This one has stunk so far, but it isn't without positives.
Good: Broadcast in HD
Bad: Bremer & Blyleven are still the announcers
Good: Blackburn's looked great tonight, striking out more than I'd expect, inducing plenty of ground balls, and pounding the strike zone.
Bad: The Twins "offense" has no runs through 6 and Saunders has thrown 59 pitches. I make the pitcher work harder in MLB 08 and I swing at everything.
Good: Punto got a hit
Bad: Morneau's hit like Punto since about July of last year and has accounted for 4 outs in 3 at-bats tonight
Good: Gardy's lineup makes sense tonight. No need to play Mauer against a lefty if he's going to sit one of the next two games and Lamb is terrible against lefties.
Bad: That means Monroe and Punto are in the lineup. It sucks, even if it is the right move.
Good: MLB Extra Innings free preview is going on, allowing me to watch competent offenses
Bad: Jeff Brantley is a commentator for the Reds
Blackburn uncorked a wild pitch with a runner on 3rd to give up the first run of the game and is now in line for the loss. This is why using wins and losses is dumb for pitchers.
I might update this again before the end of the game, but the Twins offense is terrible tonight and will be terrible for many more nights throughout the season.
Before I go, another prediction--the bullpen, as a whole, is going to be significantly worse than last year.
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13 comments:
That game sucked. Anyways, why will the bullpen be worse this year? I'm not arguing, I think bullpen's are fairly random, I have seen this in several places though and can't figure out why.
Nathan and Neshek are awesome, possibly the best 1-2 punch in the league.
Rincon's numbers are heading the wrong direction in a hurry. Relievers often just fall off a cliff, this could be Rincon's year to do that.
Reyes...he won't be as good as 2006, but hopefully not as bad as last year.
Guerrier dramatically out-pitched his ability last year, he'll regress but should still be productive.
Brian Bass wasn't able to crack the Royals before spending last year in AAA for the Twins, I don't expect much from him.
Crain is coming back from pretty major surgery and will probably be really up and down.
I guess there's a chance the overall numbers won't be much worse, but I think there will be more leads lost in the middle innings than most Twins fans are used to seeing.
And with what will likely be a bottom-5 offense, there just isn't much margin for error.
Gardy's bullpen management has been mostly great, with the exception of occasionally falling in love with lefty-righty match-ups (he's far from alone with this) and he absolutely rode Neshek into the ground last year. I'm concerned he'll do that again if Neshek turns out to be his only reliable non-closer.
Snacks - still want to make that bet that the Twins score less runs than last year.
I'm going to the game tomorrow. I'm predicting a Guerrero homerun (or two) and Slowey doesn't get out of the fourth.
W - After Blackburn notches win # 14 I am going to rename this rag Down With The Hoff. I will also expect you to move closer because a slave does me no good leaving in Maplewood.
On a serious note. The man pounded the strike zone and was able to make it through 7 IP in 86 pitches. That was impressive. I am excited to watch him pitch this year.
On top of his 44 scoreless inning streak he was also named the Arizona Fall League MVP.
Blackburn looked impressive last night. It wasn't one of those Slowey/Baker one run in 7 innings performances where you cringe on every pitch and can't figure out how he managed to do it - his stuff looked good and he located it well. WWWW, I would be worried about that bet if I was you, if the offense was evenly marginally competent he'd have his first win already and if he keeps pitching like this there should be many more to come.
Correction from my last post - Hoff is only a 1/2 trick pony according to some more stats. The "Hoff" only shot 36% from three (40 of 109) on "contested shots" (i.e. a defender was on him) as opposed to 54% (30 of 55) when he was wide open. So all we need is teams not to play defense on him and he will be a star.
I'm not worried about Blackburn getting 14 wins. Look at that offense. You should be worried about our bet, Snackies.
Thanks for breaking down game film all last night to uncover those fascinating nuggets of info but The Hoff was yesterday.
Still waiting for dawgs apology to snacks? tick tock dawg!
Thanks for the 3 innings Slowey....what a shit house!
Kubel, Kubel, Kubel!!!
The Bruce Dickinson has this to say: The Twins have a crappy offense, the only prescription is more Kubel!
I told you jerks Slowey wouldn't get out of the fourth.
Don't be so negative WWWWWWW.
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