GAME THREAD: Twins vs. Braves 8/7/19 12:10 CDT

[Dakota15]

Considering Perez has been riding a 6.2 ERA the last 2 months, the betting money seems to say they're going to stick with him in the rotation sink-or-swim, otherwise I feel a pivot to the bullpen or IL stint would have been made by this point.  Hope I'm wrong but that seems to be the prevailing theme 

[wavedog]

C'mon Texas score some flippin runs

[Blake]

Crud.

[Bandit34]

I actually expected a very competitive series. This is a surprise to me. 

[Dakota15]

Atlanta took us to the woodshed these last 2 days

[MNT1996]

Offense did it's part. Pitching was abysmal. 

[gocgo]

 

I think better players are more likely to get hot, and to still be productive when not...

I hear what you are saying, but it seems like the best team doesn't necessarily win it every year.  I can't say that when the Royals won it, I thought they were the best team in the playoffs for example.

[mendozaline]

Could they have used anyone else but Stewart when we made it 7-3? They punted the rest of the game by bringing him in when our offense can score in a hurry. Head shaking game from a managerial perspective even with Perez laying an egg.

[twinsnorth49]

We need Buck back. 

 

Nice to see Sano continue his hot streak, he looked great in every PA today. 

 

Not much else nice to see or say, so I won't. 

 

Texas, please wear Cleveland out tonight. 

[Bandit34]

 

Offense did it's part. Pitching was abysmal. 

I would respectfully disagree. These last two games, the offense did not score a single run in the first 5 innings of either game. You can score 7 a game, but if you are not setting the tone early in the game with some runs, then the offense really did not do its part, in my opinion. 

[MNT1996]

 

Could they have used anyone else but Stewart when we made it 7-3? They punted the rest of the game by bringing him in and our offense can score in a hurry. Head shaking game from a managerial perspective even with Perez laying an egg.

 

Rocco wants to save the bullpen for Cleveland. If he would've known the Twins were going to score 4 in the 9th he probably would have turned to someone else, but he had no clue.

[twinsnorth49]

 

Could they have used anyone else but Stewart when we made it 7-3? They punted the rest of the game by bringing him in when our offense can score in a hurry. Head shaking game from a managerial perspective even with Perez laying an egg.

Hindsight post of the year. 

[Bandit34]

Are the Twins a better team than the Braves? Absolutely, 100 per cent yes. The Twins are better than Atlanta. Maybe we just caught the Braves at a bad time. 

[jz7233]

 

Too soon for Poppen, Thorpe or Stashak. Ryan Eades would be an option. So would Cody Allen. I believe there is still an open spot on the 40 man.

Randy Dobnak. Cody Allen is gone. Dobnak reminds me of Smeltzer.

[yarnivek1972]

In my opinion it's not really tinkering to go with your normal and better swing. It is generally tougher to hit against your own handedness, but Polanco has proven to have better bat control and more power from the left hand side than the right.

 

Schoop's OPS is in the .750's. Polanco as a right hand hitter is the worst hitter in the twins lineup on any given day. Polanco has a similar OPS and SLG% as a RH as Jake Cave this season and he was actually even worse last yea.r

If it is something he’s never done before, it is absolutely tinkering with his routine. The time to do this was 4-5 years ago. All LHB in MLB have a .720 OPS vs LHP. Polanco has a .686 in 2019 (.692 career) doing it his way. Asking a 10 year pro to do something he’s never done before to accomplish what (in the best scenario) might be negligible improvement seems, as I said, not worth it.

[Mike Sixel]

I'd DFA Perez and send Stewart down for good. I also don't understand letting Schoop hit with to outs and men in second and third, not with two good hitters on the bench.

[Bandit34]

 

Rocco wants to save the bullpen for Cleveland. If he would've known the Twins were going to score 4 in the 9th he probably would have turned to someone else, but he had no clue.

I don't see how giving Cleveland 2 games in the standings for the chance to have a better series against Cleveland is a good strategy going forward. Now if the Twins sweep Cleveland, then the strategy was very smart. But if the Twins take 3 out of 4, all they did was recover what they had lost to begin with. No real gain. As it is, I am hoping for a split, considering how we have been playing the last two days. 

[70charger]

Do we still have open spots on the 40 man? Weren't we down to like 36 at some point?

[jz7233]

Bring up Dobnak please.

[MNT1996]

 

Are the Twins a better team than the Braves? Absolutely, 100 per cent yes. The Twins are better than Atlanta. Maybe we just caught the Braves at a bad time. 

 

It's hard to look at our ace getting rocked and just our pitching in general getting destroyed these last 2 games and say the Twins are 100% a better team. 

 

Atlanta has a powerful lineup and probably a little bit of a stronger pitching staff in general than the Twins. I'd give the advantage to the Braves right now in a best of 7.

[jz7233]

 

What other starters could fill in for Perez? Not sure how many more starts you give him.

Smeltzer takes Perez' spot. Perez to IL. Bring Pineda back. Call up Randy Dobnak.

[Bandit34]

 

It's hard to look at our ace getting rocked and just our pitching in general getting destroyed these last 2 games and say the Twins are 100% a better team. 

I personally don't see Berrios as an ace. Aces are not unpredictable in big games.

[yarnivek1972]

Could they have used anyone else but Stewart when we made it 7-3? They punted the rest of the game by bringing him in when our offense can score in a hurry. Head shaking game from a managerial perspective even with Perez laying an egg.

Again, as was the case yesterday, some are assuming that the Braves are going to manage their own bullpen (or that those relievers will pitch the same) with a small lead as opposed to a big one. Atlanta has a good (not great) bullpen. There is no reason to believe they wouldn’t have been able to finish out close games.

[Bandit34]

The thing that made pitchers like Brad Radke and Johan Santana ace material is that you absolutely could predict a good game each and every game they pitched. When I see Berrios pitching, I don't get the same feeling that I got with Radke and Santana. 

[nokomismod]

 

Smeltzer takes Perez' spot. Perez to IL. Bring Pineda back. Call up Randy Dobnak.

Makes sense to me.

[yarnivek1972]

Do we still have open spots on the 40 man? Weren't we down to like 36 at some point?

I count 39.

[Mike Sixel]

Roster resource, now on fangraphs, has all your roster questions answered, iirc.

[Vanimal46]

I would rather give Schoop at bat's to Gordon even in the event he is a rookie like Arraez. I just do not think Schoop is a piece to this team that matters that much anymore. In situations where you need a clutch hit he is not going to come through.

I would personally rather have Schoop on the bench as insurance over a complete unknown like Gordon at this point.

 

I posted in the Schoop odd man out thread he filled the role we needed from him this year. Which is being a placeholder until someone else hit their way into the equation. I have no issue with him being a bench guy now until the rosters expand.

 

I'll be surprised if he starts more than 25% of the remaining regular season games.

[jkcarew]

 

I hear what you are saying, but it seems like the best team doesn't necessarily win it every year.  I can't say that when the Royals won it, I thought they were the best team in the playoffs for example.

The year the Royals won it they had the best record in the AL....on the back of the second-best team ERA in the AL and the best bullpen (by a mile). Then, in the WS, the Royals played an opponent with an inferior record (Mets). They were the favorites (at least in terms of records) in every post-season series they played that year.

[Bandit34]

 

The year the Royals won it they had the best record in the AL....on the back of the second-best team ERA in the AL and the best bullpen (by a mile). Then, in the WS, the Royals played an opponent with an inferior record (Mets). They were the favorites (at least in terms of records) in every post-season series they played that year.

The thing that shocked me the most about those Royals' clubs is how fast they disappeared. It has to be a very hard pill to swallow for Royals fans when their club's players all left so fast.