Twins

[glenn57]

i see where the Twinkies got spanked, slapped around by the Dodgers yesterday!!!!!

[KEN W]

They have fallen into a tie with Cleveland. Another bad outing for Ryan.

[LPS]

Darn!

[Steve-o]

We all sort of knew this was coming.

Our three newly acquired pitchers can't pitch every inning.  At some point the hope was that adding more talent would lift the performance of the other pitchers.  So far that hasn't happened.
 

But the Dodgers have got a great lineup.  Let's survive this series and see if the Twins can find a winning streak somewhere to keep it close.

[dutchboy]

Lets not make these guys (new pitchers) out to be saviors. Mahle still isn't the best starter we have, Lopez has been closing for less than a year after being sub-par as a starter & the kid from Detroit I suspect is a head case after getting pounded all those years in Detroit.

Twins are a mediocre team in a bad division. They can win it but it won't be because they out pitched anybody. The bats will have to bludgeon their way to the top and to this point they haven't shown that ability.

[Gunner55]

FWIW, Jim Kaat is doing his final game in the booth tonight, he's only 84. He's doing the Blue Jays/NYY game on MLB network, if anybody's interested. I'm a fan, so I'll be watching!!

[dutchboy]

I also have the game on. Rare chance to see the Yankees play.   

Kaat is a all time great. He was one of the guys I grew up with when he was a Twin. With Rocco only allowing guys to throw 50-70 pitches he should give Kitty a call. He can do as well as some of the guys they've run out there the last few years.

[glenn57]

i thought i recognized his voice............ watching a former twin implode........Berrios!!!!!!!!!

[Gunner55]

i thought i recognized his voice............ watching a former twin implode........Berrios!!!!!!!!!

He went 6 2/3 giving up 6 hits but only the 2 runs in the 3rd inning to get the win. That's much better than he has been doing lately & he's struggled even worse in Yankee Stadium since he went to the Blue Jays.

[Steve-o]

I missed your message and I missed the Yanks/Jays game AND Kaat's last broadcast.   

Yes, Kaat is one of the all time greats - on the field and in the booth.  I love listening to old school pitchers and stories about them.

[glenn57]

i thought i recognized his voice............ watching a former twin implode........Berrios!!!!!!!!!

He went 6 2/3 giving up 6 hits but only the 2 runs in the 3rd inning to get the win. That's much better than he has been doing lately & he's struggled even worse in Yankee Stadium since he went to the Blue Jays.

i typed that in the inning he gave up the 2 runs then had the throwing error to first........then swutched to the football game, so i have no clue how he did the rest of the game!

[Gunner55]

Figured that , so................................... thought I'd fill you in. Not much for preseason football here this season yet................  not sure why.

[dutchboy]

Should be a interesting series with Texas. Much like the Twins they can't pitch a lick but do have some boys that can crush a baseball.

[Gunner55]

A BIG improvement with W/RISP especially with 2 out against KC. Ryan & Gray had good outings too & that helps Rocco juggled his bullpen a little more. Need to keep it up.

[KEN W]

Why is Bally showing a week old Vikings football game instead of the Twins?

 

[Steve-o]

For some reason unknown to me... the game is on Apple TV tonight.

[Gunner55]

  Both Bremer & Morneau talked about what they were going to do with their 2 days off a few times during Wednesday's game, didn't know it was on Apple TV though.

[Steve-o]

They kept referring to it as another media outlet, but wouldnt say what it was.

[Gunner55]

  So much for your slugfest db! Twins only have 5 hits but win 2-1 on Arraez & Miranda's 1st inning back-to-back HRs. Rangers only had 4 hits & Kepler had a big assist in the 9th that helped Lopez get work around 2 walks.

[Steve-o]

Gettin' hard to watch again with the bats going quiet.  Ongoing lack of pitching is putting too much pressure on the offense and the boys are pressing.

Adding the new pitchers helped, but the Twins still have way to many "mop up" guys in the bullpen to be a serious contenders.

Still looking to catch lightning in a bottle.

[Steve-o]

Buxton got beat up pretty bad last night, left the game, had an MRI, and is now day-to-day.   

[dutchboy]

Thing is having played a 120 games already it's hard to miss a guy who is hitting .222 with 51 rbi.

[Gunner55]

 But their record is a lot better when he's in the starting lineup. I haven't seen the stats in a while but the last time I did they were 10 or so games over .500 with him starting & with him out, it was more like 5 or so games under. 

[dutchboy]

He is also 9-61 with runners in scoring position.

If we had the Buxton who wanted to hit the ball and run the Twins would be far better off than having the Buxton who wants to hit homeruns and strikeout.

You can rip guys like Pagan but the fact is if Buxton is hitting .300 and paying everyday we don't notice how bad Pagan has been. Add in the Correa bad year and Polanco stinking and you have a bad year where the starters have been pretty good.

Astro's, Yankees, Giants, Cleveland, White Sox. Twins are toast.

[KEN W]

Correa has been disappointing. Not worth $35 million. He won't be back. IF they can get Lewis healthy next year. Correa is hitting about 40 points below his career average. Great defense though.

Right now they have lost 4 in a row.....no offense.

[Steve-o]

I think the entire league batting average is down, not just Correa, and I'm sure he'd tell you he ain't happy with is offensive performance either.

I still want one more year of Correa - even with Lewis coming back.

Today's bigger/stronger/faster athletes just get hurt more often and you need all the talent you can get on your roster - even if you have to overpay for some of it.

Maybe Baldeli needs to write something on the clubhouse blackboard - like Moliter did when he was managing:  "No retreat!  No surrender!"   

Something needs to get these guys fired up.

[Gunner55]

According to the latest MLB stats the Twins are ranked #11 in team BA (.248) & # 12 on defense with a .986 FP. But they are 19th in pitching with a team ERA of 3.95. KC & the Cubs are in the middle (#15 & #16) with the bats & they're both hitting .241 as a team. Those #'s have been surprisingly consistent all season but where they rank amongst all the other teams has changed quite a bit. Before the ASG they were in the top 5 or 6 for BA as well as FP most of the time & usually ~ #10 in ERA. https://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team

[KEN W]

Twins slowly sinking into the team we thought there are. 500 at best. 4 games back of Cleveland. 5 loses in a row.

[Gunner55]

  I forgot , those early season rankings were just for the AL, not all of MLB. Just looked & they're rankings now are still about the same as they were early in the season.

[dutchboy]

While Arreaz is still leading the league his average has dropped about 50 points since late June. Polanco never got going. Kepler stinks again this year, they have no catcher, their 3rd baseman is hitting what he should hit, Miranda has surprised me, Correa can catch anything and his batting average is ok but he is getting no rbi or HR's. Cave should be in St. Paul, Beckham should be released, and china doll.......I'm at a loss for words. That leaves Gordon who can hit a little but Rocco won't let him run. Celestino on a good team is in St. Paul.

Pitching has been good over-all from what I expected. I'm no fan of Roccos batting orders, he protects Correa with Buxton who is a strikeout machine.