Twins at Tigers: Rule of Firsts

Recap:
Friday -- Twins lost
Saturday -- Twins lost
Sunday -- Twins lost

Record: Well, it ain't the best in baseball anymore. I mean, I know the division race is done and all, but, sheesh, winning is way more fun than losing.

*sigh* Ok. I'm sorry. I'm a little snippy. [cleansing breath]

I understand that getting the guys healthy for the playoffs might be a smidge more important that securing home-field advantage, so I get that many of the regular position players are sitting and resting and healing. Good. I hope all the kinks are worked out this next week.

However, the starting pitchers for those three games were our playoff game one-two-three starters. So, yeah, I kind of expected a little bit better pitching than that. In fact, I expected better pitching from all the pitchers. So I think it's time to remind them of the basics of pitching. Better nip this thing in the bud right now.

A few years ago, I bought my son a new glove. A little pamphlet on the basics of baseball, aimed at youth players, was attached to it. And the section about pitching left an impression on me. So, here goes...

Ahem? Are you reading this, Twins pitchers?

The Rule of Firsts

Good pitching is as simple as the rule of firsts. The first pitch to each batter should be a strike; the first batter of each inning should be an out; the first inning of your appearance should be scoreless. If you can do that, you'll usually have a successful outing.

See? It's just that simple -- not difficult at all.

Now if I could only remember the section on defense...