Photo Credit: Michael Donovan via Compfight
Welcome to the 2012 Minnesota Twins Take of the Week!
Even though this is the 2nd week of the 2012 Minnesota Twins season, this is my 1st Twins Take of the Week! That’s because I just had a thought to post my thoughts on a weekly basis literally minutes ago.
Here’s my Twins Takes of the Week for the 2nd week of the season.
The starting pitching needs to get a lot better!
This is obvious but it still needs to be said. Losing Scott Baker for the season is quite a blow to the starting rotation although the bigger blow might be Francisco Liriano’s horrible start to the season. Pavano and Blackburn have basically been their normal selves. Swarzak pitched well in his first two starts but got lit up last night in the series finale in New York. Jason Marquis didn’t pitch great but got out of some tough jams and never gave up the lead in his first start while getting his first win as a Twin. Liam Hendriks pitched about as well as you could ask from a young pitcher but still lost 4-3 in his only start against Texas. He allowed 1 run on 7 hits in 6 innings. Glen Perkins ended up taking the loss in that game.
Other thoughts on Week 2:
The Minnesota Twins bats finally woke up from the offseason and have given the team a chance to win some games after an 0-4 start. After scoring only 6 runs in the first 4 games (1.5 runs per game), the Twins have scored 42 runs in their last 9 games (4.66 runs per game) and have won 4 of those 9 games. That record won’t get it done but at least they are in most of those games with a chance to win. They do need to get better at capitalizing on chances to score though. Way too many runners left on base already and too many bases loaded opportunities with nothing to show for it.
It was very nice to see Justin Morneau have a break out series in New York. He went 5 for 11 in the 3 games he was in the lineup with 3 home runs, 4 RBIs, 6 runs scored with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts and is now hitting .267 with a .353 on-base percentage while slugging .578 for an OPS (On-base Plus Slugging percentage) .931 for the season.
Josh Willingham will take a 13-game hitting streak to Tampa Bay as he has a hit in every game this season and is now hitting .340, getting on-base at a .411 clip and slugging .700 for a 1.111 OPS with 5 home runs, 9 RBIs, 9 runs scored with 4 walks and 13 strikeouts. He even has a stolen base.
Interesting fact so far this season for the Twins. Before the season started if you were asked who would be the last pitcher to be scored on, how many people would’ve guessed…..Alex Burnett? Huh? How many? NONE OF YOU! I wouldn’t have either but Alex has pitched very well to begin the season and maybe he’s showed the coaching staff that he’s finally turned a page in his career. He has pitched in 6 games, going 8.1 innings, giving up 8 hits while walking one and striking out 4 for a 1.08 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched).
Gardy has even put Alex in some high stress situations. Tonight in New York, Alex was brought into the game in the bottom of the 6th with the Twins trailing 7-6, a man on first and no outs and he was able to get out that inning and the next inning with a couple inning ending double plays from Robinson Cano & Russell Martin. I’m happy for Alex and hopefully he can keep pitching well as the season goes on.
The Twins head to Tampa Bay to face the Rays for a 3-game series that starts on Friday night then they start a 6-game homestand on Monday starting against the Boston Red Sox & the Kansas City Royals:
Friday, April 20th – 6:10pm CST
- @ Tampa Bay – Liam Hendriks (0-0, 1.50 ERA) vs Matt Moore (0-1, 5.54 ERA)
Saturday, April 21st – 6:10pm CST
- @ Tampa Bay – Carl Pavano (1-1, 5.23 ERA) vs James Shields (2-0, 3.38 ERA)
Sunday, April 22nd – 12:40pm CST
- @ Tampa Bay – Francisco Liriano (0-2, 11.91 ERA) vs Jeff Niemann (0-2, 4.50 ERA)
What’s your take on my Twins Take, your take on the Twins so far this season and how do you think the Twins will do next week?
Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter or TwinsDaily.com!
