First Pitch: 12:05pm CDT
TV: FS-N
Radio: Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy: Bless You Boys
The biggest reason Pavano has been as effective as he's been this season, even when he hasn't had his best stuff, is because he's not walking anybody. One walk through 23.1 innings is outstanding, and over the course of a full season puts Pavano on pace to walk about 9 hitters. That's insane. He will walk more than that, but for now it's fun to look at.
It would be good to see Pavano's slider get back to last year's form at some point. In 2009 his fastball was extraordinarily ineffective, but that was off-set by the fact that his breaking ball and his off speed pitches were both good selections. Through four starts this season the slider hasn't been terrible, but it hasn't been good either. At least not according to FanGraphs.
He's had three quality starts in four opportunities this year. Another one today should give the Twins their seventh series victory.
It's been a long few years for Dontrelle. That high leg kick used to be awesome, but now Willis is just another pitcher. And he's only 28. Willis struggles with control, especially when he can't get his upper-80s fastball to hit its spots (he throws the fastball three out of every four pitches). When he can't do that, his slider and changeup are used to nibble. His pitch count spikes, and then he's out of the game.To be fair, he's had a couple of good starts this season, and his numbers are somewhat skewed by a terrible one-inning performance out of the bullpen last weekend. Additionally, if he can place his fastball and keep hitters off-balance by showing the breaking and off speed pitches, then who knows...we could see a Willis flashback.
Today the Twins just need to be patient. If he's laying that fastball over the plate, batters from both sides should be able to take advantage (although Willis has historically been better versus left-handed hitters). It should be a fun contest today, catching two former Marlins hurlers face off. In their early 20's, both of these guys were thought of pretty highly.