Game Thread: Twins vs. Seattle, 4/9/22 @ 1:10pm CT

[Aggies7]

duffey blew it yeah but polanco, kiriloff, sano and kepler...no hits in two games. a couple of those guys have been pretty bad for a while so not a whole lot of confidence in them suddenly turning things around

[RpR]

15 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Feels like more of 2021... can't wait for Sano to start hitting in June, and Kepler looks like he did last year - a replacement level hitter. There is plenty of time for improvement... but if things continue like this we'd be better off getting Miranda and Larnach in the lineup over those two.

Yeah Larnach is tearing the cover off of the ball in AAA.

[RpR]

23 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Kirillo - 0-3

Sano - 0-3

Kepler - 0-3  

 

Wish them a good luck!

Polanco 0-4

[HokieRif]

3 minutes ago, RpR said:

Polanco 0-4

0-4, with 4 K's

[ScottyB]

21 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

This one’s on Duffey

No this one’s on Rocko. I’m sorry but he did have a former closer to bring in - Pagan had 20 saves with TB and he added a pitch during the off season. If he hadn’t used Duran for two innings yesterday, I would have gone with him. But I think Pagan would have gotten the job done as well.

[LVTwinsfan]

3 minutes ago, ScottyB said:

No this one’s on Rocko. I’m sorry but he did have a former closer to bring in - Pagan had 20 saves with TB and he added a pitch during the off season. If he hadn’t used Duran for two innings yesterday, I would have gone with him. But I think Pagan would have gotten the job done as well.

I’ll give you that. I refuse to blame the offense. Seattle has a good pitching staff, they won 90 games last year with an offense that batted .226.  they did that with pitching. Twins offense was clutch today( it is a team sport)they should have won

[glunn]

Except for the last inning the pitching was pretty good, and Buxton's home run is encouraging.

[LVTwinsfan]

1 minute ago, glunn said:

Except for the last inning the pitching was pretty good, and Buxton's home run is encouraging.

That last inning is important

[tony&rodney]

Doug Jones .... I'm having trouble remembering good closers who didn't throw a fastball. I know Hoffman was excellent and his changeup was superb, but he still could get a fastball by hitters. Who were the other closers who threw junk up there. I was trying to remember and was too lazy to look it up.

[beckmt]

Rocco also has Thielbar who has closed for the Twins before.  Why didn't he use a player who had been there before in this spot.  Also Jeffers, why throw Rodriquez a fastball when he had whiffed on 3 breaking pitches. 

[LVTwinsfan]

In two game The Mariners starters pitched 12 innings, Twins 8 2/3.

Mariners used 3 pitchers in game 1 and 4 in game 2

Twins used 4 pitchers in game 1 and and 5 in game 2.

The more pitchers you use in a game the greater the chance that one of them (at least) may not be sharp. 

Twins have pitched well in 2 games , Mariners pitched better.  Winning those close low scoring games, and there will be more of those bet on it, will give your whole team confidence. 

[notoriousgod71]

I would really love to blame Rocco for everything short of the plague but I find it difficult to blame him with the (lack of) options this team has.

 

I place the blame on falvine who not only did nothing to improve an already ghastly bullpen but actively sabotaged it by trading away its best reliever.

[ScottyB]

15 minutes ago, beckmt said:

Rocco also has Thielbar who has closed for the Twins before.  Why didn't he use a player who had been there before in this spot.  Also Jeffers, why throw Rodriquez a fastball when he had whiffed on 3 breaking pitches. 

Caleb Thielbar has 0 lifetime saves. The Twins have 4 pitchers with either the experience, the temperament or the stuff to be closers - Duran, Alcala, Pagan and Joe Smith. Those are the only four pitchers who should see the eighth or ninth with the game on the line. 
 

TK is the only manager we’ve ever had who put into place a setup rotation of two guys who pitched the eighth in front of a closer. In 87 he alternated Atherton and Beringuer for the eighth and in 91 he used Bedrosian and Willis. That’s the way a bullpen should work and that’s why we won pennants. 
 

Rocco should do the same with the four I mentioned earlier. Find out whose the best option for closer, go with that guy and set up a set up rotation with the others. 

[Danchat]

5 minutes ago, notoriousgod71 said:

I would really love to blame Rocco for everything short of the plague but I find it difficult to blame him with the (lack of) options this team has.

 

I place the blame on falvine who not only did nothing to improve an already ghastly bullpen but actively sabotaged it by trading away its best reliever.

Agreed, I don’t see using Duffey as an egregious move. Pagan and Smith haven’t been great recently and haven’t closed in years, and Baldelli has never trusted the younger guys to save. He’ll have to work in Alcala and Duran, but that’s not something he’s going to do right away.

[RickOShea]

50 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Doug Jones .... I'm having trouble remembering good closers who didn't throw a fastball. I know Hoffman was excellent and his changeup was superb, but he still could get a fastball by hitters. Who were the other closers who threw junk up there. I was trying to remember and was too lazy to look it up.

Olson. with Baltimore.  All he threw were curveballs.

[wsnydes]

It's not like Duffey has never pitched in a save situation either.  He's got 4 career saves.  Obviously that's a small sample, but it's hardly foreign territory for him.

Rocco's options are pretty limited.

[tony&rodney]

7 minutes ago, RickOShea said:

Olson. with Baltimore.  All he threw were curveballs.

Thanks. He was good.

[HokieRif]

1 hour ago, RickOShea said:

Olson. with Baltimore.  All he threw were curveballs.

Did Glen Perkins actually have a fastball?

[Game7-91]

3 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Doug Jones .... I'm having trouble remembering good closers who didn't throw a fastball. I know Hoffman was excellent and his changeup was superb, but he still could get a fastball by hitters. Who were the other closers who threw junk up there. I was trying to remember and was too lazy to look it up.

Bruce Sutter

[Squirrel]

3 hours ago, notoriousgod71 said:

I would really love to blame Rocco for everything short of the plague but I find it difficult to blame him with the (lack of) options this team has.

 

I place the blame on falvine who not only did nothing to improve an already ghastly bullpen but actively sabotaged it by trading away its best reliever.

You know ... the players do get to shoulder some of it. When you don't have any offense, this is what happens. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't please with trading off Rogers, but ... no bats, no/low scores doesn't help.

[Squirrel]

3 hours ago, Danchat said:

Agreed, I don’t see using Duffey as an egregious move. Pagan and Smith haven’t been great recently and haven’t closed in years, and Baldelli has never trusted the younger guys to save. He’ll have to work in Alcala and Duran, but that’s not something he’s going to do right away.

Yeah ... I wouldn't have thrown Duran into that tonight ... but, I sure hope he's in the mix in upcoming games