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Mets In Minny

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The Twins hosted their first interleague series this weekend at Target Field, also setting the record for coldest gametime start temperature in the four-year history of the ballpark.  If you’re confused about the new interleague play system, here’s an explanation: With the Houston Astros moving into the American League West Division this year, the American and National Leagues now have an equal number of teams.  This clears up some scheduling issues, allowing interleague play to be allowed all season long, rather than just in May-July.

The Mets are having quite the successful season so far, behind a league-leading catcher in John Buck.  Buck is batting .361 with 6 homers and becoming the fourth player in 92 years and third since 1999 to hit 19 RBI in the first ten games.  David Wright also cemented his place as a contemporary Twin-killer, who is now .464 with 10 RBI in seven career outings against Minnesota.

…Not.

Friday

The Mets batted around the order twice yesterday, in the first and second innings, scoring enough runs in the first inning (5) to tie the Twins offensive effort all game.  Then they scored that many again in the second.  The Mets also had three players with at least 4 RBI each for the first time in club history in the midst of a 16-run destruction of the Twins Vance Worley and bullpen that followed, who made themselves out to be dependable in the first two series of the year.

I didn’t have the luxury of actually watching this game, and I’m kind of glad I didn’t.  I was paying attention on my free MLB At-Bat app and got regular “ugh this is pathetic” text messages from those who were watching.  There’s not much to say about this game other than the Mets hitters who are hot stayed hot, the Twins played well enough to win a normal game, and the bullpen of 2013 looked a lot like the starters from last season.  Gardy doesn’t want to blame the weather.

Vance Worley, even after throwing a quality start against the Tigers to open the season, has been chased early and with extensive damages in his two starts following.  Worley has given up runs in the first inning in two out of this three starts this season, losing two of those starts and earning a no-decision as the Twins edged the Orioles last week.  Worley has got to find some better consistency if he wants to keep his spot at the top of the rotation.  He is by far and wide the worst of the Twins starters at this point and with Cole De Vries on the way back from the disabled list (he’s begun a rehab throwing program) and with a few career starts under his belt, look for Worley to be replaced within the next month if he doesn’t get his stuff together.  I would be in favor of Liam Hendriks to take Worley’s place while adding the fresh De Vries to the rotation, however Hendriks was sent down to make room for Diamond’s return to the Major League club.

Saturday

Scott Diamond made his first start of the year Saturday against the Mets, and it could not have gone much better. Diamond only gave up 2 hits in the first four innings before giving up 6 straight hits and three runs in the fifth, starting with a solo homer from Marlon Byrd. He only threw 78 pitches before turning the ball over to Josh Roenicke without finishing the fifth.  Roenicke gave up the fourth run, which was charged to Diamond, before handing the ball over to Casey Fien.

Sigh.  Fien is one of those pitchers I hate to see on the mound, but he proved me wrong on Saturday.  Fien didn’t allow any baserunners in the seventh or eight inning, setting down six straight batters.

From the time I turned on the game in the middle of the 5th, Diamond’s control seemed to begin to fade. It seemed like every ball he threw was a breaking ball or a cutting fastball that was directly over the plate. I don’t know if this was due to his coming off elbow surgery or making his first start or the chilly temperatures, but the pitches seemed to be quality pitches, only misplaced.

Scott Diamond (58) went 12-7 last season as a rookie.

Because of my method of catching these games, I had to listen to the Mets television personalities.  It was entertaining enough listening to them talk about where the ethnicity and heritage of Minnesota came from and their native climates, but I got annoyed pretty quickly.  In classical group-think the Twins were described as “overmatched” against Matt Harvey, the Mets starting pitcher, who didn’t given up a hit 6 and 2/3 innings on 6 strikeouts.  Morneau ended his bid for the seasons first no-hitter with a homer in the bottom of the 7th, his first homer of the season.  “Overmatched” isn’t a very good word.  The Mets had made some fielding mistakes but were lucky enough that the Twins can hit the ball high enough in the air for them to correct themselves.  Eduardo Escobar also tore the cover off the ball but Ike Davis made the catch before the ball got out of the infield.

Mauer and Doumit can’t have lost their ability to call games or place pitches, because Diamond and Roenicke are usually solid and dependable. The Mets, who went on a 16 run rampage on Friday and hit 7 straight in the 5th on Saturday, just have to be playing with a fire under their keisters.  Offensively, it’s not like the Twins can’t keep up. They did score 5 runs Friday. Obviously it wasn’t enough to overcome a score of 16, but it would have been enough to win more than a few of their previous games this season.

From the fielding perspective, Trevor Plouffe has looked a little off-center in this series against the Mets, making an error that could have saved Worley some trouble in Friday’s game and bobbling a ball in the disastrous 5th inning that sat Diamond down on Saturday.  Chris Parmelee and Aaron Hicks did well to chase down the Mets hits to the warning track and foul territory.

With one out, Mauer hit a long double to right-center in the bottom of the ninth, followed by a double to left from Willingham, making the game 4-2.  Morneau popped out and Doumit struck out to end the last-ditch, losing effort.  On the bright side, the Mets only scored in one inning, but the crooked number on the scoreboard was all the Mets needed to win their third series victory out of four possible this year.

I’m going to hope that the Twins can take Sunday’s game against the Mets to avoid a second straight sweep and a sixth straight loss.

I’m also going to hold on to hope that these Twins are just warm weather players.


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