Game Thread "Heads", Twins vs. Brewers 1:10pm cdt 8/29/2021 ad

[sampleSizeOfOne]

To get back into the post season this year, a broom or two just won't cut it. We need an industrial strength wetdry shop vac, as well as help across the board from many other teams.  The Miracle Braves had more than half a season to make their comeback. We got only a month. But that's no excuse to lose faith... The Rockies did something like that in the late aughts. It isn't impossible. It just needs probability such as is only seen at the start of Tom Stoppard plays:

And my humble apologies for the short intro last time i wrote one. I lost track of time while helping a friend move, and he told me to pull off to the side of the road and put it up. This would be the same friend who shared his discovery of Botwulf of Thorney who he'd looked up before making elementary school remarks on the subject, only to find the patron saint of boundaries, and those crossing them: trade and travel, not to mention farming rolled in for good measure. That's some serious saint patronizing! And which is more, Botwulf's tun or Botwulf's stone is what reduced over the centuries to... Boston. Which was the town we traveled to that last time i wrote an introduction.

Suffice it to say, i was not worthy. Nor have i plans to become worthy any time soon, as i fall back on the words of Alice Cooper for the meat of my intro:

 

Anyway, to cut to the chase:

Milwuakee

0. Aaron Ashby (L) P
1. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
2. Willy Adames (R) DH
3. Christian Yelich (L) LF
4. Omar Narvaez (L) C
5. Rowdy Tellez (L) 1B
6. Luis Urias (R) SS
7. Jace Peterson (L) RF
8. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF
9. Pablo Reyes (R) 3B

Minnesota

0. Griffin Jax (R) P
1. Byron Buxton (R) CF
2. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B
3. Rob Refsnyder (R) RF
4. Josh Donaldson (R) DH
5. Miguel Sano (R) 1B
6. Brent Rooker (R) LF
7. Ryan Jeffers (R) C
8. Willians Astudillo (R) 3B
9. Andrelton Simmons (R) SS

 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Good to see Rooker back in there after the hbp yesterday.

 

Still good to see Buxton as well, who is still getting untracked.

[ashbury]

I hope we win.

[Brock Beauchamp]

A starting pitcher I don’t mind watching!

[Thegrin]

Where's Arraez?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, Thegrin said:

Where's Arraez?

Lefty going for the Brewers today. 

[Matthew Lenz]

5 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Lefty going for the Brewers today. 

Frustrating. Do other teams platoon their best hitters? An OPS if .614 isn’t good but why not get him AB’s against lefties right now?

[Matthew Lenz]

Despite their bullpen, the Twins are three games above .500 in one-run games. How????

[sampleSizeOfOne]

19 minutes ago, Matthew Lenz said:

Frustrating. Do other teams platoon their best hitters? An OPS if .614 isn’t good but why not get him AB’s against lefties right now?

Playing players in the situations they are best at is sometimes how they become our best hitters...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

37 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I hope we win.

If we only had a wheel barrow...

[ashbury]

7 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

If we only had a wheel barrow...

C'mon. Donaldson's prowess on the basepaths isn't THAT bad, is it?

[Matthew Lenz]

4 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Playing players in the situations they are best at is sometimes how they become our best hitters...

Sure but when you're 15 under .500 why not give him as many opportunities as possible to face LHP?

[ashbury]

32 minutes ago, Matthew Lenz said:

A: An OPS of .614 isn’t good

Q: Why not get him AB’s against lefties right now?

I'll take Baseball Strategy for $100, Alex, uh, Mayim, uh, Levar, uh....

[Matthew Lenz]

4 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I'll take Baseball Strategy for $100, Alex, uh, Mayim, uh, Levar, uh....

I'm not sure what this means, but my primary strategy since about July 1st would be to focus on how I can improve my team in the future and not worry about winning individual games. Then again, we still throw Simmons out there every day so what do I know.

[ashbury]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Lenz said:

I'm not sure what this means

It means you answered your own question. Your suggestion to go against strategy in pursuit of some other aim is all well and good. But you answered your own question.

I just thought the juxtaposition of your words sounded like a Jeopardy "answer".

[Matthew Lenz]

Give me .614 OPS over another at-bat from Willians Astudillo for the rest of time. PLEASE

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, Matthew Lenz said:

Frustrating. Do other teams platoon their best hitters? An OPS if .614 isn’t good but why not get him AB’s against lefties right now?

Arraez, like most lefties, is not good against LHP. His OPS this season is like .620. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

3 minutes ago, Matthew Lenz said:

Give me .614 OPS over another at-bat from Willians Astudillo for the rest of time. PLEASE

Why, though? Astudillo’s career OPS against LHP is .140 higher than Arraez’s OPS against LHP. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

35 minutes ago, Matthew Lenz said:

Sure but when you're 15 under .500 why not give him as many opportunities as possible to face LHP?

Because it’s not a development thing, it’s a LHB thing. Pick your favorite lefty hitter and go look at his OPS splits. There’s an overwhelming chance that lefty has a .150-.200 OPS split between RHP and LHP. 

[Matthew Lenz]

8 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Why, though? Astudillo’s career OPS against LHP is .140 higher than Arraez’s OPS against LHP. 

I'll be the first to admit I irrationally dislike Astudillo. And that at-bat where he swung at a slider that was never anywhere near the strike zone is exactly why. Also, he's not part of the big picture and I don't care about winning this particular game. Give Arraez, who is part of the big picture, as many AB's against LHP as you can.

[beckmt]

Is there any reason Jax should be on this club next year?  We need to find many pitchers , so almost all should get a look.

[Matthew Lenz]

7 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Because it’s not a development thing, it’s a LHB thing. Pick your favorite lefty hitter and go look at his OPS splits. There’s an overwhelming chance that lefty has a .150-.200 OPS split between RHP and LHP. 

Counterargument: If it's that common then other teams must let their LHB's hit, no?

[Aggies7]

Poor Griff. Twins love “good story” guys. Fans, not so much 

[Matthew Lenz]

Woof, Jax leaving a lot over the plate today.

[jkcarew]

8 minutes ago, Matthew Lenz said:

I'll be the first to admit I irrationally dislike Astudillo. And that at-bat where he swung at a slider that was never anywhere near the strike zone is exactly why. Also, he's not part of the big picture and I don't care about winning this particular game. Give Arraez, who is part of the big picture, as many AB's against LHP as you can.

Not as convinced as you (and many others) that Arraez is such a huge part of the future. He’s a BA and OBP guy, which is nice in our lineup. But not much else, unless you value his defensive flexibility. But, Larnach, Kirilloff, Martin, Lewis, Miranda. Every one promises either (way) more power or better defensive flexibility.

[Danchat]

Well, at least we've gotten a body of work on Jax and Barnes so far. Might as well figure out what they can go at the MLB level rather than go into 2022 with them as question marks.

[h2oface]

Just checking the game.... WoW...

Jax only has 1 homer and 3 runs to go to tie is last outing with 9 earned and 3 homers given up in 4.1 innings...... he is getting rather consistent.......

[Matthew Lenz]

31 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

Not as convinced as you (and many others) that Arraez is such a huge part of the future. He’s a BA and OBP guy, which is nice in our lineup. But not much else, unless you value his defensive flexibility. But, Larnach, Kirilloff, Martin, Lewis, Miranda. Every one promises either (way) more power or better defensive flexibility.

I can see your point to a certain extent but I think contending for a batting title is something any team would look for.

[tony&rodney]

Woof, a chance for four pinch hitters in the 7th inning. Nope. Not happening.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Did we not even make 2 pages?

 

My bad.

 

I also hoped by mentioning my last intro, the last second come back i had inferred the. would apply today.

 

Alas such was not to be...