Twins 8, Rays 3

by Jesse on Apr 30, 2009 2:25 AM EDT in Game Threads

Twins finish April at .500.

Scott Kazmir was atypically touchable on Wednesday night, giving Minnesota all the run support they'd need in a four-run bottom of the first. Four walks and nine hits through just four innings made for a short night, and for most of the game the outcome was never in doubt.

On the other hand, Nick Blackburn put together his second consecutive quality start, allowing just a pair of runs in seven innings, giving up eighth hits and walking just one.

We'll leave it brief tonight, but summing it up: finishing this month at evens is the big picture. Considering how this team looked at times, that's an accomplishment.

Stars of the Game
#3: Brendan Harris (3-for-5, 2 R, RBI)
#2: Justin Morneau (3-for-5, 2 R, RBI, BB)
#1: Nick Blackburn (7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 3 K, BB)

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Things

Our three “big righties” are all hitting around .200. Joe Mauer hasn’t stepped on the field yet. Our starting pitching staff hasn’t really performed anywhere near expectations. And we’re .500. That’s probably something we should take happily.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 30, 2009 2:27 AM EDT reply actions

hmmm

I think you’re trying to make me feel better, optimistic even, but its not working.

Let me take it a step further with the right handed hitting (Player/OBP/SLG):
Cuddyer .318/.316
Crede .297/.409
Young .276/.315
Gomez .250/.293
Redmond .315/.258
Casilla .050/.050 (RH only)
Punto .118/.000 (RH only)

Yuck! But the bright spots are:
Morales .500/.500 (RH only)
Harris .372.475

by snolls on Apr 30, 2009 8:28 AM EDT reply actions

Steady and ready

I think the Twins could be poised to step up their game in May.

.500 isn’t all that bad when you look around the League. One or two games go the other way, and only a few teams would have a better record. As it stands, the Twins are in the thick of it, with some signs of improvement and Mauer rejoining the team. That’s something to feel good about.

Hopefully Crede will settle in.

We’re leaving too many guys on base, so there’s plenty of room for extra run production. And we need more consistency from the pitching staff to keep games close.

All in all, not a terrible April.

by twinpirate326 on Apr 30, 2009 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

There are a couple of ways to look at it

On the one hand, I don’t think the right handed hitters on this team are very good, and thus I think the offense is going to struggle some all season. On the other hand, they aren’t THIS bad, so things should get a little better. And they are lucky to be .500 given the run differential, so they are ahead of the game.

More globally, it could be argued that there are only 3 players on the roster who are overachieving—2 of them in part time duty. Harris, Morales, and Perkins. Maybe Kubel, maybe not. That’s gotta be good news for the rest of the year.

by Eric in Madison on Apr 30, 2009 9:52 AM EDT reply actions

+1

An argument could be made for Glen Perkins as well. However I don’t think he’s overachieving nearly as much as the rest of the rotation is underachieving. I think the Twins will be fine and I felt like at the beginning of the year if they could be right around .500 when Baby Jesus gets back they’d be doing pretty good. Well now they’ve done that, Baker and Liriano looked a lot better in their last outings, It looks like Gardy might be open to sliding Harris in the 2 hole while he’s hitting well and Crain should be back soon as well.

All in all, I’m optimistic about the team doing better in the coming months than they did in April. The biggest thing to be thankful for right now though, is a mediocre division.

Peyton's good but have you ever heard of Jeff George?

by halfchest on Apr 30, 2009 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Does Seem

Like there’s a lot of acrimony about the Twins start and all things considered, their record really isn’t that bad. They’ve also played a pretty tough schedule so far with teams like Seattle, Toronto & Boston and of course are missing Joe M. so all in all we are in decent shape (so far).

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by FishingMN on Apr 30, 2009 11:07 AM EDT reply actions

If you had told me the Twins would go 11-11 in April without Mauer...

…I would have been very happy. I think people focus too much on Pythag at this point. With only 22 games, a couple of blow-out losses can really skew the results.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 30, 2009 11:23 AM EDT reply actions