Game Thread: Twins (Varland) @ Orioles (Irvin), 4/15 @ 5:35pm CT

[mrtwinsfan]

We have 1st Margo batting  -2  Jeffers   3 Buxton 4  Farmer  5 Miranda  6  Santana  7  Vasquez  8  Martin  9 Julien    against the Lefty starter,  6 players  under the Mendoza line,   might be the ugliest ive seen yet,    But ---Go Twins 

[Azviking101]

Getting worse and worse every day. 
I’m terrified what Irvin’s career 6K/9IP can do to this team 😂

 

also, I know kiriloff hasn’t excelled off of lefties (it’s been brutal) but I also know he’s one of the few swinging the bat well. You’d think this would be the guy to give him a chance on.

[jorgenswest]

We need our the short side platoon trio of Castro, Margot and Farmer to pay off today. They all have a very good track record against lefties over their career that is nowhere near ugly. This is a big reason why they are on this 2024 team. Irvin is exactly the kind of lefty they need to dominate and I expect them to show up big.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

28 minutes ago, mrtwinsfan said:

We have 1st Margo batting  -2  Jeffers   3 Buxton 4  Farmer  5 Miranda  6  Santana  7  Vasquez  8  Martin  9 Julien    against the Lefty starter,  6 players  under the Mendoza line,   might be the ugliest ive seen yet,    But ---Go Twins 

At some point, guys just have to start hitting their career average. No one is going to mistake Margot, Farmer, Santana and Buxton for Juan Soto or Mookie Betts, but they also shouldn't be mistaken for AAA hitters and that's what they resemble right now. There's a reason why Lewis, Julien and Wallner looked like world-beaters when they were called up last year and why Martin looks more confident at the plate than Buxton does. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

9 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

We need our the short side platoon trio of Castro, Margot and Farmer to pay off today. They all have a very good track record against lefties over their career that is nowhere near ugly. This is a big reason why they are on this 2024 team. Irvin is exactly the kind of lefty they need to dominate and I expect them to show up big.

I hope so. Get the W tonight, see what happens tomorrow and give yourself a chance to win the series with Pablo on the mound. If they can come home from this trip at 8-9 with the Tigers and White Sox due up at Target Field, I'd call it a success.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

26 minutes ago, Azviking101 said:

Getting worse and worse every day. 
I’m terrified what Irvin’s career 6K/9IP can do to this team 😂

 

also, I know kiriloff hasn’t excelled off of lefties (it’s been brutal) but I also know he’s one of the few swinging the bat well. You’d think this would be the guy to give him a chance on.

Yeah, I'm not understanding the plan. Play your best hitters. If Kirilloff can't hit Irvin then there's bigger problems with his long-term outlook. We're not talking about an ace or even a #2 or #3 starter. The guy is hittable. Give AK a chance.

[mrtwinsfan]

53 minutes ago, Azviking101 said:

Getting worse and worse every day. 
I’m terrified what Irvin’s career 6K/9IP can do to this team 😂

 

also, I know kiriloff hasn’t excelled off of lefties (it’s been brutal) but I also know he’s one of the few swinging the bat well. You’d think this would be the guy to give him a chance on.

Kiriloff,  Agree  100%

[RpR]

57 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

Yeah, I'm not understanding the plan. Play your best hitters. If Kirilloff can't hit Irvin then there's bigger problems with his long-term outlook. We're not talking about an ace or even a #2 or #3 starter. The guy is hittable. Give AK a chance.

Why?

If he goes 0-3  with two or three Ks, that would be good how.

 

[LA Vikes Fan]

I would like to see them move Martin up in the order, maybe as the leadoff hitter against LH starters. For now, he and Julien could alternate in the #1 and #9 hole depending on the starting pitcher. I'm hoping he can show enough to hit #6 against RH pitching when the rest of the lineup comes back in a Julien-2B, Correa-SS, Kirilloff-1B/DH, Buxton-CF, Kepler-RF, Martin -LF, Jeffers-C/DH, Castro-3B, Santana/Vasquez/Margot - depends on who is the DH that day. Wallner goes to AAA when Kepler is ready to come back.  Martin stays and is the regular LF. When Lewis comes back, he slots in as #4 and everyone from Buxton on down moves down a slot.

Against LH pitching, I'd like to see the order as Martin-LF, Correa-SS, Buxton-CF, Jeffers-DH/C, Kepler/Margot - RF, Kirilloff/Vasquez - DH/C, Castro/Farmer - 3B, Julien -2B. When Lewis comes back,  he again hits fourth, everybody moves down one, and Farmer and Castro go to the bench or fill in for guys needing a day.

[Dan Engebretson]

It looks like Martin might be the only one whose batting average exceeds their weight, and this is only because Martin is a pretty small guy.

[mrtwinsfan]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

Why?

If he goes 0-3  with two or three Ks, that would be good how.

 

?

[Squirrel]

Lineups for both teams:

 

[Dave The Dastardly]

That Twins lineup probably doesn't frighten Baltimore but it sure scares me.

[Craig Arko]

Wanna see something really scary?

 

[RpR]

25 minutes ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

That Twins lineup probably doesn't frighten Baltimore but it sure scares me.

Well , right now Julien looks like Gallo at this time last year, at this point, that is a good thing.

[RickOShea]

4 hours ago, mrtwinsfan said:

We have 1st Margo batting  -2  Jeffers   3 Buxton 4  Farmer  5 Miranda  6  Santana  7  Vasquez  8  Martin  9 Julien    against the Lefty starter,  6 players  under the Mendoza line,   might be the ugliest ive seen yet,    But ---Go Twins 

Thanks for the line-ups.  It would be nice to have a consistent game thread prior to each game.

[SD happy]

Interesting to compare the numbers for their #4 hitter vs our #4 hitter. Yikes!

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, RpR said:

Why?

If he goes 0-3  with two or three Ks, that would be good how.

 

 

31 minutes ago, RpR said:

Well , right now Julien looks like Gallo at this time last year, at this point, that is a good thing.

Funny, still singling out Julien and Kirilloff when 8 !!!EIGHT!!! of the 13 hitters have an OPS under .600.

Listing the Twins best active hitters in order by OPS, Kirilloff, Jeffers, Julien, Martin.

I'm honestly in favor of you continuing to dislike all the young players. That's been better than any other method the front office has thought up so far.

[RpR]

Just now, nicksaviking said:

 

Funny, still singling out Julien when 8 EIGHT of the 13 hitters have an OPS under .600.

Listing the Twins best active hitters in order by OPS, Kirilloff, Jeffers, Julien, Martin.

I'm honestly in favor of you continuing to dislike all the young players. That's been better than any other method the front office has thought up so far.

ONLY --  in your mind is what I said a bad thing.

Juliens 4 home runs which is just under one half of his hits, combined with 19 Ks is what Gallo did until he fell apart late in the season.

To each his own.

[mrtwinsfan]

Pick to Click,   #  42   good vibes

[danielp19653]

Wow that was a catch

[RickOShea]

His showboat dive almost cost him making the catch.

[Schmoeman5]

Hardest hit ball by Farmer this year. Game of inches. Showboat dive?

[danielp19653]

Learn from Correa not Farmer and Castro Eddy!

[Schmoeman5]

Julien has made the hard plays. It's plays like that he needs to eliminate.  

[mrtwinsfan]

EDDIE,  Thats a NO-NO

[Shaitan]

20 P, 17 S.

Are they swinging at everything, or is Varland throwing meatballs?

[SD happy]

Man, I hate giving up 0-2 hits.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I’m not too far from being done with Varland in the rotation.  

[Jocko87]

0-2 pitch right down the middle. Looked OK otherwise. 🤷‍♂️