It’s one of those weird sunny but cold days here at Target Field, but hey, at least it’s not raining (*knocks on wood*).
The clubhouse remains loose after a day off, even with a 7-15 record to start the season. There weren’t many people around, but those that were were in good spirits. Miguel Sano really likes his Burnout mobile game.
“I kinda look at big picture,” said manager Paul Molitor. “The competitiveness of how we’ve played as opposed to where we stand and the exact record.”
Above is a video where Tyler Duffey talks about his health and how he plans to attack his start tomorrow.
Phil Hughes (1-3, 3.91 ERA) faces off against Michael Fulmer, a righty making his major league debut.
“We have enough information and video to kinda give us a little bit of an idea,” said Molitor about Fulmer. “Things always look a little bit different when you get in the batter’s box, and I’m sure there will be some dialogue in the dugout as the game unfolds early. People give other players an idea of what to expect.
“You hope that we’re patient with the young guy, give him a chance to maybe feel the nerves of his debut. You don’t want to be expanded on the zone on a guy with this kinda stuff, so if we’re patient and given good pitches to hit, we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”
As for Hughes, he said that his record does not indicate how well he’s pitched so far this season. Hughes has a 101 ERA+ and 1.145 WHIP in four games this season (25.1 innings).
“I’d like to see all our starters have a few more W’s in their record, but the way we’ve played early hasn’t been conducive to that happening, even when they’ve given us good starts. So Phil’s kinda fallen in that category as much as anybody,” said Molitor.
“He’s had a nice start to the season, we just need to back him up a little bit better.”
Injury report
Ervin Santana will have a throw day, but not a bullpen day, said Molitor.
“We’ll know more about Ervin tomorrow. The reports are that there’s been progress,” he said. “He’s gonna go out there and see where he is physically in terms of playing catch and those types of things.”
Not much has changed with Glen Perkins and Kyle Gibson.
“Glen I don’t think is getting very close yet, I don’t think there’s been a big change there,” said Molitor. “Kyle’s a little bit more … I think we still have some optimism there. Probably gonna be a little bit longer than his 15 days, but if he doesn’t have any setbacks, hopefully he’ll get out there and start throwing here relatively soon as well.”
Improved situational hitting
RISP issues killed the Twins during their down years, and obviously hurt them in their 0-9 start. Things have been better since then, however, although Molitor said the team isn’t doing much different.
“I don’t think there was a fundamental change,” he said. “Guys, I think, kind of understood the whole mindset of trying to get hits and slowing themselves down and realizing the pressure is on the pitcher as much as themselves.
“But we got away from it a little bit early, shows the mental side of it, and how it can be challenging, and how strong you can be when things are going a little bit adverse.
“Like we said when we were enduring that was you start to get a couple hits in that situation and things start to flow. Guys are a little bit more comfortable trying to get hits right now.”
Abad has been good
Fernando Abad has yet to give up a run in 9.2 innings pitched. The lefty was acquired from the Oakland A’s in the offseason and had to fight for a roster spot in Spring Training.
“Well, the numbers are awfully good,” said Molitor. “He can definitely get righties and lefties out, and he has a history of getting righties out better than lefties.
“But he’s been unblemished. He’s come out of jams, he’s got extended a couple of times. He’s definitely throwing strikes. He’s got confidence in all three of his pitches, which is really good to see.
“That’s one thing I know he’s gonna do, he’s gonna throw it over.”
Milone to the bullpen
Tommy Milone, on the other hand, is not off to a great start this season. He has an 0-1 record with a 5.40 ERA (73 ERA+), and has only pitched 20.0 innings in four starts.
“Maybe that would be a little bit unkind,” said Molitor when asked why he’s having trouble getting through the order a second time.
“He’s been pretty good at getting at through a couple times. With this amount of pitches he’s had to throw to do that, a lot of times he’s hitting the top or the middle of the order by that fifth inning, and that seems to be where the trouble has been occurring.
“I don’t know. The kind of stuff he brings, we know it has to be … he has to be on with all his pitches. And it seems like after they seem him a couple times around, they start to make adjustments, in terms of not expanding the zone, especially on that changeup.
“He’s a valuable guy, it’s just right now I think our team shapes up better. We’re better off putting him back out there in the bullpen here for a while.”
As for his exact role, nothing is set in stone.
“It’s been such a mixed bag out there, for our guys being overused and how we’ve had to interchange roles a little bit,” added Molitor.
“I like his length, probably more from the left side than I would in a short-term situation, since we have a couple other lefties out there. It could change day-to-day, but right now it’s left-handed length that he would provide.”
Make sure to listen to our latest video game podcast, Procedurally Generated, with Trevor May. He genuinely loves World of Warcraft and the new Hearthstone expansion.
Also, Brandon, Chris Schad and I discussed the Twins yesterday on Midwest Swing. Schad literally ended up in Plainview after Wednesday’s game.
Brandon (@Brandon_Warne) and I (@tschreier3) are covering the team this year, of course. And you should hit up Schad (@chrischad) if you want to party. The guy’s nuts.
