Twins 9, Rays 4: Buxton Homers Twice, Twins Offense Crushes The Rays

[Squirrel]

9 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

 

I tried to get logged in. I'm not much of an Apple device guy and it became impossible to log in so I just imagined in my mind what was happening.

What I saw in my head was pretty good. 

 

 

33 minutes ago, Karbo said:

IMO the play by play was below avg. Too much yac yac yac and not enough real game info.

What I equated it to was if the game thread were micced and live … 

[Squirrel]

28 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I generally find national announcers don't really know the teams involved well enough to give us good insight. 

That was the case last night. 

Maybe they’d be interesting to a non-Twins fan audience, but all their stories and commentary were just down the line of ‘Google Minnesota Twins recent news’ and all they said the home audience already knew. On top of that, that interview of Buxton … ‘I have to bat now’ and they didn’t seem to know quite what to do. Like what’s he going to do? Continue answering questions while he’s standing in the warm up circle and in the better’s box, because that was their allotted time to talk to him? Was kind of weird.

[ashbury]

18 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

 

What I equated it to was if the game thread were micced and live … 

A national broadcast team wants to fire Rocco?

[Shaitan]

11 hours ago, GNess said:

I don't understand the takes on this year's Twins that state emphatically, "They can make playoffs, but can't win it all." 

First of all, the current Twins roster will likely change (improve?) near the trade deadline. Secondly, the Twins can score and defend - if any 1 or 2 of the pitchers such as Gray, Ryan or Pitcher X gets hot, of course they can win it all.

Baseball and almost all professional sports have numerous examples of the hot team winning it all even if they weren't the best on paper - like the 87 Twins.

Added benefit - this team is fun.

 

Because the internet was invented so we can complain more, to strangers. Even about nice things.

[JDubs]

11 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

I applaud Rocco for bringing smeltzer out for the 7th, even though he gave up the inside the parker and the subsequent homer. Maybe it wasn’t that tough a call in a 6 run game but I’m glad he got a shot. 

I dunno -- Gleeman makes the point a lot that people don't focus enough on the counterfactual of taking guys out when they do, and this is exactly it. People keep saying "he was doing well, why did they take him out?" and you see it in last night's game. You take Smeltzer out after 6 and he's got a gem of a game, but you send him back out for the 7th, and he gets roughed up. It's fine to do in a laugher, but in a close game sending him back out there like that would have been really costly.

[Squirrel]

50 minutes ago, ashbury said:

A national broadcast team wants to fire Rocco?

Okay, I equate it to the banter not related to firing anyone … lol

[Giles Ferrell]

If I missed this already, I apologize, but it would be fascinating to hear what adjustments Buxton has made to get him out of that prolonged slump and back on fire. His slash line in the past week and change is just absurd. 

[puckstopper1]

Based on the balls flying out of the park the past two nights we must be back in 2019...

[Mike Sixel]

41 minutes ago, puckstopper1 said:

Based on the balls flying out of the park the past two nights we must be back in 2019...

They changed the ball about four weeks ago.... At least according to all the data. 

[Whitey333]

Well it's Saturday.  Buxton and Correa both out of the starting lineup.  How messed up is that?  Like I've said, Rocco is the one that will cost us a chance at playoffs.  

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Squirrel said:

Okay, I equate it to the banter not related to firing anyone … lol

Which of their haikus did you find most memorable?

[Squirrel]

Just now, ashbury said:

Which of their haikus did you find most memorable?

I haven’t seen haikus in the game threads for a while … the recaps, though, there were plenty attempts the other day

[Craig Arko]

2 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Which of their haikus did you find most memorable?

None of them will be confused with Basho. 

[USAFChief]

25 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Which of their haikus did you find most memorable?

What I did like about them were the Carnac riffs. Hilarious!

[ashbury]

28 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

What I did like about them were the Carnac riffs. Hilarious!

I'm glad someone still knows how to compose one.

[Whitey333]

Poor Gonzales on Saturday.  Thrown to the lambs.  A give away game.  Rocco did him no favors by leaving 3 of his regulars out of the lineup.  That included a player that hit two home runs yesterday.  Rocco has got to go.  Why rest your star players at home where people pay good money to watch them.  If for some reason you think it's smart Rocco to rest both Buxton and Correa on the same day, do it on the road.  This Rocco has no clue.  His computer needs rebooting.

[ashbury]

23 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Poor Gonzales on Saturday.  Thrown to the lambs. 

Yeah, that poor wolf won't even see it coming.

[bean5302]

14 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

If Team A #1 doesn't pitch like a #1. Your model falls completely apart. 

If Team B #3 (pick one) doesn't pitch like a #3. Your model falls completely apart. 

And the model falls apart every playoff every year. ?

Yes. It's possible for a great pitcher to throw a clunker. It just doesn't happen often. If you crunch the numbers in the playoff series, the team with the best top 3 starters wins the series at a very high rate.

[Riverbrian]

25 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Yes. It's possible for a great pitcher to throw a clunker. It just doesn't happen often. If you crunch the numbers in the playoff series, the team with the best top 3 starters wins the series at a very high rate.

I'm not sure how far I want to dig. I'm old and it's my bed time. It would have to start with a definition. What time frame do you use to determine the best starters? Over a career? over the current season? the past month? 

Without knowing the time frame to determine the best.

Last year. I'd Take the Brewers with Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta over anyone and certainly over the Braves top 3 and I'd take the Dodgers top 3 over the Braves.

Astros and Braves... I'd say it was even. If forced to choose... I'd take the Braves. 

On the American League side. Lynn, Rodon and Giolito were pretty good in 2021 so I'd take them over the Astros all day long. But... I would have renounced my choice after the Astros lit them up. 

I would have taken the Astros top 3 over the Red Sox though. 

Good Night... I gotta get some sleep. 

Twins Win... Twins Win... Twins Win It!!!!