Twins (Paddack) vs Brewers (Ross): 4/3/24, 12:10pm

[wildcat2237]

That escalated quickly. 

[yfinn6]

Team was playing with fire most of the day today so the result in this inning isn't very surprising. Like yesterday, they need to start putting together better at bats when they have runners on. Ah well. 

[adambr2]

Murphy has done a fine job so far this year, but this was not his best game. 

[TURBO]

6 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

Why pitch him 4 out of 5 days? You have guys who have not pitched at all. This is something I hoped Counsell absence would cure.

Well, Murphy worked pretty closely with CC for years.  I'm not going to be really surprised if Murhpy runs the BP similar to what CC did.  I'm hoping he makes his own statement, and we don't just have CCII on our hands.

[Bulldogboy]

4 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

He's pitched four out of six, or three out of four days depending how you want to slice it up.

Mar 29, Mar 31, Apr 2, Apr 3.

It's early in the season, everyone should theoretically be at their freshest and there is an off day tomorrow.

Yep especially the guys who have yet to even get into a game. No reason to overwork a guy 5 games in.

[tmwiese55]

As good as the BP is likely to be overall this is where the so-so starting pitching can catch up to them if you're having to cover 4+ innings almost every game and are so frequently in close low scoring games.  

[Bulldogboy]

1 minute ago, tmwiese55 said:

As good as the BP is likely to be overall this is where the so-so starting pitching can catch up to them if you're having to cover 4+ innings almost every game and are so frequently in close low scoring games.  

True. Given everything we have seen so far not going out and adding one more proven starter may be a regret. Miley isn't going to eat innings.

[Joseph Zarr]

Let's look at the bright side here:

If the Crew do indeed manage to blow this one after the fine work from last year's key bullpen arms, this takes the immense pressure off the clubhouse shooting for that elusive, nearly impossible, undefeated season. 
 

This paves the way for a realistic season ahead and more practical expectations. 

[AKCheesehead]

14 minutes ago, Team Canada said:

Well, we weren't going to go 162-0.

I suppose.  If they just keep up the pace and go 130-32, I'll be able to live with that.

[Brewcrew82]

I think Trevor Megill going on IL probably cost them a W today. He would've gone at least 1, probably 2. 

Then again, Bukauskas wouldn't have been available, so you never know. 

[wallus]

Are we really being told to temper expectations on the 20 year #2 overall prospect in baseball that just hit a home run in an MLB game? I get I'm all for being cautious but compare the lists that JC is on and you should be excited for his future.

[owbc]

2 minutes ago, wallus said:

Are we really being told to temper expectations on the 20 year #2 overall prospect in baseball that just hit a home run in an MLB game? I get I'm all for being cautious but compare the lists that JC is on and you should be excited for his future.

I think he's the next Robin Yount of this franchise and I think many others do as well, but that's a big weight to put on the shoulders of a young kid. 

[wallus]

2 minutes ago, owbc said:

I think he's the next Robin Yount of this franchise and I think many others do as well, but that's a big weight to put on the shoulders of a young kid. 

The Brewers aren't worried (batting leadoff, big contract) so I won't be either. 

I think pitchers will take advantage of his free swinging tendencies but he has such a quick bat that it might not matter after a while.

[Underachiever]

16 minutes ago, wallus said:

Are we really being told to temper expectations on the 20 year #2 overall prospect in baseball that just hit a home run in an MLB game? I get I'm all for being cautious but compare the lists that JC is on and you should be excited for his future.

Thank you for saying what I was thinking and being nicer than I would have been.

[Underachiever]

Setting up nicely for the Chourio walk off

[folly412]

On the bright side, we can lose 61 more times and still win 100 games.  

[tmwiese55]

Probably won't win another game all year

[Jim French Stepstool]

I wonder if Murphy was planning to use Payamps for 2 innings, had the 7th gone well. I'm guessing not, but if he wasn't then I didn't like going to him in the 7th regardless of where Minnesota was in their order. Having said that, I thought Wilson did well enough to leave it at 3-3. Jeffers was putting up pretty smart, lengthy ABs today and did the same vs Wilson. Worked it to the point where he got something he could handle, and he handled it.

Cautiously optimistic re Ross. His walk rate was more than acceptable pre-injury, so hopefully this spring--and today--is just a case of rust removal. But starters not named Peralta have to start giving us more length soon, otherwise the Grand Central Station of Counsell constantly having to dip down to AAA for relievers will look like 3AM in Palmyra in comparison to what Murph will be having to do.

[TURBO]

1 hour ago, owbc said:

I think he's the next Robin Yount of this franchise and I think many others do as well, but that's a big weight to put on the shoulders of a young kid. 

My bet is that he has a higher ceiling than Yount, will he reach it is the question.  I have seen nothing yet to tell me the hype is not real!

[TURBO]

Curious why Hudson wasn't an option today...

In reality, I don't think Payamps should have been an option today, I mean, we are going to have to rest guys, no matter who they are.  Our BP is plenty big enough that we shouldn't always have to rely on the same guys every single day.  We simply can't be overusing guys this early in the season.

[SeaBass]

The Brewers scored 3 runs. It's not logical to expect the pitching staff to continuously hold teams to 1 or 2 runs and get victories that way. They need to score more.

Going 3-1 in games where they've scored 4 runs or fewer is still pretty fantastic. I hope it's a trend that continues.

[BruisedCrew]

1 hour ago, SeaBass said:

The Brewers scored 3 runs. It's not logical to expect the pitching staff to continuously hold teams to 1 or 2 runs and get victories that way. They need to score more.

Going 3-1 in games where they've scored 4 runs or fewer is still pretty fantastic. I hope it's a trend that continues.

Exactly.

Though the 4-1 start is great, the games showed how difficult it would be to win consistently when there are no off days for 15-20 days, the starting pitchers are only covering 5 innings (or less), and the offense only scores 3 runs. The strain on the bullpen trying to protect small leads would be unsustainable.

Tomorrow starts a stretch of 41 scheduled games in 43 days. For the team to be successful in that stretch the offense is going to have to carry more of the load than it has in the first five games.