30 replies to this topic

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Sano maturing at the plate.

 

Unfortunately, in the field, he looking like a rookie at 1B. Sure, he will get better, but we're in the playoff hunt and 1B handles the ball a lot.

This is the kind of thing that happens over 162 games, though. As long as the ugliness is temporary, you can hold your nose and get through it because Sano is crushing the ball. Unless something bad happens in the next two months, Miguel will not be manning first base in the postseason.

 

It's far more likely that Schoop is the odd man out and Miguel resumes duties at third, Cron stays at first, and Arraez slides to second.

[Tom Froemming]

 

*obstruction call 

 

This is probably neither here nor there, but as a "ute" i was taught, when caught in a rundown, "run into someone if you get half a chance. You might get the call." 

 

It was close, but I think there's a reasonable argument to be made the call was technically correct. It's on Schoop to get out of the way, by rule.

 

I thought the bigger mistake was to relax when the throw came into second, and assume the play was over. If he plays the play out, takes a quick step towards the baserunner--who had given up--he tags him and the play is over.

 

EDIT: Also, these highlight packages are teh awesome!

And on the defensive side, I was always taught to "peel" in a rundown situation like that. Once you get rid of the ball, you get the heck outta there. 

 

You're right, it probably was the right call by the book, I just don't recall ever seeing that before. Much more fun to be able to look back and say "hey that was weird" in a blowout victory. 

 

Thanks for the feedback. These are basically a dish I'm working on in my test kitchen right now. I'm still not sure what the right mix of ingredients is yet or if they'll ever end up as staples on the main menu, but it's fun to play around with some new flavors. 

[USAFChief]

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback. These are basically a dish I'm working on in my test kitchen right now. I'm still not sure what the right mix of ingredients is yet or if they'll ever end up as staples on the main menu, but it's fun to play around with some new flavors. 

Can only speak for myself but I absolutely love 'em. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

*obstruction call 

 

This is probably neither here nor there, but as a "ute" i was taught, when caught in a rundown, "run into someone if you get half a chance. You might get the call." 

 

It was close, but I think there's a reasonable argument to be made the call was technically correct. It's on Schoop to get out of the way, by rule.

 

I thought the bigger mistake was to relax when the throw came into second, and assume the play was over. If he plays the play out, takes a quick step towards the baserunner--who had given up--he tags him and the play is over.

 

EDIT: Also, these highlight packages are teh awesome!

I mostly agree, though I tend to skew on the side of "it was a bad call because Schoop was obviously trying to get out of the way and Engel ran four feet laterally to "hit" him... but they *barely* touched". In that situation, I think it should have been a non-call because it didn't actually impact the play and Engel went right at Schoop.

 

But you're right that Schoop should have tagged him out at second. There was no reason to lollygag and wait for the runner to come to him when 4-5 steps at him and the play is over.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Cleveland has a great bullpen and clutch hitting.

Their "clutch" hitting didn't really show up last night, as they went 14 innings against the freakin' Kansas City Royals.

 

Also, Cleveland's OPS is 28th in MLB with RISP. The Twins are 9th.

 

http://www.espn.com/.../OPS/order/true

[USAFChief]

 

I mostly agree, though I tend to skew on the side of "it was a bad call because Schoop was obviously trying to get out of the way and Engel ran four feet laterally to "hit" him... but they *barely* touched". In that situation, I think it should have been a non-call because it didn't actually impact the play and Engel went right at Schoop.

 

But you're right that Schoop should have tagged him out at second. There was no reason to lollygag and wait for the runner to come to him when 4-5 steps at him and the play is over.

Weird play, agreed. I guess my only point was, it was, IMO sorta right on the border line of what should be, and shouldn't be, obstruction. I could see either side of the argument, and the ump has to call it in real time.

 

And a tremendous, heads up base running play, by the way. What did he have to lose?

[Tom Froemming]

 

I was surprised to see this as well, but I suspect WPA takes situational hitting into account. Buxton's two doubles came after the game was essentially out of reach, so there was minimal Win Probability to add to the game. Just a guess though.

Correct. WPA is 100% based on context. Here's a breakdown of how he got there:

 

-.025 for striking out to lead off the third inning in a 1-1 game

-.025 for hitting into a fielder's choice to record the first out of the fifth inning in a 3-1 game

+.002 for hitting a bases-empty double in a 9-2 game

.000 for hitting a two-out, bases-empty double in a 10-2 game

 

Once Nelson Cruz homered to put the Twins up 5-1 in the fifth, their win expectancy was already all the way up to 96.2%. Jose and Poppen pitching well ensured that number stayed very high, giving little opportunity for hitters to account for much WPA no matter what they did.

[gocgo]

 

Freaking Cleveland! How in the world do they keep doing this? They're not crushing everyone, just winning by one run every night!

They are winning by 1 run over bad teams...teams that they should be blowing out.We got this.We are the better team and their schedule changes after July.Also, look at the last 3 weeks of the season for them and the Twins.No comparison.They play 2 teams with losing records (White Sox and Tigers).Twins play the Nats at home, Cleveland on the road, and then it's White Sox, Tigers, Royals the rest of the way. Twins win the division.

Edited by gocgo, 26 July 2019 - 09:45 AM.

[MMMordabito]

Poppen's stuff looked good.I'm definitely intrigued.He has quite a bit of work to do on the command and control though.If the Twins had been playing Oakland or New York, I'm quite certain he would have contributed to the problem instead of the solution.

[Alex Schieferdecker]

It feels as though Duffey, Harper, May, and Rogers have punched their tickets to be a part of this team's home stretch + potential playoff bullpen. That leaves four spots remaining.

 

Perhaps one to two of those spots will be filled by relievers the Twins trade for, or by a starter who gets moved to the bullpen to make room for a starter who was traded for. For the final two to four spots, the Twins have a lot of candidates with potential but mostly thin resumes to compete for them: Eades, Hildenberger, Littell, Poppen, Romero, Smeltzer, Stashak, and Thorpe.

[terrydactyls1947]

Better late than never.


Yesterday was Thursday, July 25, it was the 102nd game of the year and the Twins hit 5 home runs giving them a total of 199 home runs for the season. The Twins are now 63% of the way through the season. Out of 59 years, the current team ranks 5th on the all-time list of Twins' home runs in one season and are on a pace to hit 316 home runs this season. They are now 68 home runs behind the single season MLB record. The next Twins team to pass is the 2016 team that hit 200 home runs.