GAME THREAD: Oakland Athletics vs. Minnesota Twins, 05/07/2022 @ 1:10 P.M. CT

[USAFChief]

1 minute ago, glunn said:

Is anyone warming up?

The fat lady 

[Nine of twelve]

That was 4" outside.

[AceWrigley]

freebie.

[wsnydes]

Baseball is hard.

It's even harder when you make it that way.

[Mill1634]

This umpire has had zero clue where the outside corner is all day.

[Nine of twelve]

Winnah!

Which came first, the chicken or the goose egg?

[wsnydes]

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

The fat lady 

Hand her a Mint Julep to slow her down a bit.

[USAFChief]

Winnah

[Mill1634]

Twins win!

Gray was fantastic, Danny and Jax provide multi-inning success, and Duran is electric and breaks records in the process. Polo is finding his swing which is badly needed, especially with Correa down. Just gotta hope Buxton is okay, although I'd be surprised to see him tomorrow. Always good to take the series with a chance to sweep, especially after the let down in Baltimore.

Until tomorrow,

Enjoy your chicken!

[LVTwinsfan]

Wow, look at the Twins

[Craig Arko]

El Gasolino. Senor Smoke.

[bighat]

Nice to get another victory.

When you're winning you can complain about the little things, so here's one: frankly, this team is pretty boring to watch right now. 2-1 and 1-0 games against a team that's lost 8 straight ballgames is pretty uninspiring. If you were new to baseball and someone sat you down to watch this ballgame as your intro to the sport, you'd probably never come back.

Scoring 3 runs a game against very bad Baltimore and Oakland teams isn't good baseball.

[wsnydes]

I still have faith that the bats will be fine, but this last week or so...woof.  

They've got to be better.

[PDX Twin]

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

The fat lady 

Interesting story (?): My wife and I were taking a Slovak language class in Bratislava. The teacher was teaching us about gendered adjectives and used the example (in Slovak) of "fat man." My wife responded with the corresponding words for "fat lady." The instructor turned beet red and said "Nooooooo! No fat lady. Half-slim lady." We still use the term (and chuckle) when we see a particularly corpulent woman.

[stringer bell]

Has Duran thrown more 100+ mph pitches than all other Twins pitchers? I recall Trevor May getting to 99, Graterol at or over 100 and I thought Alcala hit 100 a couple of times last year. Is there anyone else with that kind of velocity?

[AKTwins]

Kirilofff should be in St. Paul, playing everyday and figuring things out.  My understanding is that with the COVID issue that player called up does not need to be on the 40 man.  So Palacios, Robertson, Contreras or Terry would be fine for a couple days.

[snotboogie]

I’m really not accustomed to winning 1 run ballgames. 

[Squirrel]

19 minutes ago, bighat said:

Nice to get another victory.

When you're winning you can complain about the little things, so here's one: frankly, this team is pretty boring to watch right now. 2-1 and 1-0 games against a team that's lost 8 straight ballgames is pretty uninspiring. If you were new to baseball and someone sat you down to watch this ballgame as your intro to the sport, you'd probably never come back.

Scoring 3 runs a game against very bad Baltimore and Oakland teams isn't good baseball.

Considering all the one-run games we lost last year, I’m not going to complain about a thing and anger the baseball gods. I hope you will atone and not ruin this streak! ??
 

(But I did nod off in the middle of that … mostly because I got up really early this morning and am tired)

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

11 minutes ago, bighat said:

Nice to get another victory.

When you're winning you can complain about the little things, so here's one: frankly, this team is pretty boring to watch right now. 2-1 and 1-0 games against a team that's lost 8 straight ballgames is pretty uninspiring. 

According to Dick Bremer's postgame, the Twins are 3-0 in 2-1 (run) games this year, and 1-0 in 1-0 (run) games. They didn't win any 2-1 or 1-0 games last year.

These are the games that separate good teams from bad teams. Yes, Baltimore and Oakland ARE bad, and should lose games like these. 

The old adage applies here. All MLB teams win 1/3 of their games. All MLB teams lose 1/3 of their games. It's the other 1/3 that make the difference. 

To prove Dick's point, if the Twins lose their 2-1 and 1-0 games, their record is 13-15, not 17-11.

[stringer bell]

33 minutes ago, AKTwins said:

Kirilofff should be in St. Paul, playing everyday and figuring things out.  My understanding is that with the COVID issue that player called up does not need to be on the 40 man.  So Palacios, Robertson, Contreras or Terry would be fine for a couple days.

Not exactly true. If three or more players test positive, then they can go outside the 40-man roster. So far, only two guys, so they had to use players on the 40-man. 
 

I don’t think two at-bats says it all as to whether Kirilloff is ready. Give him a few days. I’d love to see him step in at first base. 

[jimbo92107]

True, Polanco is butchering 2B the last couple games. 

On the other hand, he won this game by himself, so...

[Squirrel]

4 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Not exactly true. If three or more players test positive, then they can go outside the 40-man roster. So far, only two guys, so they had to use players on the 40-man. 
 

I don’t think two at-bats says it all as to whether Kirilloff is ready. Give him a few days. I’d love to see him step in at first base. 

I'd actually like to see Miranda at 1st more often and Lewis at 3rd ... although I don't know how much 3rd Lewis has had, but that's if Correa is still with us next year

[Squirrel]

2 minutes ago, jimbo92107 said:

True, Polanco is butchering 2B the last couple games. 

On the other hand, he won this game by himself, so...

How, exactly did he win this game by himself? When less than 3 runs are scored, that game was won by pitching and defense

[Rigby]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

Has Duran thrown more 100+ mph pitches than all other Twins pitchers? I recall Trevor May getting to 99, Graterol at or over 100 and I thought Alcala hit 100 a couple of times last year. Is there anyone else with that kind of velocity?

Ron Davis when the ball was going the other way....

[sampleSizeOfOne]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

The fat lady 

I hope it's Anna Russell.

 

(and sorry i fell asleep with the game on)

[bighat]

15 hours ago, Don't Feed the Greed Guy said:

The old adage applies here. All MLB teams win 1/3 of their games. All MLB teams lose 1/3 of their games. It's the other 1/3 that make the difference. 

 

So how about the Twins start winning some of those "other 1/3" games by a score of 8-3 or 10-4? Nobody wants to watch 9 innings of strikeouts, pop flies and double-play grounders.

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

1 hour ago, bighat said:

So how about the Twins start winning some of those "other 1/3" games by a score of 8-3 or 10-4? Nobody wants to watch 9 innings of strikeouts, pop flies and double-play grounders.

Those ARE the 1/3.

4/10: Twins 10, Seattle 4

4/15: Twins 8, Boston 4

4/18 Twins 8, Boston 3

4/23 Twins 9, Chicago WS 3

4/27 Twins 5, Detroit 0

4/28 Twins 7, Detroit 1

4/30 Twins 9, Tampa 1

5/1 Twins 9. Tampa 3

5/3 Twins 7, Baltimore 2

Nobody? I would much rather watch a fast-paced suspenseful pitcher's duel than a five hour slugfest. But I'm nobody, I guess. 

To each their own, including you. As the list above shows, the Twins HAVE been winning the sort of games you prefer. Nine of them.