Boy, oh, boy, major league baseball teams are not created equal, are they?
The big-money, big-talent Los Angeles Dodgers looked every bit the part in their short, two-game series with the Twins. The Twins are nothing to sneeze at this season as well, but after a 7-2 loss on Tuesday and an ugly 7-0 loss on Wednesday, the Twins appeared to be the itty-bitty team from Minnesota, trying its best to keep up with the big boys with no success.
If the rain and umpiring conspired against the Twins on Tuesday, the early day game Wednesday probably didn’t help. Tired and cold, the Twins had to face Clayton Kershaw and he carved them up pretty good, striking out 13 batters over seven innings.
The perfect game was finally broken up by the free-swinging and strikeout prone Gary Sanchez, who singled in the eighth for the only Twins hit in the game.
Twins starter Chris Paddack, recently acquired from the San Diego Padres, didn’t pitch that poorly, but he dug an early hole for himself and allowed three runs over four innings.
He was followed by recent callup Dereck Rodriguez (Ivan Rodriguez’s son) who served up three straight home runs. Sorry, Dad. Griffin Jax came next and he gave up a home run as well.
Joe Ryan gets the ball Friday in Boston.
Extra innings…
-Slugger (?) Miguel Sano is now 0-for-19 to start the season.
-The Twins are 2-4. Yes, I know it’s early, but I don’t care. The Twins need to do all they can to avoid what happened to them this time last season. If they are truly here to make a difference, do not start the season 9-15 like last April.
-Left fielder Alex Kirilloff has wound up on the injured list with wrist soreness — the same wrist that was operated on last season — and pitcher Jharel Cotton was designated for assignment, so the Twins called up pitcher Rodriguez and Oregon State man Trevor Larnach.