Twins 3, Blue Jays 1: National Nightmare Over; Lewis, Lopez and Defense Deliver Playoff Win

[2wins87]

30 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm surprised people are so ready to toss Polanco over the side. Once he got back into the lineup, he's been a key contributor for the Twins from August on, and an important part of their improved offense and success in locking down the division. He's also been a leader and team player and his switch-hitting makes the lineup more dangerous.

Not to mention he's one of the few guys that have had some postseason success as a hitter in past years.

I do want to see him in the lineup, but I definitely don't want to see him at third again.

If he's in the lineup, one of Lewis, Julien, or maybe Kirilloff has to be on the bench.  I don't know what decision I would make in Rocco's position

[DJL44]

28 minutes ago, SockNet said:

Lewis won't see another good pitch for the rest of the series. I say Castro to 3b, Polonco to 2b, Julien DH. Use Lewis as the big bat of the bench.

You'd give up 4 Royce Lewis walks a game in favor of one pinch hit? Let them pitch around him and take the free baserunners.

[Steven Trefz]

10 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

I wonder if it was part of the plan to get all the Minnesota natives into this first game.  Varland was a bit of a stretch in that spot.  

I think with Varland it was a good place to get a taste, with room to come back if needed. So that the next time, in a one out needed one run game, he would have that taste.

[SockNet]

14 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

You'd give up 4 Royce Lewis walks a game in favor of one pinch hit? Let them pitch around him and take the free baserunners.

I get it. We want baserunners. But Royce can't run and everyone knows it now. There is a better chance Rocco pinch runs for him after the first walk.This way you don't saddle trail runners or waste a bench player too early.

[Jocko87]

8 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan4 said:

Observations: 

WAS AWESOME!

A-Rod (and others) insinuating Gausman was tipping his splitter. I disagree. The splitters were missing way too easy up until his last inning. 

Very encouraging to see our guys string together 3-4 good at bats in the 8th.

Yet another Baldelli head scratching decision.  Lopez to Varland? Man, Baldelli dodged a bullet. Maybe I'm missing something?

 

It was obvious from section 103 that they were spitting on the splitters. We were talking about it just before the second Royce home run. The two he took before hitting it looked closer from our angle than on the replay but he was obviously seeing it well. The difference between tipping the pitch and throwing a not great pitch is very slight.

I am curious about Varland in that situation. He hasn't played fireman yet and that could have been quite a fire.

[UpstateNewYorker]

     A funny clip if you haven't seen it:

• https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/10/04/twins-fans-bombard-reporter-after-playoff-win

[adorduan]

14 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Thanks to Correa, Polanco’s failure to field Kiermaier’s chopper in the 4th was a HUGE break for the Twins…

if Polanco successfully fields that ball, no out is recorded on the play. Zero chance of getting Kiermaier there. None. Best case, Polanco eats it…Bases are loaded with Chapman in the box.

Weird how things work out sometime.

 

So you want to rely on that happening every time the ball is hit to Polanco? I sure as hell don't.

[Mike Sixel]

The umpire favored Toronto by 1.46 runs...... That's not good

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, 2wins87 said:

It was a bit aggressive by the 3B coach to send him

Don't forget it was two outs.  I think sending him, given the chaos going on, was 100% right.

[Squirrel]

2 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Don't forget it was two outs.  I think sending him, given the chaos going on, was 100% right.

Yep. Correa had to make a play that many couldn't and it had to be spot on. It was. He was beat by a great play not over-aggressiveness. Bichette even commented on that in a post-game interview. Said he'd do it again.

[2wins87]

28 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Don't forget it was two outs.  I think sending him, given the chaos going on, was 100% right.

Yeah I said I think most 3B coaches would make the same decision, so maybe I think its around 80-90% right, but it didn't work out there and that could have been the whole game.

[Linus]

53 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

The umpire favored Toronto by 1.46 runs...... That's not good

I was curious what the umps report card would show. He was not good. 

[ashbury]

10 minutes ago, 2wins87 said:

Yeah I said I think most 3B coaches would make the same decision, so maybe I think its around 80-90% right, but it didn't work out there and that could have been the whole game.

Maybe you misunderstood what I meant by 100 percent.  With two out, it's correct to send even if the chance of success is under 50 percent.  You don't simply give away outs and runners, but you have to take into account that the next batter is under 30 percent to get a base hit. The decision there seems to me to be one that every third base coach would have made.

[Mike Sixel]

30 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Maybe you misunderstood what I meant by 100 percent.  With two out, it's correct to send even if the chance of success is under 50 percent.  You don't simply give away outs and runners, but you have to take into account that the next batter is under 30 percent to get a base hit. The decision there seems to me to be one that every third base coach would have made.

Correct.

[Riverbrian]

4 hours ago, Althebum82 said:

No, only Polanco on the bench in favor of one of the other three.

I'm still counting on Polanco to help us out. 

IMO... Lewis, Julien and Polanco are 3 of our top 4 bats in the lineup. They are 1,2 and 3 in the order and that seems to support my opinion. I want him in the lineup. 

Lewis is the DH because he can't play in the field. Yanking one of our top hitters at this moment is dangerous. 

I expect Polanco to make some outs at the hot corner without incident today. Yesterday was Yesterday. 

Let's go Twins!!! 

[Melissa]

4 hours ago, 2wins87 said:

Bichette could have run a little harder into third.  It was a bit aggressive by the 3B coach to send him, but I think most 3B coaches would have done the same there to try to get the run. 

Commentators on mlb.com and The Athletic all said that Bichette blew past the 3B coach’s sign. 

[2wins87]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

Maybe you misunderstood what I meant by 100 percent.  With two out, it's correct to send even if the chance of success is under 50 percent.  You don't simply give away outs and runners, but you have to take into account that the next batter is under 30 percent to get a base hit. The decision there seems to me to be one that every third base coach would have made.

I get what you're saying.  I don't think we disagree on anything, except maybe little things like the nature of existence, probability, and determinism.

But on the baseball, we both agree it was a good decision to try for the run.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, Melissa said:

Commentators on mlb.com and The Athletic all said that Bichette blew past the 3B coach’s sign. 

The coach was wrong. Happens.

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

7 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

spitting on the splitters

What does this mean?

[Jocko87]

2 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan4 said:

What does this mean?

Taking a pitch with authority. They knew what was coming out of his hand.

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

2 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

Taking a pitch with authority. They knew what was coming out of his hand.

Maybe you're right. Turns out they may have been onto him before, too. 

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/bluejays/news/blue-jays-kevin-gausman-pitch-tipping-twins-splitter

[Althebum82]

11 minutes ago, SoDakTwinsFan4 said:

Maybe you're right. Turns out they may have been onto him before, too. 

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/bluejays/news/blue-jays-kevin-gausman-pitch-tipping-twins-splitter

Why the heck does this article talk about Jermaine Palacios taking a pitch with two strikes?

[William K Johnson]

22 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Because Julien has such a good eye at the plate, he often gets a called third strike on pitches that miss the strike zone - as was the case last night.  As soon as the ball hit the catcher's glove, I called "ball four" only to be overruled by the umpire.  Bad call by him.

You can't depend on an umpire's call.   If it is close with two strikes, you have to be swinging.   I would much rather see a swinging strike out than a looking one.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, William K Johnson said:

You can't depend on an umpire's call.   If it is close with two strikes, you have to be swinging.   I would much rather see a swinging strike out than a looking one.

Expanding the zone with 3 balls in the count is a terrible idea. That pitch gives him a walk at least 75% of the time. Swinging at a pitch at the edge of the zone is not going to have a 750 OBP, especially for Julien who has a hard time hitting pitches in that part of the zone.

[DJL44]

10 hours ago, Althebum82 said:

Why the heck does this article talk about Jermaine Palacios taking a pitch with two strikes?

I have no idea who that reporter thought he was talking about. Can someone tag him and ask?