Twins 2, Tigers 8: Sloppy and Lethargic in Detroit

Darn... I thought for sure that Tonkin was the answer to our problems! 

Looks like we have a fight on our hands. 

The big 3, you might say, that we were counting on the most:  Lopez is 1-2 and looks a little off right now, Correa is hurt (again), and Buxton is hitting .220 with almost no power.  Add to that Wallner is 1 for the season, Vazquez is 2 for the season, and Jeffers and Santana are 4 for the season, all 4 of whom played last night and the offense showed it.  Last, but not least, we can't continue to have the pen pitching 45% of the innings pitched forever.

There was a post some days ago that questioned if spring training actually got this team ready for the regular season, or was just a necessary evil we had to get through to avoid injuries.  He didn't put it into those exact words, of course, but I got the drift.  And he was dead on:  we were not ready for the regular season, and we better get ready in a hurry, before even more of the guys get hurt and it gets out of hand.  

This division is not as good as it looks right now, but it isn't nearly as bad as it was last year, either.  There is still more than enough time to get right, but we don't want to wait until the All Star break this time around, because 2nd place isn't going to be 10 games under .500 this year.  How about we start by winning 2 today?  

Season over. 

Wow...could this be a last place team? Whether it's due to injuries, or just plain inept play, this team is pretty bad right now. 

the article said:

 Willi Castro pitched once the game reached the proper MLB-state-approved run difference.

Is there actually such a thing now as a "proper run difference" for a position player to pitch?! And if so, what is the number?

On a somewhat positive note, what a joy it is to see Buxton playing center field again. Okay, he's among several guys not hitting much, but it's great that he's out there roaming in his old stomping grounds. And even though he coughed up a couple of runs, Tonkin DID strike out 5 batters in only 2 innings. And Funderburk is pitching well. But yeah, other than that, another depressing game, compounded by the injury to Correa. 

Decisions, decisons..... let's have our main roster players play minimal time during spring training so they don't get injured.......... Result..... they aren't ready for the start of the season...... and...... they still get injured. Hmmm.... How's the "all or nothing" approach at the plate working out? Hmmm.... How's Rocco's incessant and relentless lefty/righty matchups working? It's complete idiocy to have 1 of your players who is ACTUALLY hitting the ball (Kirilloff) sit the bench in favor of a guy (Santana) who's hitting .114 on the season. I saw this coming a mile away. Doesn't matter who's hitting and who's not, Rocco goes with his matchups and the good/hot player rides the bench. I mean, it's not like they need the offense, this team is scoring runs at will.... LOL! They got lucky and won the division last year despite Rocco's bad decisions. The competition within the division isn't going to be so easy this year.

On the bright side, if the Twins continue down this path they'll be forced to replace the manager.

Worst offense in baseball right now. I'm not just saying that. Twins rank 30th out of 30 teams in batting average and runs. Unwatchable. Royce Lewis seems to be the only guy that can save this team and we won't see him until the 4th of July. 

Couldn't have scripted a worse start to the season. I don't know how anyone can be positive or hopeful based on what we've seen. 

8 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

That was brutal and it comes on the day when ESPN has their writers making predictions. They're asked to come up with something that was startling and one of the writers chose Detroit to win the American League Central. Of course another one chose Kansas City. Minnesota needs to regain some respect

The way they have been playing they are not going to regain much respect.  I know it is early in the season, but as days go by they keep playing bad baseball and do not know when they will improve.

Our large INF surplus sure got depleted pretty quickly. Our INF stinks all a way around. CLE, KC &DET are hot (lucky to get those 2 wins in KC with Lewis). That hole could get pretty deep before Lewis comes back.  

Yes very frustrating indeed.  It's going to be tough if Correa is out for any substantial length of time.  He was actually playing very good.  But injuries not withstanding this team continues to play listless baseball.  Can we chalk up yesterday's subpar performance by Lopez to the weather?  Perhaps but it didn't overly affect Detroits pitching.  The final score was 8-2.  Twins blaming cold weather, rain outs, too many days off, poor umpiring, injuries, is a tiring refrain.  The team, like the first half of last year is becoming unwatchable.  

33 minutes ago, Fezig said:

On the bright side, if the Twins continue down this path they'll be forced to replace the manager.

what will be funny is how little of a difference it will make. If the players don't play better, changing the manager isn't likely to make much difference. This isn't a case of the Twins having an incompetent manager who has lost the team (what MN fans refer to as a "Les Steckel Situation"). It's a bad storm of poor play, some injuries, and ownership forcing a payroll cut.

Really thought the Twins were going to get rolling when they were taking good ABs against Skubal and pumping up his pitch counts in the 3rd & 4th, but they couldn't make him pay. You could see Lopez struggling with his grip in the weather on the other side.

Not a fun game. Team's in a real funk right now. Hope the Correa injury doesn't sink them deeper.

2 hours ago, davidborton said:

No one threw from the BP on Thursday and we are treated to amateur hour in MLB (sic).

The excuse will be that we have a doubleheader. So Willie Castro got the guy out. It still sends a bad message to the team and the fans. You're telling Jackson that we have no confidence in you to throw 6 more pitches and get 1 more out. You're telling your fans that the game is a joke and that this is a clown show.

Yes it's just 1 game and we're only 11 games in. But this is nonsense and a poor way to move ahead.

Ouch....

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/04/carlos-correa-leaves-game-with-oblique-strain.html

1 minute ago, Riverbrian said:

Every year we forget that this happens every year. 

 

Where's that "logjam" thread again.....