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Giving up a ton of hits, home runs and an ERA of 5.77 = LOSING!
It also equals a redundant take! I know last week the take of the week was on the starting pitching and it would be great to have a different take this week but the pitching is the obvious reason why the Twins are losing 3 out of every 4 games in the first 20 games of the season.
If your team is giving up the 3rd most hits, the most earned runs and the 2nd most home runs, your not going to be celebrating too much! For the longest time the Twins were winning with Pitching and Defense. That’s been the “Twins Way” and would always give the Twins a chance to win games and the division. Carl Pavano leads the staff with a 4.91 Earned Run Average (ERA), not counting bullpen pitchers where Alex Burnett has an 0.77 ERA! I’ll say that again. Alex Burnett has a 0.77 ERA to lead the bullpen! He’s been pitching great so far this season!
Obviously with 142 games to play, there’s plenty of time for the pitching to get better. Every pitcher in the starting rotation should pitch better as the season goes along. Francisco Liriano won’t have an ERA over 11 all season long and Liam Hendriks looks like he has the “stuff” to post a decent ERA by the end of the season, down from the 6.89 ERA he has now. Jason Marquis and Nick Blackburn, with ERAs above 7, will get closer to their career ERAs of 4.5 or so. The starters will start getting more quality starts and we’ll see what that leads to, hopefully more wins!
It’s sad because the offense has stepped up and given the team a chance to win but it’s hard to ask them to score 6-7 runs a game in order to win. Yes, the offense could have, or maybe should have, come through in some situations, mainly the bases-loaded situations, but they’ve done enough to win some games where the pitching wasn’t getting the job done.
We’re in for a rough season if the pitching doesn’t get better quickly. Sadly, with a 6-16 record, the Twins are only 6 games back of division leader Cleveland. That being said and with where the Twins are, nobody should be looking or worrying about the division right now. Get your team playing good baseball, pitching good baseball and start winning some games. The theory goes that you get back to .500 before you start thinking about catching the division leader.
The first 20 games were filled with opponents that were either in the playoffs or in contention for the playoffs last season except for the season opening series in Baltimore (and one against Kansas City.) Did the Twins need some time to get it going this season?
The Twins have already dealt with some injuries and other incidents that have caused pitchers to miss starts or delay their season so let’s see where they are after the next 20 games where they get some division opponents and maybe some “average” opponents. There are no easy teams but there are definitely some teams that should be easier to pitch and hit against, right?
That’s my take! What’s your take on the Twins last week? Will the losing continue? Will they right the ship and start winning some games?
Tell us what you think in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!
As always….GO TWINS!
