Game Thread: Twins (Varland) @ Astros (Brown), 5/31/23 @ 7:10 CT

[RickOShea]

Is this a joke.  Has someone intercepted my television signal.  This can't be happening!

[Squirrel]

Just now, ashbury said:

Welp.  What flavor do you like when I buy?

I’ll never eat another one if this stops! And yes, it’s your fault!

[Winston Smith]

I thought Ron Davis was bad.

[tony&rodney]

Varland is a strong man and when he gets a chance to pitch an eighth inning it allows him to learn what that territory feels like and how to navigate comfortably in a low key situation. Pitchers need to find their limit. Perhaps Varland made an indication that he was at his limit. I don't know that. Just assuming that 86 pitches is enough might not be the best choice. 

Now I see that Jorge Lopez is grooving a few. Pheww.

[mnfireman]

Center-cut, as TK used to say...

[lecroy24fan]

"After the game the Twins place Jorge Lopez on the IL with a major case of Homeritis."

[wsnydes]

1 minute ago, Squirrel said:

I’ll never eat another one if this stops! And yes, it’s your fault!

I don't believe that even for a second!

Think of the DQ franchisees!

[wabene]

Lopez did porch a scoreless inning last time out

[ashbury]

3 minutes ago, wsnydes said:

Let it go, he's rollin'!

"Was it over when Houston bombed Jorge Lopez?"

[MMMordabito]

Need Pagan to come in and clean up this mess.

[MMMordabito]

1 minute ago, wabene said:

Lopez did porch a scoreless inning last time out

And then he got porched twice this time out.

[mrtwinsfan]

2 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I'm willing to bet that he'll be used in consecutive games in the Cleveland series this weekend.

 

[ashbury]

2 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

I’ll never eat another one if this stops! And yes, it’s your fault!

We all know a jinx when we see it, and I'll have to wear it.

[cHawk]

8 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Did they have cheeseburgers back then?

[wsnydes]

1 minute ago, MMMordabito said:

Need Pagan to come in and clean up this mess.

Now I'm positive that I need new glasses.  I can't be reading this correctly.

[notoriousgod71]

Because we are terrified of letting a starting pitcher go into the eighth inning regardless of his pitch count we are going to end up using three relievers tonight.

[wabene]

1 minute ago, MMMordabito said:

And then he got porched twice this time out.

Yep saw that, pointing out that he had already had a confidence booster

[HokieRif]

Ineffectively wild

[notoriousgod71]

Twins loved the first Pagan trade so much that they traded for his clone.

[Jocko87]

31 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I know.  We were treated to the phrase "pitching pipeline" when Falvey and Levine came onboard, and until now I've been skeptical.  But if they have some magic sauce to take a 15th round pick from a small college and add 5 MPH to the fastball while teaching command of the strike zone plus the evident ability to disguise pitches, well, sign me up for that and keep 'em coming.

Don’t forget all the sweepers.

[wabene]

It's all mental for this guy

[Parfigliano]

8 runs.  Looks like I picked the wrong game to not watch.

[tony&rodney]

Pitching is sequence and location and J. Lopez gets hit hard throwing 99 when Ryan gets a ton of whiffs at 91. The guys always try but it ain't easy. Right?

[cHawk]

"What was Lopez's ERA for this outing?"

Me: It's undefined.

[mnfireman]

Lopez can't get out of his own way right now. 

[Winston Smith]

This would be a bad loss.

[ashbury]

Lopez punching the gatorade cooler in the dugout is a nice touch.  How about next time, show some moxie on the mound, then keep quiet on the bench.

[IndyTwinsFan]

33 minutes ago, wsnydes said:

That's a tad below what I would consider to be stellar.

I think Rocco was trying to show how clever he can be.  Boy, did that backfire spectacularly!

Hope Stewart can snuff this out without any more damage. 

[Elite Benchwarmer]

A breath of fresh Brock Stewart air!

[notoriousgod71]

1 minute ago, cHawk said:

Brock, we're counting on you to get us out of this jam.

 

Wait...wrong Brock.

Joe's KC BBQ (formerly Oklahoma Joe's) has a sandwich called the rocketpig. Based on shocker's urban dictionary definition I'll stick with the zman.