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Hubert Humphrey coined the term "cold Omaha" when he said that the Twin Cities would be a Cold Omaha without professional sports. I believe the Blue Jays must have thought they did not want to be a Canadian Minnesota if they did not sign some players and make the club interesting. Well the Twins are interesting and last year they were winning. Now we do not have Schoop and we hope (and I expect) that Arraez will not regress. We do not have CJ Cron and we hope we have someone to replace his bat and glove and we do not have Juan Castro so we write about how Avila is actually better than Castro (are we dreaming?). Our pitching got us to the playoffs, but could not win a game in the playoffs. We did pull Berrios too soon, the bats did go quiet, and we had no one beyond Odorizzi to stop the bleeding except Mr Dobnak. So we have signed our top three pitchers (actually we have not given Berrios the extension he needs) and we let go the last two pitchers, but we have not signed anyone to take their place meaning that we expect our rookie/young guys to step in and fill the positions. Fine. The Blue Jays had two down years and they told their fans that the are going to do something about that. So they signed Ryu - a pitcher we were told would not want to leave the warm west coast. Does he know that Toronto is south only if you live in Canada? (Disclaimer - I know they are south of Minneapolis - https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/who-s-the-north-portland-minneapolis-teams-question-raptors-claim-1.2168407) They also signed Travis Shaw (his name has appeared on some Twins posts too). They signed Tanner Roark, they traded for Chase Anderson (pitcher), they are taking a chance on Matt Shoemaker making a comeback and they signed Japanese pitcher Shun Namaguchi too. And they still have Ken Giles (forget about the Twins trade for him - it is not going to happen). And by the way, they have that young nucleaus - Bichette, Gurerro, and Biggio too (and I do not mean their fathers). I believe we have also talked about our window being now because of our young nucleus. What next? Oh, they are talking to the Red Sox about acquiring David Price who once pitched for the Jays.

Another starting pitcher fails to have a quality start, combined with not much offense leads to the Minnesota Twins dropping the series finale to the Toronto Blue Jays. This time it was Michael Pineda getting the start for the Twins on the mound. He was coming into the game with a 2-0 record with 15 innings pitched in three outings. He pitched well in his first three outings giving up 13 hits and five runs while striking out 15 batters. Today was a different story for Pineda. He started off the game getting two ground ball outs but gave up a two out home run to Grichuk. The Twins were able to answer this when they put together a nice three-run bottom of the second that started with an Eddie Rosario home run. Pineda pitched well in the second and third inning but things got ugly quick in the fourth. After Grichuk singled, Smoak drove a ball to deep right to tie the game at 3. The inning wasn't over yet and Pineda found himself in a tight situation with the bases loaded and only one out. He was able to get Jansen to fly out to shallow center, holding all the runners but then gave up a bases clearing double to Sogard which drove Pineda out of the game. Pineda only put together 3.2 innings while giving up six runs on seven hits. This meant the Twins had to look towards their bullpen a bit earlier than they probably wanted to. Ryne Harper was called upon first to end the fourth inning, which he did, and then proceeded to throw three more shutout innings in a great outing. Duffey came in for the eight inning with the game at 6-3 and struck out the first two batters, but Hernandez took a fastball high and deep into left field to extend their lead to four runs. Rosario was able to answer that with his second home run of the game, but it wasn't enough as the Jays held on through the late innings to win 7-4 and take the series three games to one. Trevor May also came in to pitch the ninth and gave up no hits while striking out one guy. Unlike our recent losses, this one falls on the starting pitcher. Pineda got behind in the count on two different at-bats 2-0 with one leading to a homerun and the other was the bases clearing double. The bullpen came in and gave us a solid 5.1 innings, minus the bomb, but with the offense continuing to struggle, there was no hope for the Twins. They obviously had a great second inning, but the top three batters, Kepler, Polanco, and Cruz, went a combined 0-12 with two walks and three strikeouts. It's hard to be mad at Polanco the way he's been hitting, but Kepler's average has now dropped to .242 and Cruz is hitting .278 with four extra base hits. Rosario drove up his homerun total to six on the year, and Astudillo was able to break a 2-24 slump by getting hits in his first two plate appearances. There wasn't many positives to take away from this game as the Twins dropped to 9-7 on the season. They continue their play tomorrow in Baltimore when they face the Orioles for a three game series and look to fix things from this previous series.

The Minnesota Twins dropped to 8-6 on the season and lose another close game due to a starting pitcher not being able to finish his start, and the bullpen continuing to be shaky. Jorge Polanco was able to get the game going by hitting a solo shot in the third inning and has his average sitting at .415. The Twins hit a total of three home runs tonight with Eddie Rosario adding a 3-run shot in the sixth (another time the Twins answer after allowing runs in the half inning before) and Marwin Gonzalez opening up the ninth with a solo shot to get it within one. It was great seeing the power in the lineup tonight, but besides the homeruns, we only had one other extra base hit and it didn't even matter because C.J. Cron was thrown out at home to end the game on it. On that call to send him, it's tricky to tell if that was the right call. If you ask me, I like it and here's why: First off, I like that the Twins are being aggressive on the base paths. Obviously, Cron is one of the only players currently on the roster that probably gets thrown out there (Cruz being the other) but being aggressive on the base paths will be the reason we win games this year instead of losing them. Also, I know Kepler was on a hitting streak going into the game and it might've been extended while giving the Twins a win, honestly, I don't want the game in his hands. Even with his hit streak, he's only batting .259 on the season. Also, something I didn't notice right away, Byron Buxton ended up on third base on that play. The guy is freakishly fast, and even though the game ended, what heads up baseball that was to get there. However, the game shouldn't have come down to that in the first place because, unfortunately, the bats weren't enough tonight with how our pitchers performed. Kyle Gibson was the starter for this game and pitched a solid five innings, but apparently, that seems to be his max. Through five innings, Gibson had only given up one hit and two walks. This, however, was his third start of the season, but was only the first time making it farther than 4.2 innings. He ended up finishing with 5.1 innings with 4 earned runs, but didn't get the loss. Ryne Harper tried to come in and finish off the fifth but ended up allowing two hits, which fell onto Gibson for ER. Trevor May came in for the next inning and struggled as well giving up two ER on one hit and two walks in .2 of an inning. Trevor Hildenberger came in to try and finish the seventh but gave up one hit to score the sixth run, but was able to get out of the inning on poor base running by the Jays. Tyler Duffey then came in to make his season debut and pitched two shutout innings with one hit and one walk. Pitching hasn't been a small issue, either. Our starting rotation has hurt our bullpen this year. Jose Berrios has been our only consistent starter who can go more than six innings and not blow it at the end of his start. Jake Odorizzi has started three games and has only pitched 11.1 innings, Gibson in his three starts has 14.2 innings, and Pineda (who has an excuse) has 15 innings in three starts. Berrios, in four starts, has 27.1 innings. Especially with how heavy our schedule is right now, we need to rely on our starters to give us a quality six innings through this long stretch. The Twins have dropped the first two games in this series when both games were winnable and move to 8-6 with two games left in the series. I'd hope that they can turn this around and tie this series before going on the road to face the Orioles. This is my first blog about the Twins, but I will try and write as often as I can. Let me know what you think and I hope you continue reading!

As the Minnesota Twins slipped across Lake Erie and back into the United States on Sunday night following a three-game series in Toronto, the pitching staff would not be blamed if they sat the entire flight curled in the fetal position. The stats were horrific. Over the weekend series the Blue Jays mashed nine home runs, ten doubles and scampered for one triple. They compiled 38 hits overall and plated 32 runs. They walked more than they struck out. This was nothing new. Since the beginning of 2015 Toronto has out-slugged, out-homered and out-scored everybody. They also have the second-highest on-base percentage, falling just being the Red Sox. The series against the Twins was just business as usual for the pride of Canada. When it comes to hitting, the Toronto Blue Jays just get it.Twins hitting coach Tom Brunansky doesn’t think Toronto’s style of offense -- from the big movements and swings from likes of Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion and others -- is anything new to the club. “It started a long time ago,” said Twins hitting coach Tom Brunansky. “I think that philosophy started when Cito Gaston was there, when he was their hitting guy. Then it kinda took off when Cito was the manager and then they had Dwayne Murphy there, you know Murph had a leg kick. I think you can go back to the days when George Bell, Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield and the era that I played, those were the same type of guys, a bunch of free swingers.” It is true that Gaston and Murphy are credited with helping Bautista unlock his swing that has resulted in 243 home runs in 6 years -- the most in baseball in that time -- but there are also guys like Donaldson who refined his mechanics while in Oakland and other players such as Danny Valencia, Chris Colabello and Kevin Pillar who have patterned some elements of their swing after Donaldson (in conjunction with the Blue Jays coaching staff). After all, the Blue Jays third baseman blew the lid off the hitting community with his recent breakdown of his process on the MLB Network. That ideology goes beyond just grip-and-rip, what Donaldson talks about is closer to a cheat code. Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe agrees that it is invaluable to have players around who like to bounce swing talk off one another. Brian Dozier said he learned how to decimate fastballs by watching and picking the brains of Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham. If it is Bautista and Donaldson encouraging organizational newcomers like Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki to add more rhythm to their swing or transfer more weight on their back legs before driving at the the ball, that type of communication can influence the makeup of an entire lineup. Plouffe, who the Twins drafted out of Crespi Carmelite High School in 2004, highlighted some of the differences in philosophy between the two organizations. Early in his development, Plouffe said there was an emphasis placed on just making contact and that came with a request to alter his swing. “I remember coming into my rookie ball season and I went and just played,” Plouffe said. “I thought I did a pretty good job. Then the following spring training our hitting coordinator, [Jim Dwyer], wanted to change some things and I was up for the change. I wanted to produce and do well by the team and the organization. He started to have me do a toe-tap thing. It started to evolve from there. I didn’t really have success with [the toe tap] and as I got a little older and further up the line, I realized that you have to do what’s comfortable for you.” Plouffe’s story does not differ much from that of Byron Buxton. Buxton says that the Twins staff changed him in rookie ball, slowing down his movement and installing a toe-tap stride. Four years later, Buxton is struggling to rediscover his original swing which made him the most sought after draft pick in 2012. Plouffe eventually landed on a leg lift as a timing mechanism, which coincides when he started hitting for power. According to Plouffe, Brunansky calls his swing “awkward” and “unorthodox”. The Twins do have plenty of hitters who come into the system, either by draft, trade or signing, who have incorporated the big movements in their swing similar to what is seen from the Blue Jays lineup. Some hitters who have passed through the organization have complained that the Twins have tried to get them to eliminate that portion of their swing, sending them into disastrous stretches because they are trying to overhaul a key component of their swing in season. Brunansky said that is not his philosophy and that the organization does not tell their hitters to tone down the swing. “One thing is you never want to take away somebody’s ability,” said Brunansky. “If they want to use a leg kick and that’s something they feel good about and that’s who they are, we will certainly work with it. [The leg kick] is gonna continue until they prove that they can’t [use it]. That’s the one thing once you get to this level up here, the game dictates whether you can or can’t.” In regards to copying the Blue Jays’ approach, Brunansky bristles a bit. “I think that they come in free to not worry about certain things,” Brunansky said of Toronto’s organizational hitting philosophy. “They’re not worried about striking out. They are not worried about putting the ball in play in certain situations. They are going to go attack. They figure they are going to do enough damage.” Brunansky said that differs from his philosophy, which places priority on not striking out in key situations. The Blue Jays approach, he believes, will lead to more strikeouts. “I’m not a big fan of strikeouts and I know the game has progressed to the point where strikeouts have become commonplace,” he emphasized. “I certainly don’t want it to be such a negative where hitters fear getting in the box with two strikes. I don’t like strikeouts with runners on base -- and certainly not with a runner on third. And I get it, you are not always going to put the ball in play with a runner on third but that has been a backbreaker for us.” It is a misconception that the Blue Jays’ approach equates to strikeouts. After all, since the start of the 2015 season, they have struck out in 20% of their plate appearances, 20th of the 30 teams. And their contributors in Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion all have strikeout rates well below the league’s average. Meanwhile, the Twins’ just-put-it-play mindset has led to a 21.5% strikeout rate, 9th highest out of 30. The Twins have had a history of players who have had minimal, foot-down-early approaches over the last decade plus. Joe Mauer excels at the craft of hitting by reducing his movement. Miguel Sano’s approach involves minimal movements. Brian Dozier’s power numbers are a testament to the notion that you don’t have to have any leg kick if you do everything else right in the swing. In the modern game, however, that kind of thinking has gone by the wayside, along with pitch-to-contact pitchers. “There is a lot more video available now, I think people understand now that you need to get to a certain spot but you can get to that spot in a lot of different ways,” Plouffe said. “In my opinion you don’t want to conform everybody to the same type of swing because everybody has grown up swinging differently. We’ve swung for 27 years now and it’s who we are. If you can get to that certain spot, people are realizing there are a million different ways to get there.” Click here to view the article