Article: MIN 4, SEA 2: Bombs and Bullpen

[bighat]

How about Lamarre? Getting the start in the home opener and getting a base rap right off the bat. Grossman 0-4 today....is it possible Lamarre eventually lands in the right-handed DH spot and is the primary 4th outfielder? I'd be worried if I were Grossman....

 

Great comeback win! Nice to see Rodney put together a few scoreless (although not clean) innings over the past few nights, and get the save last night. We'll take it.

[nokomismod]

 

Is that a phone in Garver's back right pocket? 

American Spirit Hard Pack?

[Puckett34]

 

How come they didn't 'ignore' Garver in the dugout on his 1st homerun? Isn't that the tradition?

Too cold to move

[Dozier's Glorious Hair]

 

How about Lamarre? Getting the start in the home opener and getting a base rap right off the bat. Grossman 0-4 today....is it possible Lamarre eventually lands in the right-handed DH spot and is the primary 4th outfielder? I'd be worried if I were Grossman....

 

Even factoring in the three singles he's hit this season, LaMarre's a .119 career hitter.

 

I love the start of a new season, but one thing I don't enjoy about it is the inevitable overreaction to hot/cold starts (they happen every freakin' year). Grossman starts the season 1 for 8 and suddenly he should be worried...about Ryan LaMarre? Come on.

[Tibs]

I really like watching Miguel Sano hit dingers

[Tom Froemming]

Kyle Gibson

Yesterday: three swinging strikes on 80 pitches (3.75%), average exit velocity of 81.4 mph.

First start: 16 swinging strikes on 102 pitches (15.7%), average exit velocity of 77.1 mph.

 

No reason for panic or anything, but he was certainly less impressive this time around. He did a great job pitching his way out of jams, in particular against Robinson Cano. Not only was he 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Gibby, but Cano also left five men on base in those PAs.

[Loosey]

 

I agree with pretty much everything... except (sorry) that no​ pitcher in baseball has the stuff to get away with it when they leave a ball on a hitter's dinner plate.

 

You're absolutely right though, Gibby just flat out struggled today overall (even accounting for the cold).

If our new definition of struggling today is 2 runs 4 innings, I will take it with the revamped bullpen.  In the past struggling was 5 runs in 3 innings.  Granted it could have been worse, but pitching out of jams is something Gibson never seemed to be able to do in the past and he limited the damage. So hopefully there a more clean games than struggling ones, but I think they have obviously raised our expectations levels, which is good!

[RaymondLuxuryYacht]

 

You don't enjoy overreaction, and yet . . .

 

Even factoring in the three singles he's hit this season, LaMarre's a .119 career hitter.

 

I love the start of a new season, but one thing I don't enjoy about it is the inevitable overreaction to hot/cold starts (they happen every freakin' year). Grossman starts the season 1 for 8 and suddenly he should be worried...about Ryan LaMarre? Come on.

 

[wsnydes]

 

I just want to say ... I turned to my buddies during the game (section 118 row 9) and said “I’m gonna call it. Mitch is gonna Hit a bomb to left here in this AB”. Boom.

You’re welcome.

Hold on now, my dad's got to get partial credit!  He looked at the scoreboard, saw that Garver was 0'fer and said, he's due!

 

Section 114, row 19.

[Mike Sixel]

 

As Mike noted in the game thread, if I were a Mariner fan I’d be questioning letting my LH starter give up a game tying 2 run HR to Sano.

Particularly since he was then immediately removed.

 

that was the head scratcher for sure.

 

Solid game, other than the infield defense. The team looks like it is fully embracing TTO, at least on offense.

[gocgo]

A couple of notes.  As much as I look forward to guys like Dozier and Sano coming to the plate, it seems like every guy we send to the plate has the possibility putting it into the seats or getting a big hit.  That's what makes this team fun to watch and there are guys that haven't even hit there stride yet.  This is a really explosive offense that is starting to consistently take quality at bats.

 

On Gibson - yesterday the laws of probability didn't catch up to him.  He was in a precarious position a lot, but the Mariners left a pile of guys on base and the 2 runs in the first were the only damage in what could have been an early blowout.  While the defense didn't exactly help him yesterday, Gibson isn't exactly helping himself either.  The lead off hitter was on base frequently yesterday, the 6 walks in the previous start.  Those are bullets that Gibson has been dodging.  He'll have to improve or eventually, those bullets will get ya.

[wabene]

I was at the game today. The thing I was blown by was that Lemarre bats right but throws left. So weird. If he's naturally left-handed, it would be weird to have him hit right handed since left handed hitting is a much rarer commodity.

 

If he just is naturally split between batting and hitting, is this common? Is he an X-man?

 

This team will take the right handed bat!

[yarnivek1972]

Apparently only 5 players in history of mlb have that combo (over 1000 at bats). Rickey Henderson, Ryan Ludwick, Cody Ross and 2 others.

 

Apparently it is much more common to bat left and throw right. There are hundreds of examples of that

Former Twin David McCarty threw left and batted right. Several former pitchers did, of course almost none of them got 100 at bats, let alone 1000. Charlie Leibrandt threw left and batted right. Edited April 6, 2018 by yarnivek1972

[Dozier's Glorious Hair]

 

You don't enjoy overreaction, and yet . . .

 

Ha! Fair point. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Kyle Gibson

Yesterday: three swinging strikes on 80 pitches (3.75%), average exit velocity of 81.4 mph.

First start: 16 swinging strikes on 102 pitches (15.7%), average exit velocity of 77.1 mph.

 

No reason for panic or anything, but he was certainly less impressive this time around. He did a great job pitching his way out of jams, in particular against Robinson Cano. Not only was he 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Gibby, but Cano also left five men on base in those PAs.

 

Hopefully for Gibby, this is only about the cold. Numbers are clear he didn't have his best stuff.

[USNMCPO]

Is anyone else concerned about the lack of use of Moya and Kinley? I am not sure any pitching staff can afford to have 2 relievers who don't get to pitch. I know that the situations have not been exactly what they want for these two but I sure don't want to wear out the rest of the pen.

[jmlease1]

Games like this are why I refuse to bet on Gibson this year.

[Tom Froemming]

 

Is anyone else concerned about the lack of use of Moya and Kinley? I am not sure any pitching staff can afford to have 2 relievers who don't get to pitch. I know that the situations have not been exactly what they want for these two but I sure don't want to wear out the rest of the pen.

Yes, but the weird early-season schedule allows for stuff like that to happen. I have some concerns about how the bullpen has been managed thus far. I'm going to try and discuss those on a live stream via Twitter tonight.

[USAFChief]

 

Is anyone else concerned about the lack of use of Moya and Kinley? I am not sure any pitching staff can afford to have 2 relievers who don't get to pitch. I know that the situations have not been exactly what they want for these two but I sure don't want to wear out the rest of the pen.

I will be, if it continues.

 

So far, you can chalk it up to strong starts the first series coupled with days off.

 

Moya and Kinley clearly are the bottom of the barrel in Molly's eyes, though.  That much is clear, if anyone had any doubts.

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Yes, but the weird early-season schedule allows for stuff like that to happen. I have some concerns about how the bullpen has been managed thus far. I'm going to try and discuss those on a live stream via Twitter tonight.

It seems clear Molitor doesn't trust either of them. Not sure about Moya. He wasn't bad last season. Kinley I get. 

[MN_ExPat]

If our new definition of struggling today is 2 runs 4 innings, I will take it with the revamped bullpen.  In the past struggling was 5 runs in 3 innings.  Granted it could have been worse, but pitching out of jams is something Gibson never seemed to be able to do in the past and he limited the damage. So hopefully there a more clean games than struggling ones, but I think they have obviously raised our expectations levels, which is good!

Very true. Although perhaps I should clarify “struggled” . I meant it more in the sense that Gibby really had to work hard to get those outs because he wasn’t nearly as sharp as he can be. I agree, if this type of start reflects his worst of the rest of the season... I’ll totally take it.

[Circus Boy]

 

Games like this are why I refuse to bet on Gibson this year.

And yet the team has won 10 straight when he starts. Go figure.

 

Speaking of figuring, we're in first place and our magic number is 156. I can taste the champagne.

[jimmer]

 

And yet the team has won 10 straight when he starts. Go figure.

 

.

Including two games where he gave up 5 ER in 6 innings and another where he gave up 3 ER in 3.1 innings. And 7 of those 10 starts we scored 6 or more runs.  

 

In fact, last year, for the 90 pitchers who threw 140 or more innings, he had the most run support by quite a decent margin.  He got 6.62, Ray (in the NL) got the second most: 6.21.

Edited April 6, 2018 by jimmer

[Brock Beauchamp]

I was at the game today. The thing I was blown by was that Lemarre bats right but throws left. So weird. If he's naturally left-handed, it would be weird to have him hit right handed since left handed hitting is a much rarer commodity.

 

If he just is naturally split between batting and hitting, is this common? Is he an X-man?

I do the same so it’s something I notice because it’s an oddity.

 

The only player of note who throws left and hits right that I know of was Rickey Henderson.

[USAFChief]

I was at the game today. The thing I was blown by was that Lemarre bats right but throws left. So weird. If he's naturally left-handed, it would be weird to have him hit right handed since left handed hitting is a much rarer commodity.

 

If he just is naturally split between batting and hitting, is this common? Is he an X-man?

Much more common was my situation: I threw right and batted neither.

[Circus Boy]

 

Including two games where he gave up 5 ER in 6 innings and another where he gave up 3 ER in 3.1 innings. And 7 of those 10 starts we scored 6 or more runs.  

 

In fact, last year, for the 90 pitchers who threw 140 or more innings, he had the most run support by quite a decent margin.  He got 6.62, Ray (in the NL) got the second most: 6.21.

Dang nice of his teammates to score so often.

[Platoon]

Including two games where he gave up 5 ER in 6 innings and another where he gave up 3 ER in 3.1 innings. And 7 of those 10 starts we scored 6 or more runs.  

 

In fact, last year, for the 90 pitchers who threw 140 or more innings, he had the most run support by quite a decent margin.  He got 6.62, Ray (in the NL) got the second most: 6.21.

Gibson likely survived due to the light on his feet Sano. That liner had double written all over it, unless it comtinued to rise and clear the fence. Yesterday looked like one of those games where you tried as hard as you could to hand someone a baseball game, and they refused to take it. I see the same old Gibby, walks, nibbling, and high pitch counts.

[Danchat]

 

Is anyone else concerned about the lack of use of Moya and Kinley? I am not sure any pitching staff can afford to have 2 relievers who don't get to pitch. I know that the situations have not been exactly what they want for these two but I sure don't want to wear out the rest of the pen.

Eh... I'm not concerned yet. Molly's not going to use them in close games, that's clear. He needs to ease them in before he trusts them in a close game. Moya's likely headed to Rochester in a few days when Hughes is activated as the 5th starter, so he'll get to pitch there more often.

[twinsfanstreif]

Wait, what? Why!?!!?

 

Let the players have their “thing”, particularly when it has personal significance.

I thought it was something like violent gestures, I could totally be making this up, I swore we had a conversation about this on here though Edited April 7, 2018 by twinsfanstreif

[ashbury]

And yet the team has won 10 straight when he starts. Go figure.

 

Speaking of figuring, we're in first place and our magic number is 156. I can taste the champagne.

Magic Number is only 147, per RIOT. That's because divisional rivals play each other 19 times, so that many wins would mean at least 10 came at the expense of any given Central team. Woo hoo for Math!