Nationals 3, Twins 2: Jorge Polanco's Return Soiled By Blown Lead Late

[Dave The Dastardly]

24 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

That’s been happening, hasn’t it? Bottom third in attendance most years. Currently 22nd (weather not great). 

But it's outdoor baseball.

[Nine of twelve]

I'm going to respond regarding several comments made about pitching substitutions made in last night's game. I'll start by saying that I think Rocco made the right moves. First, the Twins do not have a designated closer. Instead, the manager makes substitutions based on matching up to the opponent's batting order. The principle behind this is to try to have your best pitcher in the game against the opponent's best hitters no matter which inning it happens to be. This is logical, and that's why most teams are moving in the direction of taking this approach. In last night's game the Nats had the bottom of their order coming to the plate in the 8th inning. He put in Jax, saving either Duran or Lopez (last night it was probably Lopez) to pitch the 9th when the top of the order was coming around. And by the way, Jax has pitched well, so Rocco was still making a strong move to keep the lead. In last night's game Jax got two pretty easy outs, and then was victimized by two seeing-eye grounders, a defensive misplay, and a soft single. Even though the right moves are not 100% guaranteed to win you the game a good manager still makes them, as Rocco did last night. But, as I said in last night's game thread, in baseball sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue.

 

[Nine of twelve]

2 hours ago, wabene said:

this thread is depressingly Stribian

Don't forget about the ignore feature on this site. I find that putting it to use has been very helpful.

[Whitey333]

Pretty typical Twins performance. Tired of the excuses like it's too cold.  It seems it was just as cold for Washington but they found a way to win.  Too many excuses for too many bad performances over the past 2 1/2 years.  My contention is the are a very boring and bland baseball team and have been for a couple of years. They are last in baseball in steals with a grand total of one.  They are not far from the bottom in home runs and lead the league in strikeouts. .I love the Twins but they need to have a new promotion.  Make it no doze night.  All fans receive a box of Nodoz to try and stay awake.  

[Craig Arko]

39 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

Don't forget about the ignore feature on this site. I find that putting it to use has been very helpful.

We’ll have to compare lists some time.

[ashbury]

"The food at this restaurant tastes terrible.  And, such small portions!" 

[Larry Janisewski]

12 hours ago, Aerodeliria said:

Look at the BAs. When Gallo is your most consistent hitter, then the Twins are in trouble because they will simply walk him as they have been doing. We must have the worst BA in the league at this point, don't we?

And Twins also have the fewest stolen bases and attempted steals: 3 attempts and 1 successful.

[hitterscount]

2 hours ago, Nine of twelve said:

I'm going to respond regarding several comments made about pitching substitutions made in last night's game. I'll start by saying that I think Rocco made the right moves. First, the Twins do not have a designated closer. Instead, the manager makes substitutions based on matching up to the opponent's batting order. The principle behind this is to try to have your best pitcher in the game against the opponent's best hitters no matter which inning it happens to be. This is logical, and that's why most teams are moving in the direction of taking this approach. In last night's game the Nats had the bottom of their order coming to the plate in the 8th inning. He put in Jax, saving either Duran or Lopez (last night it was probably Lopez) to pitch the 9th when the top of the order was coming around. And by the way, Jax has pitched well, so Rocco was still making a strong move to keep the lead. In last night's game Jax got two pretty easy outs, and then was victimized by two seeing-eye grounders, a defensive misplay, and a soft single. Even though the right moves are not 100% guaranteed to win you the game a good manager still makes them, as Rocco did last night. But, as I said in last night's game thread, in baseball sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue.

 

I have to disagree with you on this one. Duran should be the closer and Lopez the set-up guy... period.... until one of those two fail to perform. Duran and Lopez were well rested, zero excuse for not following that blueprint. 

[wabene]

2 hours ago, Nine of twelve said:

Don't forget about the ignore feature on this site. I find that putting it to use has been very helpful.

Ah whack-a-mole, sure I'll give it a try. 

[stringer bell]

I don't know why anyone other than Duran would have closed a 2-1 game. He has used Jax and Lopez almost interchangeably as the primary setup guy. Both have been sharp, but Jax has been a bit snakebit. 

[wabene]

Now they gotta follow a blueprint, ok, I'll try to keep up. I thought they were too rigid and had no feel? 

[chpettit19]

22 minutes ago, wabene said:

Now they gotta follow a blueprint, ok, I'll try to keep up. I thought they were too rigid and had no feel? 

It's simple...they need to have a feel for when to have a feel, but a plan in place that shouldn't be deviated from unless the feel for when to have a feel is a strong enough feel, and then they need to use their gut to determine whether to follow the feel or the plan. It's very basic, baseball 101 stuff.

[cheeseheadgophfan]

What in the actual F was with the pitch calling in the 8th inning???  Jax has a 97 MPH fastball and I bet he threw 20 sliders in a row.  I know it was mostly weak contact,  but mix it up a BIT.  Ridiculous.