TB 14, MIN 3: Well … That Just Happened

I've noticed in the past when Perez gets in trouble the pattern has worked like this: One walk + one hit = Mound Visit (followed by one or two outs). Today it was: Two walks + one hit = Mound Visit (followed by meltdown). I'm not saying that would have mattered that much, but I just noticed it.

Not to be argumentative, and I admit that Littell escaped the inning in which he entered, but I would hardly contend that he was effective. He gave up 10 hits and eight earned runs in just four innings. IMHO he was not effective until he had let the game get completely out of hand, and even then, he couldn't hold back the flood waters. He earned his boarding pass back to Rochester.

PS-It's a good day to read the minor league report...

I would imagine Littel's reward for eating innings tonight is a ticket back to Rochester. Hopefully anyway. The last guy in the bullpen needs to be available to have any value at all, and he's not available for a couple days now.

 

Also, I checked the MLB rules, and confirmed tonight's game counts as only one loss.

That is the one positive note!!

If Cruz is ready (he apparently took BP today), we could activate him and send down Littell tomorrow.

Yes, please.

This didn't happen when Garver was here.

Heh-heh. 

Perez was terrible. In defense of Perez, the defense behind him tonight was also terrible. How he got hung out to dry with 6 ER is beyond me.Just one game. Looking forward to a better effort tomorrow.

What a boost Polanco, Cruz, and Astudillo would be to this lineup tomorrow. Twins can't take TB lightly and expect to escape with easy wins. Need to, ya know, play the A team.

3 runs against Tampa is good. It wasn't our offense's fault tonight. If Perez was as sharp as we've grown accustomed to seeing him this year we win this game. 

Yep. If you are a reliever and pitch more than one inning for Rocco look out.

I commend Rocco for riding out 4.1 unwatchable innings with Littell and preserving the bullpen. This particular game was out of hand, but at least we didn't burn innings from the guys that we will need in more competitive games. 

Totally agree Bunt! Our pen looks to be in great shape going into tonight's tilt.  That is an accomplishment given that the Rays put up two touchdowns on the Twins yesterday.

In defense of Perez in the 3rd the walks to Garcia and Pham were a tough strike zone. 5 of the 8 balls could have went for strikes based on the ESPN gamecast strike box (or whatever it is called) and watching it on TV.

I will give Rocco credit for only using three pitchers in this game, how many times have we been blowing out a team and they run through relief pitchers.

I would imagine Littel's reward for eating innings tonight is a ticket back to Rochester. Hopefully anyway. The last guy in the bullpen needs to be available to have any value at all, and he's not available for a couple days now.

 

Also, I checked the MLB rules, and confirmed tonight's game counts as only one loss.

If I recall correctly, though, losses early in the season don't count as much as they do later in the season.

I think we all know out of 162 you are going to have some clunkers...Twins get back on track tonight and overall split the 4 game series against the Rays...that is a very good baseball team over there (copyright Gardy)...a split on the road in a 4 game set should be deemed successful.  Tampa is going to compete for the division in the East and certainly a wild card berth.  Win 2 in Tampa and take care of business in Cleveland and Detroit...6-4 road trip is .600 ball...I would take that right now!

Perez was terrible. In defense of Perez, the defense behind him tonight was also terrible. How he got hung out to dry with 6 ER is beyond me.Just one game. Looking forward to a better effort tomorrow.

 

What a boost Polanco, Cruz, and Astudillo would be to this lineup tomorrow. Twins can't take TB lightly and expect to escape with easy wins. Need to, ya know, play the A team.

Austidilo is no boost. He's a meme and hits ground outs like crazy. He is a liability in this line up and I pray once Garver comes back he is sent down or is sentenced to the bench where he belongs. Guy has been hitting .200 since his first 3 games. Thats not good.