Twins 5, White Sox 4: Twins Rally to Stun and Sweep the White Sox

[Blyleven2011]

It was a team effort in the ninth through the twelfth  ....

I was listening while driving ( nothing illegal about that i hope ) , boring game listening to the twins for eight innings , putting runners on base and failing to capitalize on scoring  , 15 runners in scoring position and 10 plus strikeouts through 8 innings  , the offense  did manage 13 hits and 7 walks for the game so offense is starting to hit again but not in the clutch ...

Some have posted they are on the bandwagon  again , as a true twins fan I have never fell off the bandwagon  ....

[pierre75275]

56 minutes ago, RpR said:

I quit listening at the top of the Ninth, surprise, surprise.

Thanks for taking one for the team!

[pierre75275]

I feel like this is the Twins version of Major League.

Glad this team is finding ways to win instead of ways to lose.

You can see the confidence growing and the guys coming together game by game.

[ashbury]

"Worst loss yet": the imagined refrain tonight on While Sox Daily.  Hey, a Twins fan can dream, right?

[Steven Trefz]

10 minutes ago, ashbury said:

"Worst loss yet": the imagined refrained tonight on While Sox Daily.  Hey, a Twins fan can dream, right?

I had the same headline typed in twice today for the twins!!!

[karcherd]

The other option in the 10th inning would have been to let Kepler hit and pinch hit Farmer for Wallner.  This keeps the defense stronger and keeps Vazuqez on the bench.  Both players did not need to be pinch hit for just because a LH was on the mound.  Rocco needs to show some flexibility in these situations and not just pinch hit for the sake of pinch hitting.  You need to have a quality option available and that is not Vazquez.

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

Surprise.  Pagan has looked pretty good lately.    Until Thielbar gets back and proves himself, Emilio is the #3 reliever (behind Duran and Jax and ahead of Jorge Lopez, Moran etc). 

Jorge López is lucky he’s not on the IL again after the upper deck HR & 3 HBP outing earlier this week. The fact that we threw him an inning as well as Pagan for an inning and we remained unscathed is a flippin miracle!!

I understand the paper move of substituting a reasonable contact guy batting RH for a LH hitter that K’s too much - but Vázquez has done nothing since mid-April to warrant him PH for anyone!!!!

[D.C Twins]

Julian CANNOT be sent down when Polanco returns!

Buck goes to IL or the bench. He has had 2 good games in 2 months. (ie he has taken advantage of 2 pitchers in 2 months) 

It is not an accident that our run has coincided with Correa, Krill, Julian at the top of the order. 

Don't screw this up FO!

[JD-TWINS]

40 minutes ago, pierre75275 said:

I feel like this is the Twins version of Major League.

Glad this team is finding ways to win instead of ways to lose.

You can see the confidence growing and the guys coming together game by game.

8 of 10 & we haven’t played perfect by any means! I think if we get to 86 wins, the Division is ours……….that’s 33-30 from here through September. Pretty realistic!

Guardians would need to go 37-29 to tie us.

[Brandon]

5 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

8 of 10 & we haven’t played perfect by any means! I think if we get to 86 wins, the Division is ours……….that’s 33-30 from here through September. Pretty realistic!

Guardians would need to go 37-29 to tie us.

Especially since we have so many more games against opponents with losing records over the ones with a winning record.  We have one of the easiest schedules for the 2nd half which should help us in the standings.  Because of the ease I would be surprised if we couldn’t go 35-26 to close out the season putting us at 88 wins on the season.  

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Great win for the Twins. 

Wallner sure messed up on his single to right field. With Kepler running and it looking like a close play from all angles, Wallner has to go to second base and force the cutoff man to make a decision. If the ball is cut, Wallner is out and the run scores. If the throw goes through, Wallner is at second base. These mistakes are crucial to games.

Still a wonderful team victory.

Base running:

Did anybody see the replay video of Kirilloff hitting into the double-play early in the game?? Was disappointing - not sure if somehow he thought the ball got through the right side or what - he didn’t run hard out of the box!  He takes off with effort once the 1B throws the ball to 2B…….there’s a distinctive shifting of gears in his running. Disappointing - not all guys hustle all the time - that double play stalled our inning!!

Fortunate to win today!

[Fatbat]

1 hour ago, IndianaTwin said:

Today was his 40th game. He’s blown a hold twice. 

I just researched his stats and Pagan is actually having a good season! RP’s are definitely volatile.  I’m going to give him props for figuring out whatever he did and for mgmnt putting him in places to succeed! I am actually quite surprised at some of stats compared to last season. 

[Fatbat]

20 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

8 of 10 & we haven’t played perfect by any means! I think if we get to 86 wins, the Division is ours……….that’s 33-30 from here through September. Pretty realistic!

Guardians would need to go 37-29 to tie us.

Thats definitely doable! If out pitching holds up, I would bet that we could get 37-40 wins. 

[Nine of twelve]

Winning this type of game is the mark of a successful team. I'm going to stop short of saying team of destiny but I think we have been witnessing a turnaround during the last 10 days. It's time for the team to leave the rest of the division eating our dust.

[pierre75275]

29 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

Julian CANNOT be sent down when Polanco returns!

Buck goes to IL or the bench. He has had 2 good games in 2 months. (ie he has taken advantage of 2 pitchers in 2 months) 

It is not an accident that our run has coincided with Correa, Krill, Julian at the top of the order. 

Don't screw this up FO!

Polanco is taking reps at third in ST Paul so Julian can stay with the big club when he returns.

It was on mlbtraderumors 

[Nine of twelve]

25 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

8 of 10 & we haven’t played perfect by any means! I think if we get to 86 wins, the Division is ours……….that’s 33-30 from here through September. Pretty realistic!

Guardians would need to go 37-29 to tie us.

I was one of those who predicted 90-93 wins before the season started. We would need to go 37-24 (.607) to get to 90. Right now with the roll we are on that seems eminently possible.

[IndianaTwin]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

"Worst loss yet": the imagined refrained tonight on While Sox Daily.  Hey, a Twins fan can dream, right?

It was described that way by Ozzie and the other guy on the Sox postgame show. 

I was kinda partial to the doink game from earlier this year when thinking about the game that most frustrated Ozzie. 

[IndianaTwin]

16 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

I just researched his stats and Pagan is actually having a good season! RP’s are definitely volatile.  I’m going to give him props for figuring out whatever he did and for mgmnt putting him in places to succeed! I am actually quite surprised at some of stats compared to last season. 

Exactly. Those two blown holds, coming on the heels of last season, have made it so people refuse to give him a break, but all in all, he’s done quite well.

The primary niche they’ve used him in is the 7th inning, when down a run or two, with intentions to keep them in the game while not using their highest leverage guys when they are behind. He’s done particularly well in that situation. 

[IndianaTwin]

31 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Especially since we have so many more games against opponents with losing records over the ones with a winning record.  We have one of the easiest schedules for the 2nd half which should help us in the standings.  Because of the ease I would be surprised if we couldn’t go 35-26 to close out the season putting us at 88 wins on the season.  

I’ve been convinced for a while that the Twins are the only team in the division with the talent to be able to pull away from the others. 

[jorgenswest]

42 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

I understand the paper move of substituting a reasonable contact guy batting RH for a LH hitter that K’s too much - but Vázquez has done nothing since mid-April to warrant him PH for anyone!!!!

He was pretty significant in yesterday’s win.

[ashbury]

34 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

The primary niche they’ve used him in is the 7th inning, when down a run or two, with intentions to keep them in the game

Even the best teams find themselves in that situation now and then, but if that's your role on the roster, probably not the best time to be contacting a real estate agent about setting down roots locally. 

[IndianaTwin]

5 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Even the best teams find themselves in that situation now and then, but if that's your role on the roster, probably not the best time to be contacting a real estate agent about setting down roots locally. 

It’s the Vulture role. He’s gotten two of his four wins that way. I haven’t seen anyone make reference to this, but this week he also got one via the rarely used “brief, but ineffective” clause. 

[Dave Borton]

5 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

I’ll bite on pinch hitting Vazquez for Wallner. ..

Right decision? Who knows. But to me, it’s much more defensible than he’s given credit for.  

I respectfully disagree.

Maybe Baldelli is playing chess. I will play checkers and have the manager say, "Let's see -- I have a young developing player, Wallner. He is 2-2 today. It's important to show the young man that I have confidence in him. Not going to have a .215 catcher hit for him."

This kind of demonstration of belief in a person is part of the game. It's a long view in developing a ballclub. Pulling Wallner was a resounding, "I don't trust you." Very wrong message, IMHO.

[Dave Borton]

2 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

I definitely agree on your last paragraph about Farmer. He’s the guy I most trust to have a good at bat in situations like today. 

Couldn't agree more. Farmer = grit, what I love in a ballplayer.

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

Especially since we have so many more games against opponents with losing records over the ones with a winning record.  We have one of the easiest schedules for the 2nd half which should help us in the standings.  Because of the ease I would be surprised if we couldn’t go 35-26 to close out the season putting us at 88 wins on the season.  

Remember “our 2nd half schedule” started when we played the A’s & continued through the Sox, those 6 games were against 2 of the worst opponents…….they’ve already been played & won. We got the Royals & Cardinals on the road soon - those 2 are the other pretty weak record teams we have left.

[ashbury]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

We got the Royals & Cardinals on the road soon - those 2 are the other pretty weak record teams we have left.

I had the pleasure of watching the Cards against these selfsame White Sox a week or three ago.  The "pleasure" came from watching two weak teams play an evenly matched game with the home team coming out on top in late innings. As a purist I wasn't too impressed with the bullpen arms each team brought out, purely judging by results.  But there was a lot of action.

[jmlease1]

I love sweeping the CWS. Always great, never bad.

Sure it would have been nice if the offense didn't wait until very very late to get moving...but a sweep is a sweep.

Lot of people picked CWS to be above the Twins this season. As frustrating as the Twins have been this season, imagine being a CWS fan. Their offense has been sub-par as well (as some of us predicted, though they appear to have been right in moving on from Abreu), their starting pitching has just been ok (and Lynn has been awful), and their defense has been dreadful (again). They look like a team on the way down and 2021 looks like the fluke instead of 2022 being a blip.

When your enemy is drowning, don't throw them a floater, throw them an anvil. This sweep was an anvil. I like seeing it.

[Aerodeliria]

The Twins have seemed surprisingly gutsy since the All-Star break. Hat tips all around....

[mickster]

10 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

Julian CANNOT be sent down when Polanco returns!

Buck goes to IL or the bench. He has had 2 good games in 2 months. (ie he has taken advantage of 2 pitchers in 2 months) 

It is not an accident that our run has coincided with Correa, Krill, Julian at the top of the order. 

Don't screw this up FO!

Wallner will go to St. Paul and you will see Polanco at 3B some.

[Doctor Wu]

This string of wins is sort of nice! But hey, let's not get too giddy. As we have seen in the past, things can implode all too quickly. But back to the actual game, I realize it was getting into extra innings, but pinch hitting two half-blind players? An act of desperation or out-of-the-box strategy?  Thankfully it all worked out, but what a weird game!