Twins

[dutchboy]

Shaping up to be a fun final month if the pitching can hold up.

[dutchboy]

Gagged another 9th inning lead. Dropped 2 of 3 to a terrible St. Louis team.

[Gunner55]

  From the write-up of yday's game .......................Willi Castro went deep and Royce Lewis hit an RBI double for Minnesota, which lost for the first time in 60 games this season when leading after the eighth inning. The Twins trail AL Central-leading Cleveland by three games Provus mentioned it too, so I'm blaming the loss on him. The Cardinals had just won 2 of 3 from the Brewers before they came to Mpls. But they were 1-5 against the Reds & Dodgers before that. Atlanta comes to town tonight, Ober goes @ 6:30.

[Gunner55]

Brooks Lee was the DH for the Saints on Saturday night & homered in his 1st at bat. He also played 2nd for the Sunday game & had 3 hits. He's rumored to be likely to join the Twins this homestand, maybe even today.

[dutchboy]

Bad Ober tonight, Atlanta leads top of 2 9-1 game in a delay. Maybe Atlanta is just snapping out of the funk they have been in the last few months.

[LPS]

I tuned in late and they were way behind.

[Gunner55]

Bases loaded with 1 out in the 7th & they only get 1 run on a Lewis sac fly. Harris made a circus catch on a Miranda line drive after that & that was a big snow cone. That probably would've scored 2 more & made a game of it for the 8th & 9th, as it was, it ended 10-6. SWR gets the ball today @ 6:30 again.

[Steve-o]

Kirilloff news...   

Twins get some brutal injury news regarding Alex Kirilloff

Alex Kirilloff has seemingly joined the growing pile of players whose season is probably over.

On Saturday the Twins pulled Kirilloff off his rehab assignment with the St. Paul Saints after he suffered an issue with his back. While there's no timeline for his return, ... this injury is happening at the worst possible time.

Kirilloff found himself on the IL under some dubious circumstances earlier this year. After a brutal offensive slump, he was optioned back to Triple-A but that move was soon halted. It was revealed that Kirilloff had been suffering from a back issue that he didn't tell the team about.  That same back soreness seems to be the reason for his rehab assignment coming to a halt.

Not only is this a devastating setback in terms of this season, but it calls into question what Kirilloff's future with the team is. ... The clock is ticking, though, for Kirilloff to figure things out before he finds himself on the wrong side of a tough decision somewhere down the road.

[dutchboy]

I don't think there are any tough decisions left on Kirilloff. He has pretty much lost the DH job. Larnach & Wallner are taking over the outfield jobs. Miranda will be the first base / third base option next year. If he doesn't get traded or released over the winter he will need to hit .600 with power to make the team next spring. The injuries ruined a very promising career for the kid.

KC has caught a slumping Cleveland and will pull away from the Twins if they don't get their act together real soon.

[Bobberineyes]

Cleveland was slumping when they  came here, lost 5 in a row before hand . Any team that wants to break a slump needs to play us.

[dutchboy]

Great homestand. They can't get outa town quick enough.

[LPS]

 

[dutchboy]

Another crappy outcome. 5-1 loss to Atlanta. Festa was good.

Still no sign of Buxton or Correa.

[Gunner55]

Provus touched on it again yday, the bullpen hasn't been very good since the ASG. Could really use another lefty out there IMO. Thielbar has been shaky most of the year & now Alcala is getting hit hard because he's getting too much of the plate a lot too. Jax has had a great season so far, Sands & Duran have been pretty steady too, but they need some help.

[Steve-o]

Provus touched on it again yday, the bullpen hasn't been very good since the ASG. Could really use another lefty out there IMO. ... but they need some help.

Too bad they can't afford it.      "...if they don't win its a shame..."   

[Gunner55]

Read where DSG asked for & got an extension on their bankruptcy case, the new date is next week. DSG is expected to be allowed to continue to operate as they have already signed new deals with 20-25 of the 38 pro teams they own the broadcast rights too. Needless to say, none of those teams will see an increase in operating revenue from TV. It will be quite the opposite, in fact. The bankruptcy could be finalized with this next court date too. Amazon has pulled their offer of $115 million off the table. Comcast which is the biggest distributer of their programming in the nation & MLB are rumored to be very unhappy, that it appears it will end up this way.

[Steve-o]

Yeah, the bubble burst on the baseball broadcast rights market and it is re-setting itself now.  If 20-25 teams out there have already re-negotiated and re-signed, there must not be better offers out there.

I'm trying to figure out why Comcast is pi$$sed.  Is it because DSG is asking them to pay more to carry the games and they feel compelled to pass those increased costs onto the consumer?

[LPS]

What a mess. 

[KEN W]

I don't care, as long as I don't have to sit for 2 MONTHS with no games to watch.

[Gunner55]

Yup, costs 'em more so they need to charge more & that most likely costs 'em subscriptions too. The pc I read even went so far as to say that the CEO of DSG told Comcast & MLB that he would run the company into the ground before he gives them what they wanted. 

[LPS]

It sure seems like that is what their attitude has been.  To just drop Dish and others is a strange way to do business.

[dutchboy]

XM radio is a fraction of the cost and you get the added benefit of having the options of listening to all the teams. Bally, Diamond, Comcast, can all kiss my 

[dutchboy]

Twins news....

Lopez was very good.
Offense was offensive.
Twins win 2-0 over Blue Jays.
They are in 3rd place behind the Royals.

For those of you still crying about how cheap the owners are and don't care take a look at this...

White Sox
31 wins
105 losses
46.5 games behind

Major market team. Twins fans have nothing to complain about.   

[Gunner55]

Yeah, db, how about the Mets last year. With Scherzer & Verlander getting $43+ million each, I believe they had a payroll that was just under $335 million. Then they had to pay another $75 million in luxury tax. The Twins payroll was $156 million & they won 87 games. The Mets lost 87 games. Good thing Steve Cohen owns his own hedge fund. 

[dutchboy]

Welcome to the bigs Mr. Mathews. Twins trail 9-0 in the 2nd.

[dutchboy]

12-0 in the 6th.

[dutchboy]

My-O-My 15-0

[dutchboy]

Outhit 23-4.

Hey Falvey, hows that pitching development coming along?   

[Gunner55]

Welcome to the bigs Mr. Mathews. Twins trail 9-0 in the 2nd.

He had 4 starts with the Saints & 2 of those weren't so good either. Still, he's been good for 3 of his 4 starts with the Twins & I'm pretty happy with that. It was a strange day for baseball yday as the Cardinals beat the Yankees in Yankee stadium for the 1st time since the 1964 World Series. All the AL teams with the best shot to make the playoffs lost too, except for Houston. Hope Ober looks better today than the last time out, 1:10 1st pitch.

[LPS]

I was shocked how far behind we were when I checked the score yesterday.  Almost funny.