Twins

[KEN W]

Decent game to attend. Quite a few people there. Nice evening for a game. I could tell by the second inning that Gray was off. Just a matter of time before they got to him. Left in one inning too long.
Cleveland had 12 hits and left 11 men on. With the 4 that scored. That's 15 men on base. Same old same old.....should still have won with Cleveland only scoring 4 runs and Polonco leading off the game with a home run.

First time at the stadium. Nice place to watch a game.

Did the Twins make a mistake in trading Araeise to Miami????? He is only hitting .390. Could be the first hitter to hit over .400 since 1941. Especially with the way this team is hitting. Keplar needs to go. He isn't hitting his weight.

[KEN W]

These are getting tough to watch. Another 1 run game. Great pitching. Cleveland has 3 hits and the Twins lose. Striking out 16 times. Top 5 hitters in your lineup are 0-18.

[Gunner55]

Good thing they won the 1st 2. Tough road trip comin up after the off day today, 3 with TB, then 3 with Toronto, & they finish with 2 against the Brewers. Hope Lewis is able to play Tuesday.

[Steve-o]

Lets hope they are doing the 'Sota Thing and are playing down to their competition.  Maybe if they start playing good teams again, they'll be a little more focused.

[Gunner55]

  They were 0-7 w/RISP yday  & that won't cut it, Cleveland was 1-2. They're now hitting .233 as a team, up from .220 before they played the Astros. They're still 2nd in ERA & in Quality Starts in all of MLB, so the starting pitching is still pretty good. The bullpen is now ranked 23rd though & they were in the top 1/2  a month ago.

[Gunner55]

It didn't help that their top 4 RBI guys weren't in the lineup yday, either.

[Steve-o]

Listened to a Star Tribune Pat Reusse podcast rants...

He's ready to be done with Kepler - needs to be released.  Who cares if he figures it out elsewhere.  He ain't doing anything for the Twins.
Why are they leading off with strike-out king Joey Gallo?
Time for Correa to start earning his money.

[KEN W]

I agree with all of what he is saying.

4 runs in the last 3 games, and they didn't even face Cleveland's ace Shawn Bever.

[dutchboy]

Reusse is the only guy in town whose baseball opinion I trust. I don't know that I would release Kepler but he would quickly become my 4th or 5th outfielder with Wallner taking his place. I'm starting to tire of the Garlick fascination also. He hits the occasional homerun but not often enough to take a roster post in my opinion.

[Steve-o]

Oh, by the way... with Luis Arraez's hit in the 6th inning of tonights game, he is now hitting .399!   

[dutchboy]

Reusse is the only guy in town whose baseball opinion I trust. I don't know that I would release Kepler but he would quickly become my 4th or 5th outfielder with Wallner taking his place. I'm starting to tire of the Garlick fascination also. He hits the occasional homerun but not often enough to take a roster spot in my opinion.

[Gunner55]

  I heard that they kind of quietly shopped Kepler around in the off season but they didn't get many offers.....................or at least ones they liked.  

[Steve-o]

I heard that they kind of quietly shopped Kepler around in the off season but they didn't get many offers.....................or at least ones they liked.

A bucket of rubbed-up baseballs is looking like a pretty good deal now.   

Nice guy...  I hope he gets a chance to figure it out...  Somewhere else.

[Gunner55]

I agree with all of what he is saying.

4 runs in the last 3 games, and they didn't even face Cleveland's ace Shawn Bever.

Cleveland's staff is #8 in MLB with a 3.79 ERA & their bullpen is #1 with 22 saves. I wondered about Wallner too, DB, as all he did was get on base just about everytime when he was called up the last time.

[Steve-o]

Oh, by the way... with Luis Arraez's hit in the 6th inning of tonights game, he is now hitting .399!   

Twinkies are stinking it up against the Rays, sooo...

A Luis Arraez update...

He went 2 for 4 and is now hitting .401.   

[Gunner55]

  I checked the score ~ the 8th yday too. 

[KEN W]

Leading MLB in strike outs. Will set a MLB record at current pace. Only team with more than 600 strike outs so far this year. Correa leading the team with 3 more yesterday. Great signing so far.

Only 4 runs in last 4 games.

[glenn57]

i see where ole "china doll"  is on the IR list!!!!!!!

[Steve-o]

i see where ole "china doll"  is on the IR list!!!!!!!

Maybe he's fragile, but when your only job is to bat, and you get drilled in the ribs by a baseball, it might have an adverse affect on your swing.

Not that Buxton's injury-diminished performance would be noticeably different than any other guy swinging the bat right now.

[dutchboy]

Yep looked to me like he got drilled right about the hip bone. He will get a pass from me for this one assuming it's a short stint on the DL.

[Gunner55]

It's officially listed as a left rib contusion & they had him do a MRI after it happened as they thought it might be cracked or even broken. He's on the 10-day IL retroactive to Saturday.

[Steve-o]

Sometimes the other team is just better.  Nothing much happening last night until the 9th with the Twins down 1 run.

They stole a couple of bases, got one run in, and had bases loaded with one out.  What could have been a double down the 3rd base line was nabbed by the Ray's 3rd baseman that turned an incredible double play to end the thread.  A game of inches.

Twins put Jhoan Duran in and a gave up a walk-off homer on his second pitch.  It wasn't a bat pitch; the Ray's batter just went up and clobbered it.

[KEN W]

Swept by Tampa. Under 500 for the first time this season. NO OFFENSE. 7 runs scored in the last 6 games. Pathetic. What a waste of good pitching. Getting tough to watch.

[dutchboy]

In case people haven't noticed, that Tampa team is pretty darn good. Hitting & pitching.

[Steve-o]

So which is it...  Is it that the Twins have assembled a bunch of players who have a hard time staying healthy - which is affecting their offense, or maybe the coaching staff has got them going down a bad path given that from the top of the lineup to the bottom, everyone of the Twins hitters is hitting below their lifetime average?   

[dutchboy]

There is no incentive for a player on Rocco's team to buckle down and hit. He plays everybody all the time. He exserts very little pressure for anybody to perform at high levels. And of course it will make you scratch your head when one of your better hitters (Kirilloff) doesn't play until late in the game. I seriously don't know how he determines who starts and plays. It certainly isn't based on talent.

Thankfully the pitching has been stellar so far.

[Gunner55]

A much-needed win against a hot Toronto team yday with Taylor & Duran doing most of the damage. Lewis had his 1st 4 hit game in the bigs too.

[Gunner55]

  They have 17 SO but beat the Jays with 3 bombs. Correa & Kepler accounted for 7 of the 9 runs. A nice game from the Canadian rookie at 2nd too, as he was on base all 3 times. A bunt & a broken bat single started it all.          

[dutchboy]

Since the beginning of time hitters get better pitches to hit when there are runners on base. Larnachs was the only solo shot. 2 in a row in Toronto is nice, maybe they can steal one another today. I'll be surprised if Rocco doesn't start the "B" squad today because all those guys got tired running around yesterday.   

[Gunner55]

Another quality start from Ryan which was his 10th in 13 starts. It was # 32 for the team, which is 2nd only to Seattle's 33. Lewis, Farmer, & Vazquez didn't start yday although Farmer did get 1 AB late, so I think they will all play today. They had a few guys that had good days at the plate yday & I would be surprised if he rested all of them though.