Game 1 (Opening Day!!!) - at Baltimore

[thrylos98]

I'll agree with TWinsNorth49 - if we're going to point fingers, the majority should be pointed at a heavily left-handed lineup that could do absolutely nothing against a right-hander who sported a 5.05 ERA last year.

That comment was not about pointing fingers. It was as a response to Seth who said that "Pavano had a solid performance"... My point is that he did not.

[thrylos98]

Perhaps a game thread is the wrong place for this point, but I'll forge ahead anyway. While I agree the offense today was a problem, I believe the team took reasonable steps over the past half decade, and the past winter, to put a reasonable every day lineup on the field. They signed Mauer--which most of us would agree they should have done--it's now on Mauer to produce like a 3 hitter. They signed Morneau. They added some bats over the winter. They attempted to add to the middle infield, etc. I don't think that today was a good representation of what the offense will look like over 162 games. At least I hope not, given health, etc. But I can't say the same about the pitching. A philosophy that leads to Carl Pavano being the opening day starter, multiple times, is a flawed philosophy. Deeply flawed. Carl Pavano led the lead in hits allowed last season, and that's our #1 starter. I want some guys that can miss some bats. I want some pitchers that other teams fear. I want this organization to stop trading Billy Bullocks for Scott Diamonds. I want them to stop picking the Terry Doyles of the world when they have the #2 pick in the rule 5 draft.

Agreed. But to stop doing that, this team has to a. hire new front office people from outside and b. get rid of all the existing FO and Field management staff (at least at the MLB level). This is something that they are not willing to do even after 99 loss season. The replacement of Smith by Ryan is like spilling food on your shirt and putting it on inside out to hide the fact...

[Neinstein]

Agreed. But to stop doing that, this team has to a. hire new front office people from outside and b. get rid of all the existing FO and Field management staff (at least at the MLB level). This is something that they are not willing to do even after 99 loss season. The replacement of Smith by Ryan is like spilling food on your shirt and putting it on inside out to hide the fact...

I'm enjoying your "dirty laundry" reference. ...and it's Ryan wearing Smith's inside-out shirt.