when Kyle Gibson was left in to pitch to Justin Smoak in the sixth inning. Gibby had already given up two hits and a walk that inning. He was clearly fading, but the Twins were still up 1-0 at that point.

 

Taylor Rogers would have been great in that spot, especially since Smoak is a lefty. Stuff like that is exactly why you don't have Rogers pinned down to the ninth inning in the first place.

Smoak is a switch-hitter, but the point is still valid...you'd rather turn Smoak around and have him hit from the right side. The problem is, Baldelli has one lefty he trusts. It's easy to say use Rogers there, but it's hard to pull that trigger when that leaves 3 innings in a close game with only Mejia available. At that part either call you make is probably wrong. They need a good LOOGY probably more than they need anything. I expect to see Moya as soon as he's available. Not that he's been great (yet) in that role. It's another indicator of how the FO had Molitor hand-cuffed in the bullpen..and now we're seeing Baldelli having to deal with it.

I blame CJ Cron. Even a first baseman should be able to run over 12 miles per hour.

Nah, kidding. Wish I'd seen the game. I'm getting the impression that Gibson may require another few starts to get his mojo back. Sounds like Trevor May is flaming out, Tortuga is slowing down, Marwin is seeing the ball, Rosie and Buxton are on fire, Hildy is human, and Bender is back distorting space and time with his curves. Interesting teams don't always win, I guess.

Yeah, that being the case, I don't understand why they're prioritizing having four bench guys over having one extra bullpen arm.

The Twins have enough bullpen arms. What they lack is enough GOOD bullpen arms. Adding another AAAA reliever isn’t going to help.

This team can have the nicest data in the world, but if the players can put it to use, it’s no good. Or if the coaches can’t put them in position. The infielders just looked so unprepared. Lots of other plays to kvetch about (and praise!) tonight, but that half inning stood out for me.

I think it was Sogard in the 6th that smacked a double off the wall.  Kep played it perfectly and might have had a play at second except that Polanco and Adrianza were both far off the bag.

The Twins need to petition MLB to exclude AL East teams from their schedule except Baltimore. 

I like that Rocco is rotating guys pretty regularly. I don't like how he tends to rotate all of his bench players in for the same game like it was a line change in hockey. Gotta leave some horses in to carry the load.

It is a tad ridiculous to have Cron, Cruz, Schoop and Garver all not starting. I get that the Jays’ starter yesterday is tough on RHB, but the guys starting in place of those sitting other than Cave are all poor hitters against ALL pitching.

I blame CJ Cron. Even a first baseman should be able to run over 12 miles per hour.

 

Nah, kidding.

Cron is sooooooooooooo sssssssllllllloooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Maybe he should be called tortuga.