Game 35 - Twins vs Cleveland - 5/15/12

[Alex]

To be fair to Twins hitters, four (maybe 5) of them should be in AAA. This roster looks way too much like August's and we're only 35 games in, not to mention the pitching is even worse.

[Mike Sixel]

Agree with Alex, yet the FO isn't really committing to youth, or to keeping youth in AAA "to develop". They really appear indecisive to me.

[Boom Boom]

This IS the youth movement. If you don't think the Twins are giving enough playing time to their young players, it's because they don't have many young players.

 

Revere will be up when Span is eventually dealt. The only other thing they can really do is dispose of Marquis and replace him with Swarzak or Duensing.

[Alex]

Yeah, I don't mind seeing Plouffe get more playing time to see what they have there, or even the two speedy outfielders. Parmelee's not being helped by being up here, especially sitting on the bench most days. I think that while Dozier's performed well and I hope it continues, I hope we're not saying the same thing about his as Parmelee a month or two down the road. I like Carroll, and I'm sure the pitchers like to have him back there, but he's entered this organization at a bad time.

 

I'd also like to see them resting Mauer a bit more and letting Morneau stay on the DL a bit longer. Why put wear and tear on the vets, especially those two?

[NorthwestTwinsFan]

Mauer does a good job fouling off pitches until he can find a good one to ground out with.

[TwinVike61]

Game Summary: What was Gardy thinking by leaving Marquis in the game so long? Oh yeah, it wouldn't have mattered with our Groundout offense.

[Mike Sixel]

I think today the crossed the magical threshold of being outscored by more than 2 runs per game....36 games in, more than 72 runs outscored. That is really, really, really bad.

[StormJH1]

I think today the crossed the magical threshold of being outscored by more than 2 runs per game....36 games in, more than 72 runs outscored. That is really, really, really bad.

Preach, brotha. Super glad we got a rid of those dozen or so beautiful evergreens in center field so that opposing batters can lock in on 85 mph meatballs from Pavano, Marquis, and Blackburn now.

[StormJH1]

lol! Brought back to mind the rumor that we were blowing the fans out in the Homerdome when we batted - we must be turning on the switch to blow the air/wind out when the visitors are up rather than when we are up at Target Field. Someone tell them to hurry up and get that straightened out.

Maybe if we start breeding Kestrel Falcons in the outfield:

 

(a) Opposing hitters/fielders will be intimidated;

( Swarms of birds in the outfield might knock some of these opposing moonshots out of the sky

 

Also, this would totally be a home field advantage because unless the birds fly less than 2 feet off the ground in the infield, they'll never be struck with one of our hits.

[wavedog]

Love the Kestrel Falcon idea! What we also need to do is to plant the evergreens in the outfield to stop these home runs from flying out. It would also provide a nice home for the falcons while also helping cover our lack of outfield speed. Couple that with dropping a truckload of rocks in the infield thus increasing the number of bad-hop grounders and reducing our double-plays.

[IdahoPilgrim]

Game Summary: What was Gardy thinking by leaving Marquis in the game so long? Oh yeah, it wouldn't have mattered with our Groundout offense.

He wanted Marquis to eat up some innings - wouldn't want to burn out and overwork that 13-man pitching staff.

[Alex]

Preach, brotha. Super glad we got a rid of those dozen or so beautiful evergreens in center field so that opposing batters can lock in on 85 mph meatballs from Pavano, Marquis, and Blackburn now.

Watched on Gameday for a bit today and noted that the evergreens are still there....almost like ghosts...

[twinzgrl]

I was there today. Beautiful day, beautiful stadium, terrible performances (except for Brian Dozier) who is my new favorite Twin.

[stringer bell]

I think today the crossed the magical threshold of being outscored by more than 2 runs per game....36 games in, more than 72 runs outscored. That is really, really, really bad.

This is especially troubling because the Twins haven't lost a lot of games by blowout scores. They have consistently yielded 6-7-8 runs and they haven't lost a lot of games by obscene scores like 15-1 or 20-4. They are last in the league in runs scored and last in runs allowed, that can't be good.

[glunn]

Good thing that the Twins can only hit into one DP per inning, because if they could do it more they would.

Good one! This was a painful game to watch.

[Alex]

This is especially troubling because the Twins haven't lost a lot of games by blowout scores. They have consistently yielded 6-7-8 runs and they haven't lost a lot of games by obscene scores like 15-1 or 20-4. They are last in the league in runs scored and last in runs allowed, that can't be good.

I think this those kind of numbers tell the exact story: horrible starting pitching and a surprisingly good bullpen that essentially closes the door, though it's usually too late.