Putrid Baseball

Guardians 3
Twins 1

Well, my 1st Twins game of 2024 certainly did one thing. It set a very low bar for any future games to clear.

On this sun-drenched Saturday, the biggest issue that has plagued the Twins throughout their opening week-plus reared its ugly head once again: BAAAAAD hitting.

There was some hope early. Joe Ryan quickly set down the Guardians in the 1st. Then a Correa walk was followed by an Alex Kirilloff triple and the Twins led 1-0.

But that was it.

8th hitting catcher David Fry hit a 3 run bomb off Ryan the next inning, and that was pretty much it for them too (they only had 2 guys in scoring position the final 7 innings), but they had the 1 really big hit that we never got.

The Guardians offered chances. Most absurd was when the Twins put the 1st 2 on in the 5th, again the 6th (plus a bases loading HBP with 1 out), and then again in the 7th, and did not get a single run out of any of those opportunities.

None of those baserunners were the result of hits. The Twins remained stuck on one hit until Correa singled with 2 outs in the 9th. I was kinda mad tbh. Haven't seen a 1 hitter in person since 2011.

Just an embarrassing display by this Twins lineup. It's a familiar story in the Baldelli era. They swing for the fences constantly, and when that doesn't work they often just cannot score runs. 

Leaving 11 on base with just 2 hits is bizarrely impressive. 0 for 11 with RISP. 14 strikeouts. Just a nothing performance. 

It's early. Yes. We know. But the issues already plaguing this team have been seen before. Julien and Wallner are having sophomore slumps. Kepler has gone back to being the unplayable waste he was til a flukey finish last year. Carlos Santana is giving them nothing. 

And the early returns indicate that this division might not be a pushover. Cleveland and Detroit have both started out very strong. The Twins may not have the luxury of dicking around until the middle of summer before figuring it out again. 


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