TOR 7, MIN 4: Rosario Homers Twice as Twins Drop Game, Series

The Twins need to find strength in their rotation. That's Job #1. The guys have to get into the sixth or beyond. Period.

Our bullpen is solid, once you can match them up to a certain order of use.

The line-up is fine. Would like to see some better baserunning overall. Man, you weigh in what a good Sano would be like in this mix.

May had a perfect inning? Twins win the pennant!

An embarrassment of a series. 10% into the season is a small sample size, of course, but I don't see this team as being all that close to Cleveland, who mind you hasn't had a fully healthy Ramirez or any of Lindor yet - frankly they've been terrible offensively, and they're still four games over .500. As TK used to say, the three most important things are pitching, pitching, and pitching, and that's still holding true nowadays. 

Bullpen solid....... that made me laugh.....

Congrats to Harper, who came in with a runner on second, and got the last out in the 5th, and improved his inherited runners scored from 5/8 to 5/9! And continuted to pitch 3 more 1 hit scorless innings! Now that is what we need. Relief.

Sad series all in all. 1-3 to Toronto. At home. Damn.

The Twins need to find strength in their rotation. That's Job #1. The guys have to get into the sixth or beyond. Period.

 

Our bullpen is solid, once you can match them up to a certain order of use.

 

The line-up is fine. Would like to see some better baserunning overall. Man, you weigh in what a good Sano would be like in this mix.

Translation: Using the same 2-3 guys in key spots in winnable games.

Over a 162 game, 6 month season, that doesn’t work. ALL the guys have to be able to get outs in key spots reliably. No one expects 100% success, but right now they are below league average in allowing inherited runners to score. A team can’t call themselves a legitimate contender with a below average bullpen today.

At least Berrios is pitching tomorrow

Orioles and Rays go to extra innings in Florida. 

Burn the bullpen boys, and have safe travels getting back to Baltimore.

Baldelli is the biggest problem to date. No experience and it shows. We're going to waste another season getting the manager up to speed. In the long run he may work out but in the short run he's killing us. 

Not going to bang on Pineda. Some days your starter just doesn't have it. We've actually beat up a couple high profile pitchers this early season. It happens. Key is what happens his next start.

This offense can be dangerous, and they've had very good games, but it feels like they are out of Sync a bit.

The pen is tightrope walking. And I don't knkw if that's going to change anytime soon, unfortunately. May and Mejia settling down and just pitching to their capabilities would go a long way to making me feel better.

We have blemishes, we have areas to improve on. Is it just me being an optimist, but I kinda like this team and just feel a little more consistency could go a long way.

I absolutely feel we were the better team this whole series. Feels like we coulda/shoulda/woulda swept the whole thing...but we didn't. Sucks. Do the Jays have our number? It happens.

There is always tomorrow. But it just feels like we really lost an opportunity this series.

Not going to bang on Pineda. Some days your starter just doesn't have it. We've actually beat up a couple high profile pitchers this early season. It happens. Key is what happens his next start.

This offense can be dangerous, and they've had very good games, but it feels like they are out of Sync a bit.

The pen is tightrope walking. And I don't knkw if that's going to change anytime soon, unfortunately. May and Mejia settling down and just pitching to their capabilities would go a long way to making me feel better.

We have blemishes, we have areas to improve on. Is it just me being an optimist, but I kinda like this team and just feel a little more consistency could go a long way.

I absolutely feel we were the better team this whole series. Feels like we coulda/shoulda/woulda swept the whole thing...but we didn't. Sucks. Do the Jays have our number? It happens.

There is always tomorrow. But it just feels like we really lost an opportunity this series.

Agree mostly with Doc.  Pineda deserves longer consideration, as he's been mostly good.  I believe in this line up, eventually for power.  I worry about Buck batting over .250 over the long haul, but I will take .250, and Kepler at leadoff is just weird.

It's super early, so I get that.  Our bullpen has been not good, and weird by the way, which most of us predicted.  Starting pitching was ok, but Cleveland, KC, and Toronto have awful lineups.  Our results should be better.  

I know Gibson is coming off ecoli, but he did not finish strong last year and is not throwing strikes this year.  Still think he can be better.  I don't believe in 3 of our 5 starters as locks though.  Again it's early, so I am not in panic mode.  

Couple that with a new manager who at best is trying new things, but often not making sense...again no panic, but we should not lose 3 of 4 to a terrible Toronto team at home.  We have lots of games without these weird off days, so we will know more soon.

I wasn't happy that Toronto was playing so poorly coming in. I'd rather have them playing mediocre. I am always afraid that they will suddenly start playing better. I think this was part of the reality of this series, although the Twins also gave them more opportunities than they should have.

Bad job of two out hitting with runners in scoring position, advancing runners, doing the little things.

This team looks like it could be great, but they will have to start playing smarter. The talent is there.

Our team offensive WAR is 3.0 fWAR, Polanco has 1.2 and Garver and Rosario 0.6.

Cleveland has -0.6 fWAR lead by Santana with 0.9

Royals 2.6 fWAR (and a lot of people laughed at their speedy lineup) Alex Gordon leads with 1.0 WAR

Tigers -0.3 fWAR with Niko Goodrum 0.4 the leader.

White Sox 1.6 WAR - Tim Anderson is 1.2

So yes - our lineup is the best in our division (no comparisons with other divisions!)

Pitching fWAR

White Sox = 1.1

Twins = 2.6

Tigers = 2.6 Who would have thought!

Royals = 0.5

Indians = 3.6

We have a decent lineup - and our pitching is holding up, but the Indians pitching is the difference.  

In the full MLB rankings by positions we are 17 in starting pitching and we are low at every IF spot except SS where Polanco ranks first and we rank #18 overall in OF.  It is easy to root for our hometown players, but on the big screen we are looking like a middle of the pack - .500 team at this point. 

Many of us pointed out that due to the swing and miss nature of our lineup the offense will be inconsistent. And everyone except Falvine apparently knew our bullpen would suck

After all the anxiety and lack of confidence in our bullpen, I detect more positive signs lately. Might the bullpen even be one of the team's strengths by year's end?

Rosario homers twice and Twins still only plate 4. A good pitching performance might still have been wasted. I'll still take 9-7 even though a split with the Jays would have made it 10-6. Now its Os and Stros for the rest of the month and anything over .500 by May 1 is fine. Then let the season begin.

couldn't disagree more strongly. the issue is pitching talent. And it isn't close.

This. There is no making a silk purse out of a sows ear. This is on Falvine

With the questionable starting pitching the Twins have, where could help be? Looks like Gio G. is going to opt out on his contract with the Yankees. Is he someone the Twins could use? After a bad first start in AAA, he looks to have righted the ship.