MIN 4, TOR 1: Pitching Staff Redemption Night

The good news is, this team isn't doomed to a season of futility. Two or three savvy moves, and the Twins could be very competitive. 

This is the way it's supposed to work! It's the way the last 2 previous nights were supposed to go!

Look, your lineup, your starter, your pen are all going to fail at times. It happens. But this team has the loom of being fun and interesting and being competitive. We have a winning record despite letting a few games slip away.

As Jumbo stated above, it just feels like we are a couple savvy moves away from really realizing full potential.

Man, it’s so frustrating this front office didn’t pick up one good reliever. The cascading nature of bullpens would turn it from a negative to neutral.

And with this offense, you just need neutral at this point.

Agreed!

I still believe in May, despite a rough start. I like Mejia's arm, despite a hot/cold start to the season. I could go on and on but won't. Doesn't it just feel like we're a couple arms away from being a reaĺy good team?

Good to see a solid all around game from the squad. My hope is that once they get on a more regular schedule and Rocco settles in to his new role that the team stabilizes. While the bullpen still scares the hell out of me (in a bad way), I'm hoping that there is some organic improvement once Rocco knows what he's got and where they excel. Even then though, I foresee plenty more of what's played out over the last couple of games.

Didn't catch all of the game but what I saw I liked. I don't mind Kepler in the lead-off spot, but I'd rather see Polanco there. He's good. 

 

Have they worn these blue retro-esque unis before? I can't watch every game (though usually can at least listen), so this was my first view of them. Not bad. 

They are new this year and they have won them multiple times this year at home.  

Good to see a solid all around game from the squad. My hope is that once they get on a more regular schedule and Rocco settles in to his new role that the team stabilizes. While the bullpen still scares the hell out of me (in a bad way), I'm hoping that there is some organic improvement once Rocco knows what he's got and where they excel. Even then though, I foresee plenty more of what's played out over the last couple of games.

yeah... have to agree here. You can argue that the pen has cost us 2 or 3 games already too. Granted, having Kimbrel or someone similar wouldn't have affected all of those games, but it certainly would have helped. 

The only way to win with this pen is to use em. That's how they will get confidence and be sharp . That was my beef with Molitor and why I liked brining Mejia in last night. If it had been done sooner and he hadn't sat for a week we might have gotten another w. Of course you got to pick your spots and put guys in position where they can succeed.

My issue with Rocco is when he sits Cruz.  Down the line maybe Cruz will need a day off, but his job is simply to swing the bat and at this point in the season Cruz should always be in the mix.  Somehow he had a day off and we lost, we pinch hit Ehire and not Cruz and we lost.  Coincidence?  He is the big bopper and we should not be using his spot to give other players a start. 

yeah... have to agree here. You can argue that the pen has cost us 2 or 3 games already too. Granted, having Kimbrel or someone similar wouldn't have affected all of those games, but it certainly would have helped. 

If anyone watches PTI on ESPN you will hear Tony complain about the Nats bullpen and Mike complain about the Cubs bullpen on a weekly basis.    They have been doing it for years.  The Twins pen came in and saved a win in the opener.    1st game against KC they came in to a tie game and went 3 innings to win in extra innings.   The next day they came in gave up 0 earned runs over 4+ innings allowing the Twins to come back and win 7-6.   1st game against Philly the pen came in with a 3-2 lead and didn't give up a run over 4 innings.   Against Detroit they came in with a 3-2 lead and held it for 3 scoreless to win 3-2.    They did another nice job last night.   You may think they have cost us a few games but how does that stack up against the rest of the league?     Yes, Kimbrel would be an upgrade but he blew 5 saves last year and was a whisker away from blowing several in the playoffs.  You can say they blew 2-3 games.   I can say they did better than league average in 5-6 games to get us wins.   Hurts to lose a couple in a row the way they did but a few games have been on the offense in not scoring runs and several on the starters.   Overall, I am pretty happy to be 9-6.    

Odorizzi was really good except for one thing: he couldn't finish off hitters efficiently enough. He had his curve going nicely, but struggled to get hitters to offer at it out of the zone with 2 strikes, and it ran up his pitch count. He did a nice job of getting Ks up in the zone with the fastball, but seems to generate a lot of foul ball down in the zone (also running up that pitch count). I can't figure out if he needs to adjust location or pitch mix, but the stuff was certainly good enough last night.

Man, that Polanco contract extension sure looks smart right now, huh?