Twins v Pirates 3/8/24

[Parfigliano]

On DirecTV channel 659.  They're wearing those M× hats I dislike.

[Parfigliano]

Martin Perez just K'd Martin and Larnach.  

[RpR]

At this point, Miranda's season is as good as Margot's is bad.

[Squirrel]

58 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

On DirecTV channel 659.  They're wearing those M× hats I dislike.

I just bought one of those today 🙂

[Schmoeman5]

32 minutes ago, RpR said:

At this point, Miranda's season is as good as Margot's is bad.

He had a pretty good ST last year too. So it doesn't necessarily translate to good results during the regular season. But he's doing what he can to make a case for himself. 

[Parfigliano]

4 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

I just bought one of those today 🙂

Different strokes.....

[Squirrel]

11 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Different strokes.....

I buy a new hat every spring. Need to mix it up 🙂 I have quite the collection …

 

[Parfigliano]

7 innings TC bats only 3 K's

[CRF]

Sands was in mid season form today. One inning, four hits, and 3 runs, to give Pitt the game. 

[Parfigliano]

39 minutes ago, CRF said:

Sands was in mid season form today. One inning, four hits, and 3 runs, to give Pitt the game. 

He looked really really bad.

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

On DirecTV channel 659.  They're wearing those M× hats I dislike.

I'm not about this type of M caps either but they're better than the stock-car racing caps that are popping up.

[DocBauer]

First game to watch and didn't care it was ST. It was just nice to see any version of Twins baseball!

A few personal observations:

1] Varland didn't destroy anything, but looked solid. I think he could have gone out for the 4th easily, but they obviously wanted to follow a plan. I saw his new 2 seamer really BITE  few times against RH bats that lead to 3 outs. I want to say one was a K out, but memory is failing me right now. He was sitting consistently at 94-96 on his FB. His only real mistake was over reacting to a slow nubber down the 1B line that would probably have rolled foul.

2] Helman's bat hasn't come around yet, which I find disappointing, but he looked really good at 2B when he went in for Juien early after a pitch to the hand. Julien was flexing his hand after being hit, so hopefully he's OK.

3] Martin made a tough circus catch early in the game in LF due to a bright sky and strange winds. He also snagged a deep fly to left center that wasn't easy. And while the camera work in the game was horrible and no replay was seen, he had a great hustle play where he grabbed an OF grounder and fired a throw to 2B to nail the runner trying for 2B. Offensively, he was screwed by an umpire team that seemed to believe anything close to a swing was a strike. But he also stroked a nice double to LF.

4] Larnach hit a HR to RF that had the distance, but was almost blown back in to fair territory. What's interesting is the pitch coming in at 85mph. Not sure if it was a change or slider, but he hit it solid. Another FB resulted in a solid single.

5] Only 1 game, but Staumont was wild as hell. I think he topped out around 93. After a mound visit, he settled down and got out of the inning and looked better. But I'm wondering if his last option might still e used to let him get his velocity and stuff to get right at AAA. But again, it's ST and we still have a couple weeks.

6] I can see how affective Okert might be. His "almost" sidearm delivery is crazy!  It's gotta be really hard to pick up the ball coming out of his hand. He looked good and I believe he K'd 3. But he did allow a couple hits. But unless he throws something straight in the zone, he's pretty nasty. 

7] Sands disappointed me facing the leftovers from Pittsburgh. To be fair, there was a wild pitch that a better catcher MIGHT have snagged. But he just didn't look like the OK, SOLID BP option that I think/hope he might be.

Again, ONE ST GAME, for what it's worth. 

 

[Doctor Gast]

11 hours ago, DocBauer said:

First game to watch and didn't care it was ST. It was just nice to see any version of Twins baseball!

A few personal observations:

1] Varland didn't destroy anything, but looked solid. I think he could have gone out for the 4th easily, but they obviously wanted to follow a plan. I saw his new 2 seamer really BITE  few times against RH bats that lead to 3 outs. I want to say one was a K out, but memory is failing me right now. He was sitting consistently at 94-96 on his FB. His only real mistake was over reacting to a slow nubber down the 1B line that would probably have rolled foul.

2] Helman's bat hasn't come around yet, which I find disappointing, but he looked really good at 2B when he went in for Juien early after a pitch to the hand. Julien was flexing his hand after being hit, so hopefully he's OK.

3] Martin made a tough circus catch early in the game in LF due to a bright sky and strange winds. He also snagged a deep fly to left center that wasn't easy. And while the camera work in the game was horrible and no replay was seen, he had a great hustle play where he grabbed an OF grounder and fired a throw to 2B to nail the runner trying for 2B. Offensively, he was screwed by an umpire team that seemed to believe anything close to a swing was a strike. But he also stroked a nice double to LF.

4] Larnach hit a HR to RF that had the distance, but was almost blown back in to fair territory. What's interesting is the pitch coming in at 85mph. Not sure if it was a change or slider, but he hit it solid. Another FB resulted in a solid single.

5] Only 1 game, but Staumont was wild as hell. I think he topped out around 93. After a mound visit, he settled down and got out of the inning and looked better. But I'm wondering if his last option might still e used to let him get his velocity and stuff to get right at AAA. But again, it's ST and we still have a couple weeks.

6] I can see how affective Okert might be. His "almost" sidearm delivery is crazy!  It's gotta be really hard to pick up the ball coming out of his hand. He looked good and I believe he K'd 3. But he did allow a couple hits. But unless he throws something straight in the zone, he's pretty nasty. 

7] Sands disappointed me facing the leftovers from Pittsburgh. To be fair, there was a wild pitch that a better catcher MIGHT have snagged. But he just didn't look like the OK, SOLID BP option that I think/hope he might be.

Again, ONE ST GAME, for what it's worth. 

 

Thanks Doc for that summary, it was very insightful. IMO picking up Margot was a waste when we had Martin. I'm surprised that Martin isn't stealing bases, something he's very good at. Maybe he's confident with his base stealing & doesn't want to risk anything preseason.