Front Page: Twins Game Recap (9/14): Sano Grand Slam Overcomes Rocky Start for Win

[railmarshalljon]

 

Can we call out everyone at the FAN for giving up on the Twins too? Power Trip, Common, and Barreiro all buried the Twins on Friday, declared this series the beginning of the end for the club, blah blah blah. That made the doubleheader sweep even sweeter, I gotta say.

 

I love the depth and resilience of this club.

 

Bullpen has really been stepping up, and its great to see. 

 

Yes, yes we can. But I'm sure they'll just move onto how it doesn't matter really and that we have no shot in the playoffs anyway without truly acknowledging they were wrong. MN sport radio and print is insufferably conservative and pessimistic when it comes to sports in my opinion. 

[Dantes929]

91-57.  That is fantastic.   Haven't we been through enough highs and lows to know that a week to 10 day stretch can change everything?   We are sitting really, really good but still have to take care of business.    

[howeda7]

What is this rest talk? Finish them, clinch by next Friday or so. Then rest.

[howeda7]

 

Can we call out everyone at the FAN for giving up on the Twins too? Power Trip, Common, and Barreiro all buried the Twins on Friday, declared this series the beginning of the end for the club, blah blah blah. That made the doubleheader sweep even sweeter, I gotta say.

 

I love the depth and resilience of this club.

 

Bullpen has really been stepping up, and its great to see. 

Give 1500 Skor North a listen. They have been the opposite. Breaks cut, all is well talk. Almost to the point of irritation. 

[mikelink45]

I can only celebrate!  Excellent

 

[AceWrigley]

Graterol was throwing some truly nasty stuff. Nice day to be a Twins fan. El Foldo ... no! This team has some sand. Go Twins.

[msukirbycarew]

Bury the tribe and then rest everyone for the playoffs. Win tommorrow and call it a wrap. This team has as much heart as i have seen since '91 and that is why i have hope. Also please extend Sano asap bc he has turned the corner.

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

I've been critical of Eddie Rosario lately, but one of my favorite at bats from this game was the 4 pitch walk Eddie drew to load the bases in a huge spot in the 8th.

[AlwaysinModeration]

I've been critical of Eddie Rosario lately, but one of my favorite at bats from this game was the 4 pitch walk Eddie drew to load the bases in a huge spot in the 8th.

It seems like he has gone up there in multiple at bats recently with a plan of taking pitches until he either gets one strike or two strikes. With as few strikes pitchers throw him, it is a good way to get a walk, or at a minimum a good way to drive up the opposing pitcher’s pitch count.

[twinstalker]

Unfortunately, the Twins have been getting plenty of rest recently.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Now.Lets.Dagger.Them!

[stringer bell]

I don't think it is about rest as much as about health. Kepler has made several awkward swings where he is definitely in pain, same for Cron, and probably also for Cruz. Replacing them today with healthier players makes sense for today and for the postseason IMHO.

 

It would be great if Cave and/or Gonzalez are ready to go because those two are big league players who will certainly be on a postseason roster and they probably need plate appearances to get ready. I don't relish the thought of seeing Miller, LaMarre or Wade get at-bats, but whatever it takes to get Kepler, Cron and Cruz as close to 100% as they can be is what is needed.

[VATwinsFan]

Everyone who thought the Twins would sweep the doubleheader raise your hands.

 

Liars.

[rdehring]

What an outing by Graterol.  Jumped off the couch when I saw that one pitch at 102.  I know their plans are to have him be a starter.  But can you imagine how he would do as a closer?  Don't know if he is ready to start out of spring training or if he will need to begin 2020 at AAA.

 

After giving up very few walks while with the Twins this season, Thorpe lost sight of the strike zone yesterday.  As rough as his stuff was, was great seeing him keep the game tied by striking out the side with the bases loaded.  Still have faith this kid is part of future Twins rotations.

 

Interesting question will be how long Dobnak can go today and who comes in after him?  Harper, Romero, Alcala, Romo?

 

 

[Only Here in Negative]

 

 

Everyone who thought the Twins would sweep the doubleheader raise your hands.

 

Liars.

 

I legitimately did! My mother and cousin are huge Twins fans who tend towards despair. I spent Friday evening emailing and texting with both of them about how the Twins were going to sweep this weekend (not just the doubleheader). Every time this team looks like its down, it claws back. And with a mostly functional lineup, I thought they'd light up Clevinger (not exactly what happened but close enough) while the pen would hold serve.

 

I also predicted that the Vikings would stomp the Packers and this would be the greatest MN sports weekend since Game 163 weekend (which ended with Favre stomping the Pack on MNF). So let's hope I'm a seer!

[Linus]

Interesting that Rocco pulled Smeltzer when things were going well and stuck with Thorpe when he really struggled. This club is never out of it and seem to know it

[howeda7]

 

 

 

Interesting question will be how long Dobnak can go today and who comes in after him?  Harper, Romero, Alcala, Romo?

 

That feels like forfeiting. I don't understand pushing Berrios back. If you start him today and Friday, you set up him to pitch Wed or Thursday before the end of the season which lines him up for game 1. If you stick with giving him 5 days rest, you pitch him tomorrow and next Sunday. That puts him in line to pitch the 2nd to last game of the season. You don't want that. And the alternative is he's on like 10 days rest.  

 

[mrtwinsfan]

Great saturday of baseball,   how would it feel to be a fan of Baltimore and detroit,,   We  have more wins than them combined,   Winning is Fun

[Nine of twelve]

 

...every single pitcher except Thorpe did their jobs today.

After all is said and done, even he fulfilled a worthy role. He ate innings in a game his team won.

[Nine of twelve]

 

Can we call out everyone at the FAN for giving up on the Twins too? Power Trip, Common, and Barreiro all buried the Twins on Friday, declared this series the beginning of the end for the club, blah blah blah. That made the doubleheader sweep even sweeter, I gotta say.

 

I love the depth and resilience of this club.

 

Bullpen has really been stepping up, and its great to see. 

I just can't stand to listen to that station any more.

[Nine of twelve]

 

Hats off all around, but the bullpen deserves the lions share of the credit. Fantastic job.

I assume you are giving credit to Falvey and Levine for assembling the bullpen roster, specifically the trades made and trades not made. Right?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Interesting that Rocco pulled Smeltzer when things were going well and stuck with Thorpe when he really struggled. This club is never out of it and seem to know it

I think that was contextual. In the first game, Rocco was managing to win. In the second game, Rocco was managing not to blow out his bullpen.

[jimbo92107]

Lewis Thorpe was having a terrible time finding his groove, mostly because he was releasing his drive foot off the rubber and lunging towards home plate. Or, as Bert would say, he wasn't "staying back." The result was that his arm wasn't catching up to his body, thus all the pitches drifting high and left, arm-side. I suspect Thorpe will be doing a lot more work with Wes Johnson to keep his drive foot on the rubber longer, and then we will see Thorpe's command come back. We'll also see him start hitting the low areas of the zone with his fastball. 

[DannySD]

These bullpen games are the only blueprint I see for winning a playoff series. 9 starters, 2 bench players, 14 pitchers, seriously. Rosario-Kepler-Cave/Sano-Polanco-Arraez-Gonzalez/Garver, Cruz. Bench: Adrianza, Astudillo. And 14 pitchers. 

[Mike Sixel]

These bullpen games are the only blueprint I see for winning a playoff series. 9 starters, 2 bench players, 14 pitchers, seriously. Rosario-Kepler-Cave/Sano-Polanco-Arraez-Gonzalez/Garver, Cruz. Bench: Adrianza, Astudillo. And 14 pitchers.

Agreed. Well, against Houston. I think they can beat anyone else in the AL. Not sure they will, but they match up with everyone else.

Edited September 15, 2019 by Mike Sixel

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

What an outing by Graterol.  Jumped off the couch when I saw that one pitch at 102.  I know their plans are to have him be a starter.  But can you imagine how he would do as a closer?  Don't know if he is ready to start out of spring training or if he will need to begin 2020 at AAA.

 

After giving up very few walks while with the Twins this season, Thorpe lost sight of the strike zone yesterday.  As rough as his stuff was, was great seeing him keep the game tied by striking out the side with the bases loaded.  Still have faith this kid is part of future Twins rotations.

 

Interesting question will be how long Dobnak can go today and who comes in after him?  Harper, Romero, Alcala, Romo?

 

What is it with everyone wanting to take our best starting prospects and turn them into closers? Have you seen our starting pitching?

 

Graterol, in my opinion, stays a starter unless he cannot stay healthy (and this is definitely an issue right now) or be effective in MLB as one. Don't mind him getting good experience out of the pen right now, but he should be firmly entrenched in this team's plan as a starter until he shows he cannot be one.