This Ain't Over

[twinsnorth49]

And we’re tied in Cleveland

[Jham]

Bosox! kinda like our game yesterday...

[Jham]

If Hand slumps this could be huge... like if Rogers slumps...

[Aggies7]

Second blown save in 2 days for hand, and he wasn’t sharp on Thursday either. Everyone getting overused it appears

[Aggies7]

Wow, sole possession of second place. Hard to believe

[twinsnorth49]

And the Twins are officially chasing.

[Aggies7]

Imagine hitting the most home runs in major league history and not making the postseason. It could happen.

[Jham]

kinda like our game yesterday... geez... 2nd place. sweet.

[twinsnorth49]

The Indians having a league best .716 winning percentage over a 60 game stretch has A LOT to do with them being in 1st.

 

Hard to believe considering how they played prior to that.

[MNT1996]

This "Cleveland has a stronger schedule" thing isn't starting off too hot

[Aggies7]

This "Cleveland has a stronger schedule" thing isn't starting off too hot

They’ll start losing anyyyyyy day now. Call it what you want, but the twins playing mediocre ball for 2 1/2 months is essentially playing mediocre ball for half the season. Actually more than half at this point. You can dress it up any way you want.

[Jham]

The Indians having a league best .716 winning percentage over a 60 game stretch has A LOT to do with them being in 1st.

 

Hard to believe considering how they played prior to that.

And making bold moves to improve and reenergize their team had a lot to do with continuing the torrid pace finalizing the come back. I hope Buck and Cruz can have a similar impact for us...

[twinsnorth49]

And making bold moves to improve and reenergize their team had a lot to do with continuing the torrid pace finalizing the come back. I hope Buck and Cruz can have a similar impact for us...

Maybe, I think that’s overblown a bit. They were on an absolute tear before making any changes. They addressed some deficiencies, no doubt. Really hope the Twins can get healthy for the stretch run and have their best lineup out there more often than not.

[MNT1996]

Clevinger - 3.02 ERA, 1.01 WHIP

Bieber - 3.28 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

Plesac - 3.27 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

Civale - 1 ERA, .72 WHIP (very small sample size)

+

Kluber - 3.16 ERA, 1.09 WHIP (Career)

________________________

 

Berrios - 3.29 ERA, 1.15 WHIP

Odorizzi - 3.44 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

Gibson - 4.24 ERA, 1.29 WHIP

Pineda - 4.15 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

Perez - 4.80 ERA, 1.43 WHIP

 

Twins seriously need to step up their starting pitching effectiveness or hope for some serious Cleveland SP regression

[Twodogs]

Cleveland was smart with their deadline deals.  Now imagine if Franmil starts hitting too??

[beckmt]

Some on mlbtraderumors have now dismissed the Twins and expect them to miss the playoffs, with Oakland and Tampa Bay outlasting them.  This could happen, but was a strange deadline this year.  Indians may well get Kluber and Carrasco back (no one knows how effective they will be), but Kluber in good form is an ace and that would give Cleveland 2 aces and a near ace.  Also still would leave them with a horrible bullpen, so who knows.  Next two weeks are critical and we will see if Cleveland's bullpen can hold up against very good lineups. Cleveland has been playing out of their mind and if this continues, might well have the best record in baseball at the end of the year.

[yarnivek1972]

The Indians have a lot of ground to make up to catch Houston and New York. And the Astros have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way.

[Mr. Brooks]

Some on mlbtraderumors have now dismissed the Twins and expect them to miss the playoffs, with Oakland and Tampa Bay outlasting them. This could happen, but was a strange deadline this year. Indians may well get Kluber and Carrasco back (no one knows how effective they will be), but Kluber in good form is an ace and that would give Cleveland 2 aces and a near ace. Also still would leave them with a horrible bullpen, so who knows. Next two weeks are critical and we will see if Cleveland's bullpen can hold up against very good lineups. Cleveland has been playing out of their mind and if this continues, might well have the best record in baseball at the end of the year.

Huh? Cleveland's bullpen has the best ERA in MLB.

The gap between them and 2nd place, is wider than the gap between 2nd and 9th place.

[USAFChief]

The Indians having a league best .716 winning percentage over a 60 game stretch has A LOT to do with them being in 1st.

 

Hard to believe considering how they played prior to that.

the Twins NOT having a .716 winning percentage has just as much to do with the Indians being in first place.

 

This is just as much about gagging up a huge lead.

 

The solution is to play better, rather than hope you back in because Clevelands schedule is harder.

[ewen21]

I’ve been saying for 20 years that if your team can’t develop starting pitchers, they are toast because no one is giving them away.

It's as simple as that. If we are going to be beggars for pitching in the FA market year after year we are going to be in the same boat year after year.

 

When are we ever going to raise our own pitching? It's nuts how terrible we have been at that

[TimTheVIking]

In the movie Midway, a Japanese officer realizing Japan's precarious situation remarked, "A few hours ago, we filled the skies with our planes.  Now we win or lose with with six fighters and ten torpedo planes."

 

The Twins are a tale of two seasons.

 

From the beginning of the season to June 15: 47-22.  The best in baseball.

From June 16th through last night:  24-25.

 

The Twins appear to be the 2019 baseball version of Japan in WWII.

[twinsnorth49]

the Twins NOT having a .716 winning percentage has just as much to do with the Indians being in first place.

 

This is just as much about gagging up a huge lead.

 

The solution is to play better, rather than hope you back in because Clevelands schedule is harder.

Well playing better is always the solution to anything, it’s the only thing you can control. I doubt the Twins mindset is that they back in due to the schedule, that’s a Twins Daily meme.

 

Cleveland is league best for over a 2 month span by a good margin. have to hand it to them. 20 of 23 against the Tigers, Sox and Royals is taking care of business.

[ashbury]

have to hand it to them.

The Twins kind of did, this past weekend at least.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

The Twins appear to be the 2019 baseball version of Japan in WWII.

As long as Germany doesn't bomb Pearl Harbor, we should be okay!

[laloesch]

 

I hate say this but the Twins making playoffs is not a sure thing especially after this last week of play. Not have they lost the lead to Cleveland for centeral division but in this last three weeks look at what's happened to wild card standings with both Tampa and A's closing the gap. A's are only now four back in loss column to the Twins.  The Twins are fading fast in dog days of August and there pitching looks like its starting to unravel and Twins offense can't cover up for it now with the recent injuries and players playing hurt. Also add in that the Twins are not playing very good defense and not doing a lot of little things that need to be done to win games. Roco has crisis on his hands and were going  to see if he can over come this or is going to fall apart. The Twins regime better hope they can stop this slide or they are going to see other side of Minnesota nice. I already have here it with reporters on their interviews they are tired of getting nothing but standard of saying nothing and being so guarded secretly on what they tried to do as organization. Even if they would have said they tried to trade to improve situation but deals cost to much or players didn't want to come here.  For all improving the farm system it still appears to me they haven't developed any pitching because we about seen everyone possible to bring up here to majors. Second there signing of FA has been nothing short of disaster. A majority of there best pitchers are still from the other Regime for the Twins. It appears to me we will be looking to sign bunch of FA pitchers next year to go with this offense. I getting worried we may loose another year with this group of players to make a run in playoffs. All experts and sports reporters were making so much fun of New York Mets at the trading dead line and now look what that has done for the team. The front offices of today I think loose sight that its not all about numbers but players who need support and belief from the top on down.  I think the this may have been needed here too that Front office believed they could win it all.

 

I try to be optimistic myself, but one thing they teach you in rehab is to accept what you are and accept something for what it truly is.  This isn't a playoff caliper team.  They might beat up (sometimes) on lesser teams but this Twins team will be lucky to make the playoffs.  I could be wrong, i hope i'm wrong but i don't have a good feeling about the direction they are trending.  They've blown an 11-1/2 game lead and are barely playing .500 baseball in the 2nd half.  The pitching has again emerged as the Achilles heel of this club and once again the front office missed out on adding anything to address it.

 

[USAFChief]

 

As long as Germany doesn't bomb Pearl Harbor again, we should be okay!

ftfy.

[HawksNest]

 

In the movie Midway, a Japanese officer realizing Japan's precarious situation remarked, "A few hours ago, we filled the skies with our planes.  Now we win or lose with with six fighters and ten torpedo planes."

 

The Twins are a tale of two seasons.

 

From the beginning of the season to June 15: 47-22.  The best in baseball.

From June 16th through last night:  24-25.

 

The Twins appear to be the 2019 baseball version of Japan in WWII.

 

This is the key right here. We can cry and complain all we want about Cleveland playing .700 baseball for 2+ months, but the reality is that the Twins have been a sub.500 team over the same period of time. 

 

THAT'S why we're in 2nd place.

 

Take care of business and none of this would matter. 

 

Don't want to hear weak excuses.

 

And the injuries excuse?  Hello, have you seen the Yankees this year?  They've been playing most of the year with only 2 to 3 regulars and they have the best record in the AL.

 

From here until the end of the season, every single game counts significantly.

 

Play better, period.

[Mike Sixel]

The vaunted farm system has given almost no help. Unlike the Yankees.

 

This team aimed low in pitching. Perez, Odorrizi, and Pineda are all bad, or just ok. They don't draft pitchers early, then refuse to trade top prospects to get it.

 

I'm still waiting for this great system to do something to help this roster. And, yes, guys drafted and traded for in the last three years are helping playoff teams....

[SwainZag]

 

The vaunted farm system has given almost no help. Unlike the Yankees.

This team aimed low in pitching. Perez, Odorrizi, and Pineda are all bad, or just ok. They don't draft pitchers early, then refuse to trade top prospects to get it.

I'm still waiting for this great system to do something to help this roster. And, yes, guys drafted and traded for in the last three years are helping playoff teams....

 

I would say the young core of the team who are all 26 years old or younger all came from the vaunted farm system.  Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Polanco, Berrios and Arraez are fit into that mold.  

 

Before the season the majority of the high pieces on the farm were AA or lower including the entire Top 10 not named Rooker, who is injured. 

 

The Yankees are a weird comparison because the only guys that are 26 or under and really helping the club are Torres, Sanchez and German.  So where's all this vaunted Yankee farm club helping out at?

[beckmt]

 

The Indians have a lot of ground to make up to catch Houston and New York. And the Astros have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way.

It's only about 5 games and Cleveland could do that the next two weeks with 7 against the Yankees, and I think they have 3 against Houston also.