Lyle Lohse; RISP—Stranded

From the Seats, April 19, 2005

CHICAGO — The Twins and White Sox met up for a two game series, the last meeting between the two until August and Kyle Lohse forgot to show up, instead his brother, Lyle came and the Twins did a nice job stranding runners in scoring position.

 

Jose Contreras started out giving up a single to Shannon Stewart after a lengthy at bat, Bartlett fouled out, Mauer and LeCroy both walked and as Contreras reached 30 pitches Hunter hit into a double play to end the inning. The Twins had the bases loaded and didn't take the early opportunity to score.

 

Lohse came out and had a better half of the first than Contreras but his night consisted of home runs, 3 of them, two being with a runner on, and two being to Carl Everett.

 

Lohse had been given a two run lead after a balk was called on Contreras in the 5th, followed by a walk to Hunter who stole second, moved up to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch. The first thing Lohse did was come out, give up a single and than a gopher ball to Everett.

 

The following inning the Twins loaded the bases again, to have yet another double play in order to get the White Sox out of the inning. The Twins hit into three double plays all together and stranded 10 guys on base.

 

The Twins stole a few games in Cleveland over the weekend, got away with some with great pitching and very good defense. That team must have stayed in Cleveland to tour the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame instead of making the trip to Chicago for Monday nights game. They did not look the same, the approach to the plate was not the same, key base hits were lacking and the Twins simply came up short.

 

Rick Anderson, the Twins pitching coach has said that Kyle Lohse has the best stuff on the Twins staff. This is a staff that includes Cy Young Winner Johan Santana and Brad Radke, and Lohse has the best stuff. The difference is that Santana and Radke are both pitchers, and Lohse is a thrower. Something needs to sink in to Lohse that he needs to watch the rest of his staff, take whatever tips Anderson has to give him and listen to Joe Mauer or whoever is catching.

 

This Twins fan has had just about enough of Lyle Lohse and his crappy pitching performances.