Astros vs Twins, Game 1, 9/28 1pm Central

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I guess. He was ok, hard to go Only 5 innings and be brilliant. Would have wanted one more inning out of him. Could have made it so that romo never got in

The ump's zone almost dictated an early exit. Maeda can't just pump heat over the plate and get away with it. He lives and dies with pinpoint control and the ump wasn't giving him **** laterally around the zone. Hell, the ump didn't give him several pitches over the ****ing plate.

[USAFChief]

 

That’s not fair, Maeda was brilliant given that **** strike zone.

Maeda battled, and did well, but 'brilliant?" 

 

no. 

[MNT1996]

Maeda was literally the only bright spot for the Twins. Sure he wasn't perfect, but he damn well put the Twins in position for a win. Everybody else, well besides Cruz to an extent, failed. I say the Twins dump their whole roster and only play Japanese players. I think that's the curse breaker. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Maeda battled, and did well, but 'brilliant?" 

 

no. 

"Brilliant given that strike zone".

 

Only the most power of power pitchers who instigate swings and misses on everything could thrive with a zone the size of a shoebox.

 

And even they likely suffer, as hitters would probably realize not swinging is better than the alternative.

 

Greinke and Maeda, two of the stingiest pitchers in all of baseball, had a 6.0 BB/9 rate today.

 

The two of them walked 20 batters combined this season.

[jud6312]

The reason Tortuga shouldn't be on the roster is that Rocco can't be trusted to not use him.

 

As I've said many times in the past: he is to Rocco what Punto was to Gardy ... except he's nowhere near as good as Punto.

 

It's a tough spot to put him in and the loss isn't his fault, but when you swing at every single pitch and can't do much of anything with any of them, it makes it pretty easy to pitch around him.

 

And what's the end game? If he somehow manages to get on base, you can't pinch run for him because you've used all of the other catchers, so you're clogging up the basepaths.

[Primetime82]

I don’t really get mad about losing anything thing anymore, but I burn when I feel the coaches don’t put the team in the best position to win.

 

Maeda could have pitched another inning

May could have pitched another inning.

Why was Jeffers out of the game? Avila should not be playing. Period

Using Romo and Theilbar in 9th in not ok.

I would have rather see Cave or even Alex K pinch hit.

[USAFChief]

 

"Brilliant given that strike zone".

 

Only the most power of power pitchers who instigate swings and misses on everything could thrive with a zone the size of a shoebox.

 

And even they likely suffer, as hitters would probably realize not swinging is better than the alternative.

 

Greinke and Maeda, two of the stingiest pitchers in all of baseball, had a 6.0 BB/9 rate today.

 

The two of them walked 20 batters combined this season.

Well, it's a moot point, but you know what "brilliant" looks like?

 

It looks like Lucas Giolito today.

 

Blake Snell today.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Well, it's a moot point, but you know what "brilliant" looks like?

 

It looks like Lucas Giolito today.

 

Blake Snell today.

Dude, whatever. You’re the one who ignored my qualifying statement.

[ashbury]

There wasn’t one guy who did a good job today except for Taylor Rodgers.

Five innings of two-hit ball by the starting pitcher? A clean inning from Trevor May? There were good jobs.

 

OPS for the batters was .424 if I did the math correctly. That, plus a horrendous error, are your culprits.

 

[denarded]

 

Maeda was literally the only bright spot for the Twins. Sure he wasn't perfect, but he damn well put the Twins in position for a win. Everybody else, well besides Cruz to an extent, failed. I say the Twins dump their whole roster and only play Japanese players. I think that's the curse breaker. 

Nishioka

[JNess21]

Do you guys think fans would have been booing at the end of the game if they were in attendance? It would be insane to boo a team that is in the playoffs and still "alive" but it is getting ridiculous at this point. I will be SHOCKED if we pull it out tomorrow. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Do you guys think fans would have been booing at the end of the game if they were in attendance?

I know the MLB Ballpark app has buttons for cheering or booing, but I don't think I've heard any booing in the broadcasts this year.

[Aggies7]

Five innings of two-hit ball by the starting pitcher? A clean inning from Trevor May? There were good jobs.

 

OPS for the batters was .424 if I did the math correctly. That, plus a horrendous error, are your culprits.

 

May and Rogers did well. Maeda was ok. Other than that

[MNT1996]

 

Nishioka

 

Nishioka never played in a Twins playoff game. If my theory is correct, I bet he would've went 4-4 with 4 grand slams. 

[twinssporto]

This is a complete melt down. "Total System Failure" so to speak.

 

After I puked, I puked again. 

 

I wish somebody would show up to fight. No fight anywhere...from manager to player pathetic. 

[FlauerPauer]

 

Do you guys think fans would have been booing at the end of the game if they were in attendance? It would be insane to boo a team that is in the playoffs and still "alive" but it is getting ridiculous at this point. I will be SHOCKED if we pull it out tomorrow. 

 

No way Minnesota fans would boo their team. Minnesota nice remember? They barely clap at the games.

[jud6312]

I'm legitimately embarrassed to be a fan of this team today. 

 

It's not *just* the 17 straight losses, but the "aw shucks, we'll get 'em next time" attitude that seems to be the calling card of this team regardless of who's in the dugout or the front office. They looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but on that field. They didn't perform and Rocco didn't put them in a lot of positions to succeed with his decision-making.

 

Maybe they'll show up and change my mind tomorrow, but today it's embarrassing. 

[Longdistancetwins]

 

Glad I missed this one. I guess. :-( 

Yeah, today was supposed to be my WFH day, but I had committed to go into work.  Now, I’m glad I just listened to parts of the game through MLB audio.  So I don’t even know what Polanco’s horrible error was.

[FlauerPauer]

 

1st pitch swinging once again is TERRIBLE baseball!!!!!! Deserve to lose after 1st inning can’t score and let grienke off the hook...tortuga a fan favorite of crappy plate discipline , not me

 

I don't know anyone who actually thinks Willians Astudillo is a good baseball player. I don't know where this fan favorite idea came from other than the Twins instagram page pimping him up.

[jud6312]

 

I don't know anyone who actually thinks Willians Astudillo is a good baseball player. I don't know where this fan favorite idea came from other than the Twins instagram page pimping him up.

Oh, the love is legit. Take a look at the comment section of any post he's mentioned in on Facebook. Apparently, people love him because he tries "really hard" and "has so much fun out there."

 

It's not just them though ... I know several people that absolutely adore him for those reasons and other chunky guys (I'm chunky so I can say that) that love him because of the "big guys can run" comment.

 

[jud6312]

 

Agreed. Astudillo reminds me of the kind of players the Twins would hype in years where we all knew the team would finish 10 or more games under .500. He does not belong on a contending MLB team other than as a AAA guy called up for brief injury relief. He just isn't good enough. 

Ideally, he's the guy that gets called up to AAA from AA when the AAA catcher gets called up for brief injury relief.

[FlauerPauer]

 

Oh, the love is legit. Take a look at the comment section of any post he's mentioned in on Facebook. Apparently, people love him because he tries "really hard" and "has so much fun out there."

 

It's not just them though ... I know several people that absolutely adore him for those reasons and other chunky guys (I'm chunky so I can say that) that love him because of the "big guys can run" comment.

 

Insane. He is incredibly slow; just because you lose your helmet doesn't mean you are fast. Just a shame that people will lap that up and be cool with the of the most mediocre stat lines I've ever seen.

[h2oface]

 

I don't know anyone who actually thinks Willians Astudillo is a good baseball player. I don't know where this fan favorite idea came from other than the Twins instagram page pimping him up.

 

I guess people like to like players that look like them? Happens in a lot of social choices, unfortunately.

[umterp23]

1st pitch swinging to play hero ball! What a waste...the I am a bomba player is crappy baseball. Too many guys think they are untouchable and do not hustle or have plate discipline or bunt a guy over...same crap as look at me in the NFL ( going for the big hit on defense versus wrapping up a guy to make a tackle) ...time for the older guys to lead by example and tell the guys to play for the team instead of their own name on the back of jersey..if not bench the guys and go with guys who play the game the right way...rather lose with effort and mistakes vs I play everyday because I’m cool ...call me old school but I played in college and if you didn’t play hard every play your ass got cold sitting on the bench...off season he there come

[notoriousgod71]

 

Maeda was literally the only bright spot for the Twins. Sure he wasn't perfect, but he damn well put the Twins in position for a win. Everybody else, well besides Cruz to an extent, failed. I say the Twins dump their whole roster and only play Japanese players. I think that's the curse breaker. 

Hahahaha, I am in a stratomatic baseball league where I fielded as many Asians as I could and then filled out the roster with as good as I could find.

 

I won the 2013 championship with a lineup featuring Nori Aoki, Shin-Soo Choo, 182 year old Ichiro and a pitching staff of Iwakuma, Kuroda, Ryu, Chen, and Uehara as my closer.

 

A previous rendition finished above .500 with Dice K, Chien Ming Wang, Hisinori Takahashi and a bullpen of Uehara, Hong-Chih Kuo and Takashi Saito.

 

 

[Otto von Ballpark]

Hahahaha, I am in a stratomatic baseball league where I fielded as many Asians as I could and then filled out the roster with as good as I could find.

 

I won the 2013 championship with a lineup featuring Nori Aoki, Shin-Soo Choo, 182 year old Ichiro and a pitching staff of Iwakuma, Kuroda, Ryu, Chen, and Uehara as my closer.

 

A previous rendition finished above .500 with Dice K, Chien Ming Wang, Hisinori Takahashi and a bullpen of Uehara, Hong-Chih Kuo and Takashi Saito.

Did Nishioka make the team?

[notoriousgod71]

 

Did Nishioka make the team?

 

In 2011 he had a .143/.156/.190/.346 line in 42 AB on a terrible team, which also featured non-Asian Pineda in its rotation.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Meh.

 

If the game can hinge on such a simple play as the put out missed by Polanco/Arraez, it could also just as easily be my fault for not putting up the original game thread intro in a more timely um... time.

 

Besides, i live a ho-hum life.

 

I like livin' on the edge. Taking the safety net of being able to lose a game away right from the start makes it simpler, doesn't it? Like being a base runner with 2 out. Doesn't matter where it goes in the outfield, you are running.

 

I also like lost causes, being the only ones worth fighting for.

 

We got us an uphill battle now!

[nicksaviking]

The BP has mostly been excellent this season. There was no reason to go with the big names unless one is to buy into the hype of “experience”. After Maeda they could have gone with Wisler and Clippard with May/Duffey/Rogers later. Going with Romo was only bowing to seniority instead of logic.

 

All empathy aside, criticizing the BP or BP usage is pretty dumb. We’re we expecting a win with three freakin hits? This was another choke by the bats.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Twins hit the ball hard but at fielders. The Twins pitchers pitched well. They got shortchanged on several balls and strikes. The Astros had a couple of bloopers fall in, while the Twins just missed on a couple of infield slow rollers. And they made one bad play in an important spot.

 

Tomorrow they have a home game with a gamer (arguably their ace) on the mound.

 

The 17 games are irrelevant. I like their chances to win tomorrow. Let’s go.