Twins Keep It Simple, Defeat Red Sox 2-1

Not to beat a dead horse but how many times with Gardy at the helm did an infielder playing the outfield misplay a fly ball that cost us a run and our pitcher then shut out the other team the rest of the way for the win.   I am guessing zero times.   For that matter how often did we get 5 quality starts in a row or have Pelfrey go 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA under Gardy.    I like Molitor but still think the credit thus far goes to our pitching coach..   

Molitor gets credit for a few of the small things that separates good managers from average managers.

- Base running

- Bringing Perkins into the 8th inning

It seems that he encourages the young players.

Neil Allen (from Sarasota) may be the pitching coach but obviously the manager has influence on pitch selection and strategy.

Not to beat a dead horse but how many times with Gardy at the helm did an infielder playing the outfield misplay a fly ball that cost us a run and our pitcher then shut out the other team the rest of the way for the win.   I am guessing zero times.   For that matter how often did we get 5 quality starts in a row or have Pelfrey go 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA under Gardy.    I like Molitor but still think the credit thus far goes to our pitching coach..   

That horse is D E A D.  Smelly, even   :-)

The difference is simply this:  after 4 90+ loss years, Terry Ryan did something that hadn't been seen in, how many decades??  As a player, you can take only so much losing without a big change.  The cleansing of the coaching staff is a big deal to player.  It gives them hope.  They try a little harder, they concentrate a little harder.

Let's see how far they get with the current team.  If the Twins are still in the ballpark of .500 by the All Star break, let's see what TR will do to jackup the team for a playoff run!

When I fell asleep last night Pelfrey had thrown over 80 pitches in the 5th inning and I said to my wife that there was no way the Twins would hold on to win 2-1. I thought for sure that Boston would score more runs. I was shocked to wake up this morning & see that Pelfrey went on to pitch 2 more innings & that Perkins was brought in during the 8th.

SarasotaBill, on 27 May 2015 - 05:51 AM, said:

Molitor gets credit for a few of the small things that separates good managers from average managers.

- Bringing Perkins into the 8th inning

I was so happy to see this! I hope Molitor continues to show forward thinking like this. Gardy would most definitely have not used Perkins in the 8th & the Twins would probably have given up at least 2 runs in the 8th because of it and thus would have lost.

I was most interested in Molitor's response to the question about the Twins' ability to score early runs. While he said these things are streaky - he does emphasize fast starts and being ready to play from the first pitch - which sounds a bit like coachspeak.  

I don't know if there is more to it - but the team seems to have an uncanny ability to jump on starting pitching early.  It is getting to be such a trend that you wonder if there is something in their data analytics framework that is giving them an edge.   

Though the Twins have continued their timely hitting, it's interesting that over the past 14 days their staff xFIP and ERA are basically the same. There also has been a huge split between starters and relievers - 

Rank: ERA, FIP, xFIP

Starters: 5th, 2nd, 6th

Relievers: 30th, 30th, 26th

I was most interested in Molitor's response to the question about the Twins' ability to score early runs. While he said these things are streaky - he does emphasize fast starts and being ready to play from the first pitch - which sounds a bit like coachspeak.  

 

I don't know if there is more to it - but the team seems to have an uncanny ability to jump on starting pitching early.  It is getting to be such a trend that you wonder if there is something in their data analytics framework that is giving them an edge.   

It has been fun to watch but again, mainly because of the pithing.    If our 3 or 4 runs scored in the first 3 innings ended up with 4-3 losses because we didn't score after that we would be looking at scoring early from the viewpoint that we can't score middle and late.   Still gets back to pitching and timely hitting.    Gardy and Anderson had nothing to do with Pelfrey and Nolasco being hurt but does Allen get any credit for Pelfrey picking up a pitch and most of the pitchers emphasizing the changeup?    Gardy did just fine when his pitchers were throwing quality starts and his offense was hitting .290 with RISP.    He did fine to the tune of 6  division titles in 9 years.   IMO managers are mostly overrated.   I didn't give him a lot of credit when he was winning so it seems just to not blame him much for the losing seasons.   Just seems like the batting and pitching coaches and injuries have much more impact. Like I said Gardy was regularly lambasted for playing infielders in the outfield last year and he didn't have 4 guys that could play there like Molly does.   Pelfrey holds the lead  so the 2nd inning misplay is not what the focus is on.   How often did Pelfrey or any of our pitchers do that last year?   

Home sick today, so I will listen to the game and be on the game thread.

Best thing is "don't over think and enjoy" as I tend to do when not at work

I am enjoying the Twins winning ways and will not over think it or missing work today

Should be fun at Target Field today!

Enjoy the run!!!! 9 games ABOVE .500????? REALLY???? Not my fever doing strange things???

The pessimist in me keeps looking at the calendar and saying "Its only May."  But then another voice says, "Yeah but it's the end of May.  Santana is suspended.  Hughes hasn't been the Hughes of 2014.  Fair share of injuries.  And they are only a game out of FIRST!  Ahead of the Tigers!"  Well said, John, let's enjoy it and not overthink/overstress about it.

BTW as an English teacher, my above post is shamefully written in terms of spacing and punctuation.......

I would have never guessed in a million years that Mike F'in Pelfrey would have put together this kind of streak pitching for the Twins. Since he's been doing so well, does that mean he will remain on the team for the remainder of the season? Or do you think he will still be shopped around in July?

I don't see how you don't listen to offers.  Pelfrey is gone at seasons end unless Ryan signs him to another extension, which in that case they might as well trade Alex Meyer and Trevor May with Ervin Santana coming back.  

One thing is for certain if Pelfrey's run continues into July he will be the most valuable he's ever been as a Twin.  The same goes for Nolasco who has strung together several good starts now.  If I was the Twins GM i'd be looking to deal both these starters and open up rotation spots for Santana and one other starter (Meyer, Berrios or Rogers).  

Not to beat a dead horse but how many times with Gardy at the helm did an infielder playing the outfield misplay a fly ball that cost us a run and our pitcher then shut out the other team the rest of the way for the win.   I am guessing zero times.   For that matter how often did we get 5 quality starts in a row or have Pelfrey go 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA under Gardy.    I like Molitor but still think the credit thus far goes to our pitching coach..   

Well, you better like Molly, he chose Allan , as much as I like Big Train Willis, i am happy with the Allan choice.

Well, you better like Molly, he chose Allan , as much as I like Big Train Willis, i am happy with the Allan choice.

I do like Molly.  Always have and I never really cared all that much for Gardy but I don't really think there is that much between the two.     After 25 games I read that someone thought the Twins were 3 or 4 games better with Molly.   Of course there is no way to tell but I am pretty sure that even if a manager made a lot of dumb move and another made a lot of smart moves it wouldn't account for that much.    Some dumb moves work out and some smart moves fail.    If you pinch hit Nick Punto for Derek Jeter in late innings in high leverage situations a 100 times Punto would get a hit 25 times as opposed to Jeter's 31 times and not all of those would mean the difference in the game.     If you teach Pelfrey a new pitch that makes him a 2.7 ERA guy rather than a 4.5 ERA game it will make more impact.   I am simplifying obviously but the concept is why I think the coach has more influence.        I am fine with Molitor even if they do lose another 70 games.