Twins 5, Angels 4: Buxton Busts Out as Gibson Glides

A while back Gibson had a really good game where he threw curve balls like 37% of the time.    Doesn't look like he has thrown it much since then.    Looked like a good pitch.     Santana regressing while Meija and Gibson progressing is ok with me.   Jorge for Santiago and the rotation looks ok.

I really want Buxton to turn into the star that he could turn into.

Great to see Bux have a nice game today, he needed that (and so did we all).  Here's hoping for slow, steady progress from him as the year goes on.  Hey, 2 sac flies from Adrianza, love seeing the little things done right. Good game and a happy 4th for all!

Nice to see Buxton having a nice day at the plate.  Gibson was a big surprise, at least to me.

Message to both:  Let's see you do it again.  

There are a lot of things for Twins fans, and the Twins themselves to worry about. Byron Buxton is not one of them.

Every time Buxton catches a ball in the gap that no one else would catch, we should add a "1 for 1, double" to his batting line.

Nice start by Gibson. At the time he was sent down, someone from the front office spoke about the reason on the Twins Insider Show. It wasn't mechanical but he needed to be more aggressive (may have wrong word). Molitor has referenced nibbling following nearly every start since his return. I sense that this might be harder to fix than a mechanical adjustment. It could be a career long battle for him.

With Gibson, the thing that is so unusual is that hitters do not often chase out of the zone, even when the ball crosses through it and down.  And, they also can hit his curve, when it is down and in on lefties.

He nibbles, he does not throw strikes when he should, but he also doesn't get the kind of help he needs from the hitters.

To me, that means, for whatever reason, his raw stuff is not that good.

A really, really good game overall. A couple of thoughts:

1] I've said for some time now, echoed by non-Twins announcers and press, that Gibson seems to have all the ability in the world to be at least a solid ML pitcher. But it seems at times as though he nibbles, tries to be perfect...as if he doesn't trust his stuff or his defense...and then gets in to trouble. The numbers and results seem to indicate a change since his demotion.

Haven't the Twins announcers been saying this too? I know I've heard it from Tony Oliva in the Spanish broadcasts.

I really want Buxton to turn into the star that he could turn into.

Hmmm. Sounds immoderate.

We left the game when Kintzler   gave up the leadoff hit in the ninth. I simply can't watch that guy pitch. I used to do the same thing with Guardado. It's maddening to see him put guys on base almost every single outing.

Gibson was still pitching to a Trout-less Angels lineup.  It's like pitching to the Twins without Sano. Actually, considerably worse. It's not a lineup that is going to scare you.  Let's see how Kyle fares against Baltimore.  Their season is going down the drain, but they still have dangerous offensive players.  They have 6 guys with 12 or more HR.