KCR 9, MIN 6: Brief 2020 Debut for Odorizzi; Royals Bust It Open Against Bullpen

Is Baldelli aware of the fact that he is allowed to bring in one of his decent arms in a game they are trailing closely in the late innings to keep the game within reach? There was at least a little something going after getting runs back in the 6th and 7th but that momentum was killed after Sean Poppen struggled to throw strikes for the next 20 minutes (pitching on back to back days for the very first time in his professional career, I should add, something that made me question the move even more). What's the harm in bringing in, for instance, Trevor May, when your 5 best relievers have all had at least a day of rest, and May himself had 3? 

Pretty sure Buxton's homer was to go ahead by two rather than game tying.    Still in first but would be nice to take a game tomorrow.

More than the results, some bad baseball worries me. Poppen wasn't even pay attention to the bases. Garver was not even close on the steals and the 2 wild pitches were a little bit his fault too. And except for Gonzalez, Cruz, Kepler Polanco Buxton, the rest of the hitters are not contributing. I hope losing 3 in a row is a wake up call.

No time to panic, but doffing11, is not to far off. My many Twins friends who watch obsessively like the rest of us, are wondering if who we pitch and when is confusing.

We will sacrifice the non proven guys for multiple innings, but not the quality guys.  It's a 60 game season.  Every game is 2.5 of a game.  

It's complicated and I'm mot sure what the right answer is, but sacrificing AAA players with this line up (Twins), we should not be out of any game, it's worth questioning,

Garvers hot bat covered his cold glove last year. While I am not sure if his one kneed catching stance is getting us more called strikes, it’s definitely getting Garver more exercise running to the backstop. With runners on  maybe he needs to return to a more basic stance. Neither his glove or his arm are good enough for him to crouch as he currently does. He is 28? 29? years old. His bat may return, but he will never be a decent defensive catcher.

THE BRIGHT SIDE:

It stings losing three in a row, but as others have said, 10-5 is still where the Twins are sitting right now. If you look at this from another perspective, here's a quote about the Twins from the STL newspaper website, as they're discussing the Cardinals 5 total games played this season:

"Their only other games were two losses to the AL Central leading Twins, a powerhouse team that is once again running away with its division."

That was written last night, after the Twins 3rd straight loss. Yes, Minnesota is still considered a "powerhouse" by most people on the outside looking in.

I didn't expect much out of Jake last night. Happy to have the guy back, hopefully this was just shaking off rust.

Two words: Byron Buxton.

THE BAD SIDE:

Rocco's carefree managing style is bugging me. Resting the "A" team (Cruz and Arraez Friday, Polanco Saturday) and rolling out Poppen, Wisler, Thorpe, Smeltzer, and Theilbar this series. Earth to Rocco. These games count, Rocco! You don't get more points for beating Cleveland.

Garver's just looking awful in every way right now. We all want him to succeed but it might be time to start curbing our expectations a bit. League appears to have figured him out OR he's just lost whatever mojo he had last year. Looks to be a shell of his former self in every aspect. Possible one-season wonder. Time to give Avila the reins and bring in Astudillo to take some more of Garv's at bats away. 

Thorpe and Stashak looked like they were tossing batting practice to the Royals. In between Poppens wild pitches he was clueless as to how to hold a runner...Horrible job by those 3 relievers costs us any chance we had in this one. How can a person sleep well after watching crap like that?

Pretty unwatchable stuff in real time, outside of Buxton and Alcala.

Garver's bat looks Laudner-like. Slow motion swing.

Sloppy.

Sloppy baseball.

Wild pitches, passed balls, stolen bases nearly uncontested. Godawful 0-2 pitches. Indifferent ABs.

Some really bad baseball.

Garver in particular is really playing poorly behind the plate.

Back when we were losing 90+ games a season I used to say the worst part was watching bad baseball.  You can have lesser talent but still hit  the cutoff, hustle on base paths, execute bunt defense, advance runners, battle every at bat.    It was hard to watch back then and its hard to watch now.    

IMO I think the Twins treated these games w/ PIT & KC as preseason games to try to get some players some extra innings that haven`t yet worked out everything.