MIN 4, HOU 10: Springer and Bregman and Altuve... Oh My!

I didn't catch why we are starting Stewart tomorrow? That seems like raising a red flag to me. Is it a trickle down effect from the double header Saturday? Gosh it seems a little early for nobody to pitch on 3 days rest. Im assuming the one they are protecting is Berrios? Whoever was supposed to go on Friday i guess is who is being bumped up.

I wonder who's going down ...

I am curious as to why Rocco didn't bring in the Jolly Roger if his intent was only to get the one out against one of the better left-handed hitters around...Nevertheless, when your team plays the Astros, I just feel like you have to keep scoring. When we couldn't muster another run after scoring three early, it was like the tension on the rope was ever increasing with each and every pitch. (And of course, the Astros made us pay for walks and errors. You're rarely going to stave off disaster when those two are combined against a team like the Astros.)

This bullpen will always struggle to hold down productive offenses like the Astros. 

Stewart has surprised before. Didn't he pitch a great game against Houston last year, in fact? He just can't walk guys.

The walks. The walks. The walks. Enough already. Twins pitchers should not be walking guys ike Tyler White or Yuli Gurriel. Goodness.

Gibson, Odorizzi, Pineda and Perez...a couple of average veterans, a guy coming off a major injury, and a rebuilding project. Good grief it looks like the staff of a team like the Orioles or Royals.

Gio Gonzalez is available now...what do you all think of that guy?

Seriously that Houston lineup is stacked. I don't know how you can win a playoff series against them without elite pitching.

People complain about trading Pressly and what an awesome pitcher he is.

Well, it may be that Houston knows how to coach pitching.

Jesus, Wade Miley looked like Cy Young last night. Wasn't he rubbish in Boston and other cities before Houston?

Not sure I understand the logic of Stewart over Littell. Stewart’s first start of the year was good. The last two were terrible. By contrast, Littell’s first start was bad but his most recent two were pretty good. His last start was 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K.

Really liked what the FO did last July, picking up many very good prospects.  The one trade that bothered me a bit was the Pressley deal.  There is a chance Alcala could be special and this deal may look good for the Twins in the long run.  But today, Pressley would take away a lot of the question marks from our pen.

People complain about trading Pressly and what an awesome pitcher he is.

 

Well, it may be that Houston knows how to coach pitching.

 

Jesus, Wade Miley looked like Cy Young last night. Wasn't he rubbish in Boston and other cities before Houston?

2.57 ERA with Milwaukee last year.   Sometimes its just guys figuring stuff out.    Twins seem to do just as well against guys throwing 96 as they do against guys throwing 89.       Walks, multiple errors generally contribute greatly to 3 run homers.   Its not a good recipe no matter who you play.   Not the end of the world losing to Houston but would prefer it be more their doing than our own undoing.   

I think im going to use tonight to finish cleaning up and mowing my back yard. As it stands now this game is going to be a blow out that wont even be worth turning on. Astros 10 - T-ins 3   with us scoring 2 meaningless runs in the 8th. At least we got one out of them! 

Losing this game was absolutely no big deal and better 10-4 than 5-4. Just chalk it up as one of the 60 guaranteed losses that you can count before the season even starts. All they have to do tonight is pretend that Verlander is still with Detroit. 7 of 10 games are against Astros and 4 of next 5 at Target. 4 of those 7 in the W column would be great but I'll take 2 of 3 vs Os and a home split with the Stros even if Twins lose today. So far they are right on track.

Duffey was rooouuugghhhh, looked shook out there. Hildy had an uncharacteristically bad inning as well... But those things will happen to a middling bullpen like ours, I'm kind of glad they fell apart against a team like Houston instead of a much more beatable squad like anyone in the AL Central.

I'm guessing Duffey is sent down to make room for Stewart? I'm not ready to give up on DuffMan yet, but what happened to that nice breaking ball that he used to be able to get swings and misses on?

I am curious as to why Rocco didn't bring in the Jolly Roger if his intent was only to get the one out against one of the better left-handed hitters around...

Perhaps he was still thinking today would be a "Bullpen day" and wanted to save Rogers arm to get a few innings out of him? Not sure bringing him in to face one batter would affect that though...

I never would have guessed this pitching staff wasn't all that good..... Can't wait for next year when the starters are Berrios and four random guys.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Are both on regular rest? Perhaps it would be Stewart's regular day to pitch and that's not the case with Littell?

Stewart pitched on the 18th. He would be on 5 days. Littell pitched on the 19th. He would be on 4.

Angel Hernandez should be fired.  I'm sure Houston would agree too.  

Not sure I understand the logic of Stewart over Littell. Stewart’s first start of the year was good. The last two were terrible. By contrast, Littell’s first start was bad but his most recent two were pretty good. His last start was 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K.

My guess would be that Stewart is a groundball pitcher, in a flyball hitters park.

My guess would be that Stewart is a groundball pitcher, in a flyball hitters park.

Stewart has allowed more flyballs than groundballs this year.

For their respective careers, Littell has a GO/AO ratio of 1.3. Stewart’s is 1.7.

I never would have guessed this pitching staff wasn't all that good..... Can't wait for next year when the starters are Berrios and four random guys.

A member of Twinkie Town just predicted what our pitching staff will look like in the next few years. You'll recognize all the names. Doesn't look like we are going to sign one of those free agent starting pitchers to a terrible contract.

Good luck with that next year, which was what the post was about. You think four new pitchers are likely to create a good staff?

No great team builds only thru the draft or trades.

I believe we signed 5 or 6 free agents. They seem to be working out fairly well. Too bad about Darvish. He's not real popular on the Cubbie fan boards.