Article: MIN 7, CHW 0: Twins, Fans Flex Their Muscles in Weekend Sweep

[Tom Froemming]

This was always a baseball state, it’s just that we much prefer baseball that’s, ya know, good.

 

Twins Territory turned out to see a some more good baseball Sunday afternoon, as Jake Odorizzi was outstanding and both Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler hit three-run bombas. Over 108,000 fans passed through the gates at Target Field this weekend to watch the Twins sweep the White Sox.Box Score

Odorizzi: 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 62.4% strikes (58 of 93 pitches)

Home Runs: Rosario (16), Kepler (12)

Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, 2B, HR)

WPA of +0.1: Odorizzi .249, Rosario .190

WPA of -0.1: None

Download attachment: Win526.png

(chart via FanGraphs)

 

The Twins drew more than 3.2 million people in their first season at Target Field. Attendance increased by more than 800,000 overall, or roughly 10,000 per game, over the prior year. The prospect of being able to spend time watching a good Major League Baseball team outdoors once again really lit a fire under this fanbase.

 

We all know what happened after that. I think it’s fair to say Twins Territory is filled with a great number of frontrunners, and that portion of the fans has been pretty dormant. And that’s OK, there are a lot of other great summer activities to compete with baseball. But it’s clear now they've been waiting, sometimes impatiently, ready to embrace the next good Twins team.

 

There’s still definitely some cautious optimism in the air, not everyone is quite ready to get completely swept off their feet, but with each victory you can feel it. People are letting their guard down. They’re starting to believe. The team is the talk of the town, fans are showing up and Twins merch is being brought out from the back of closets.

 

The Twins got off to a slow start this afternoon. Well, I mean by their standards. They were held off the board for the entire first two innings of this game. They didn’t even have a hit!

 

Byron Buxton got things going with a single, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error on the play. Max Kepler drove him home on a double, Jorge Polanco walked and Eddie Rosario blasted a three-run home run. That’s more like it, guys.

 

 

Another thing about Minnesota sports fans is once we’re invested, once the expectations are high, we’ll completely overreact to even the tiniest slip.

 

This past Friday, Randball’s Stu brilliantly highlighted that panic reflex in a hilarious piece titled Twins Fan Ready to Overreact to 3-Game Losing Streak. I got a good laugh at that article this week, but you’d better believe I’m gonna turn right into his fictional character Karl Paulson the minute they do lose three straight.

 

This is so much fun.

 

There might not be a better player who represents the shift in the Twins fandom experience from constant anxiety and fear for the worst to pure, unbridled joy than Jake Odorizzi. Even when he’d be pitching well last year, you just knew the wheels were going to fall off. This year, he’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball.

 

Odorizzi gave up just one hit and struck out nine batters over 5 1/3 scoreless innings. His ERA dropped to 2.16. The length of his starts will give your friend Jack from St. Paul something to continue griping about, but Odorizzi has been brilliant so far this season.

 

But what about the bullpen? DUN DUN DUUUUN! (Sorry, still no dramatic sound effects available for the game recaps, that was the best I could do. Use your imagination.)

 

There’s nothing that creates more cause for concern with Twins fans than the bullpen. Naturally, that’s pretty much all anybody wants to talk about these days. Well, so far so good, and Sunday was another good performance from that unit.

 

Max Kepler hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to provide plenty of breathing room. That certainly helped, but four relievers combined to hold the White Sox scoreless over the final 3 2/3 innings. Tyler Duffey struck out six batters over the final two innings.

 

Yes, that Tyler Duffey.

 

That’s how you know everything is coming up TC these days. Again, this is so much fun.

 

Postgame With Rosario

 

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

Download attachment: Pen526.png

Next Game

Mon vs. MIL, 6:10 pm (Pineda-Gonzalez)

 

Last Game

MIN 8, CHW 1: Gibby Sizzles Over 7 Solid Innings

 

More from Twins Daily

Injuries Have Been Huge, Unfortunate Story of Twins Minor League Season

When the Twins Go Buying ... Who Are They Selling?

Twins' Offense Having a Barrel of Fun

 

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[twinsfanstreif]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Seth Stohs]

Just over and over it is obvious that getting 6+ innings from the starters is so important. My favorite thing about this article ever game is looking at the bullpen usage. This bullpen is rested. May need it against Milwaukee and Tampa this week... 

[Mile high twins fan]

It was great to see the stadium full and hear fans getting behind a really good baseball team. You could see the atmosphere in the ninth had Duffy pumped. They got a couple soft hits off him and a solid one, but mid-90’s heat and some attitude. I’m personally hoping he here for good...finally! It would be great to have him pitching like this as a guy who can bridge the gap to Rodgers and Parker.

[AceWrigley]

Wow. I like beating the Pale Hose, but this series was like taking down a white walker with a dragonglass blade ... poof. Go Twins!

[twinsfanstreif]

Side note, anyone know what was the deal with May's lip? looked like he got a bee sting or got in a fist fight or something.

[Craig Arko]

Odorizzi sounded terrible in the postgame interview. Amazing he lasted as long as he did.

[rdehring]

Bring out the brooms!!!!!

[james2334]

Our starting pitchers have 30 of the 36 wins for the pitching staff. That's gotta lead the league by a wide margin I would think. 

[Craig Arko]

[ashbury]

Our starting pitchers have 30 of the 36 wins for the pitching staff. That's gotta lead the league by a wide margin I would think. 

Most teams don't have 30 wins total, so, yeah.

 

If you mean as a percentage, it looks as if Baltimore starters have 14 of the 16 team wins, so they might be a little higher. By being lower.

[Danchat]

Wow... 20 games over .500. Just ridiculous at this point! I don't anythign left to say about this team right now. I'm just excited!

 

A bit of news to anyone going to a Twins game on a weekend where it's going to be busy... make sure to show up to the game early, the lines just to get in to Target Field are 30-50 minutes long. Many people didn't get in until the 2nd-3rd inning because so many were trying to get in through very slow security checks.

 

I wonder if Cruz is going to be activated very soon? It's sounded like he's nearly ready.

[twinssporto]

It’s our last night in the BWCA woods. Listening to the game again in the boat today. Caught a bunch of fish...frying up some fresh walleye tonight for dinner. Will pour some more bourbon, thank the good Lord for our bounty and the WELY “end of the road” radio station.

 

I’m half tempted to stay up here until the winning streak ends. Don’t want to jinx anything.

 

Guess I’ll stay in the woods til October. Please send donations to PO Box: 1987-1991

Ely, MN 55114

 

Go Twins and cheers from somewhere near the Canadian border.

[james2334]

 

Most teams don't have 30 wins total, so, yeah.

 

If you mean as a percentage, it looks as if Baltimore starters have 14 of the 16 team wins, so they might be a little higher. By being lower.

I guess I wasn't thinking percentage as much as total. It's just a testament to how well this team has played overall. The starters consistently giving 5 or more quality innings, the offense consistently getting a lead early, and the bullpen consistently holding the lead. We could have four starters reach 15 wins. Most seasons we're happy if 1 guy gets that many.

[pierre75275]

This week will be a good litmus test. They will be playing better teams in Mil and TPA than they have faced in awhile.

[Dman]

So I kept telling myself I am going to be nervous about this team until we have at least a double digit lead in the division.  I never expected them to get there this early.  Now what am I going to fret about?  What other standards of non belief can I find? It's a tough year for the typical Twins fan to wait for the other shoe to drop.

[Diesel]

This week will be a good litmus test. They will be playing better teams in Mil and TPA than they have faced in awhile.

The Indians aren't slouches either. Going 5-4 through the next 9 would be great

Edited May 26, 2019 by Diesel

[pierre75275]

Against Seattle, Anaheim, and Chicago the Twins outscored their opponents 93-34 over 10 games winning 9 of them. Thats some pretty serious offense even tho its not against the best teams.

 

Maybe we should hang HR signs instead of K if this continues

[twinssporto]

Quick update from the BWCA...we just had a group of paddlers go by our camp. They asked if we had any beer to spare. I said, “not tonight, just bourbon”. They said thanks but “we’ll keep moving along”. Just as they passed by, the guy in the last canoe turned and hollered, “do you know how the Twins did today”? I yelled back, “hell yes!...They won again”! Quit asking stupid questions”!

 

Figures....beer drinkers versus bourbon drinkers. They let anyone into this place...Gotta go back to tending the fire now.

 

Cheers,

Twinssporto

CEO & Founder

Minnesota Twins 2019 World Series Champions Fan Club

[D.C Twins]

And Anotha One...

[twinsfanstreif]

This was our 7th sweep of the season! How many did we have all of last year?! not sure I can remember one

[Riverbrian]

 

 

 

I wonder if Cruz is going to be activated very soon? It's sounded like he's nearly ready.

 

I have to remind myself every once in awhile. "Oh Yeah... We got Cruz to".

 

It's pretty incredible when Cruz on the DL is easily forgotten. 

[Riverbrian]

 

The Indians aren't slouches either. Going 5-4 through the next 9 would be great

 

There are no slouches in major league baseball. Every team is going to win 54 and every team is going to lose 54... The other 54 games will determine the order of the draft. 

 

The Giants can beat the Dodgers on any given night. 

 

THEY JUST CAN"T BEAT THE TWINS (HIGH FIVE). 

[jorgenswest]

Side note, anyone know what was the deal with May's lip? looked like he got a bee sting or got in a fist fight or something.

He took a baseball in the mouth pregame.

[Riverbrian]

I've never tracked it and I haven't looked it up... But I'm thinking that we've had quite a few years over the past couple of decades when the team home run total for the ENTIRE YEAR would be around the ball park of where we are on May 26th this year. 

[Darius]

I don’t think calling the fans “front-runners” is really fair.

 

The taxpayers funded a stadium under the pretenses of being able to compete for championships. The front office proceeded the slash payroll a year in and fielded arguably the worst team in baseball for nearly a decade.

 

No fan base would continue to show up at the park. No fan base should. Putting that on the fans as “front-runners” isn’t really acknowledging the reality of the situation. It’s not like we were Yankees on a down year. From ‘92-‘18 this was one of the three worst clubs in Major League Baseball.

 

Combine those factors with it costing upwards of $200 to take a family of four to sit in the cheap seats and watch a terrible product....

Edited May 26, 2019 by Darius

[ChrisKnutson]

I know we’ve played extremely well up to this point, but I’m really curious to see how we fare against Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland, not only because they also have pretty good teams, but because after this week we should finally have an idea of how urgent our pitching situation really is, and what kind of arm(s) we should be pursuing on the trade market (middle relief/bullpen ace/starter).

[ashbury]

I know we’ve played extremely well up to this point, but I’m really curious to see how we fare against Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland, not only because they also have pretty good teams, but because after this week we should finally have an idea of how urgent our pitching situation really is, and what kind of arm(s) we should be pursuing on the trade market (middle relief/bullpen ace/starter).

Also too, no other team will take the Twins lightly from here on out. The tests get a little tougher now.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

It was great to see the stadium full and hear fans getting behind a really good baseball team. You could see the atmosphere in the ninth had Duffy pumped. They got a couple soft hits off him and a solid one, but mid-90’s heat and some attitude. I’m personally hoping he here for good...finally! It would be great to have him pitching like this as a guy who can bridge the gap to Rodgers and Parker.

Welcome to the site. Please stick around.

[ChrisKnutson]

Also too, no other team will take the Twins lightly from here on out. The tests get a little tougher now.

Cruz and Garver can’t come back soon enough.