Coming into the Boston series Monday night, the Twins were poised to make a strong statement. This team was talented, this team is not to be overlooked this year and this team is still in contention in the AL. Those statements were made, but they ended up being said about the Red Sox, not the Twins.
Instead, as we get ready for the series finale tonight, it’s the Red Sox that will depart this series with great momentum and looking like they’re alive again in the AL. Missed opportunities and downright horrid pitching set the Twins back two games to start the series, which leaves them sitting at a sorry 5-13 and most of the early season optimism has completely evaporated.
Recap:
Monday night’s game was there for the taking. The Twins rode an impressive 4 run 4th inning to take the lead after Marquis gave up 3 earned runs in a shaky first few innings. Marquis locked thing down in the middle innings and the Twins pushed across another to move to a comfortable 5-3 going into the 7th inning. Then things fell apart.
Ron Gardenhire, in an attempt to save the overworked bullpen, let Marquis take the mound with a 97 pitch count in the 7th. You could see early on that Marquis was almost out of gas. After giving up a single to Saltalamacchia who stuck a sharp single to the outfield, Twin killer Cody Ross stepped up to the plate. Marquis left a pitch up. Ross absolutely crushed it to left and the game was tied.
The Twins lead off the 8th with an impressive triple from Jamey Carroll (the old guy can run!) but failed to move the go ahead run home as Mauer grounded out weakly, Willingham struck out, Morneau walked and Doumit crushed a liner to third – right into Youkilis’ glove.
Capps pitched well in the 9th, but Cody Ross simply took a good Capps pitch and crushed it to right field.
In the bottom of the inning, Trevor Plouffe briefly put the hope of a walk-off home run into Twins fans hearts as he crushed a fly ball to left center – but it didn’t quite have enough carry to leave the park (it end up about two feet shy of the wall).
I’m not going to spend much time on Tuesday’s game except to say this; Blackburn looked poor. He probably should have thrown in AAA once or twice just to work on pitch location. He seemed to leave too many pitches up and the Red Sox’s good offense capitalized. Maloney was just as bad, giving up an additional 5 earned runs. If you want to be the long reliever, you cannot cough up as many runs as the ineffective starter.
Josh Beckett had no business taking the mound in the 2nd inning. He was arguing on the mound about balls and strikes DURING the 1st inning and was very obviously yelling at the home plate umpire after leaving the 1st “That’s {expletive} five outs!” If a batter even questions balls and strikes, he gets tossed. (See: Span in New York last week). Beckett ran his mouth and was way out of line – he should have been tossed after the first inning.
Looking Forward:
Thankfully, the Twins send Liam Hendriks to the mound tonight. Hendriks has been the Twins most consistent pitcher, but has yet to earn a win this season. Hendriks has been able to keep the ball down this year, and has not really allowed an “It’s all going to heck” inning this year. (Vigorously knocking on wood).
The Twins really need to salvage tonight’s game so they can have some form of momentum heading into the Kansas City series. A win tonight still puts the Twins in position to go 4-2 during this home stand. (Granted, that means they will have to sweep the Royals, but with the way the Royals are playing – they should be able to do that).
A 4-2 run would put the twins at 9-13 and still alive in the central. (Technically, every team is still alive in any race and it’s far too early to count anyone out – but I think the Twins need to hover around .500 for the beginning of the year until they can start to become more consistent).
I still believe in this team, but my confidence has taken a bit of hit after the past two days (last night especially). That 11-2 beat down was reminiscent of last season’s team.
Win tonight and take advantage of a skidding Royals squad (losers of 12 straight) to regain some ground in the central. Go Twins!
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