Make It Official! Twins 11, Mariners 1: Scoring Runs Early and Often on Pablo Day

[UK Twin]

6 hours ago, CCHOF5yearstoolate said:

If anything he probably got unlucky with that Martin misplay leading to his only earned run on the day. 

He had a .187 xBA and a .217 xSLG on the contact he gave up today. No barrels, lowest hard hit % and average exit velocity of the season. And a 40% whiff rate to go along with the 10 strikeouts - his 19 whiffs tied for the 27th most of any start in baseball this season. 

True, but you could then say he got lucky on the very next play when Miranda deflected a line drive straight into Castro's glove! But Lopez was definitely sharp for me. Probably his best start of the year.

[Peter]

Huge statement series win!!! Beating both Boston and Seattle!!! 15-2 last 17 games!!! Tough 9 games with Toronto/Yankees/Cleveland/I’ll take 6-3/5-4 record-just keep the national big city media away from twins and especially wolves!!! They will jinx us and all of of sudden they love our teams when they hated us-whatever they can F off

[Karbo]

12 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Lots of praise for Lopez, but he didn't look sharp to me. He got outs he needed, and the Mariners couldn't string anything together, but a lot of that appeared to be luck based. Also not a fan of bringing Funderburk back out for the second inning again as he just doesn't seem to be cut out for going back to the mound after a break in the action. I don't have a great angle on home plate pitches, but it seems like Jeffers could have caught more than half the pitches after the 6th inning with his glove rather than letting them all bounce off the backstop to get it done, but it's hard to be terribly critical with the way he's been hitting.

Jeffers just continues to crush baseballs, and while his xwOBA swears he's getting extremely lucky, it's his K rate which is most impressive to me. It's nothing like it used to be. Jeffers is only striking out in 17.5% of plate appearances this year. For a guy who has a career K rate near 30%, it's certainly eye opening.

This team just always seems to have a spark waiting to happen. That catch by Correa off Miranda's glove was really fun to watch. Talk about awareness and concentration!

That wasn't Correa, it was Castro

[Doctor Gast]

11 hours ago, USAFChief said:

That run happened because Martin can't catch a popup.

Martin caught the ball but the ball was knocked out after colliding with Julien. You always yield to the OFer in a high pop fly in the OF & get out of the way even if you can get to it. Julien learned by letting Larnach have the next 2  in RF. It's a shame that it happened but it was a learning experience for Julien.

[wabene]

8 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Martin caught the ball but the ball was knocked out after colliding with Julien. You always yield to the OFer in a high pop fly in the OF & get out of the way even if you can get to it. Julien learned by letting Larnach have the next 2  in RF. It's a shame that it happened but it was a learning experience for Julien.

6' 4" 225 lbs is a pretty good teaching tool.

[USAFChief]

31 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Martin caught the ball but the ball was knocked out after colliding with Julien. You always yield to the OFer in a high pop fly in the OF & get out of the way even if you can get to it. Julien learned by letting Larnach have the next 2  in RF. It's a shame that it happened but it was a learning experience for Julien.

Julien did yield. He pulled off because Martin called it. But Martin was late.

That dropped popup was 100 percent on Martin.

[Doctor Gast]

17 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Julien did yield. He pulled off because Martin called it. But Martin was late.

That dropped popup was 100 percent on Martin.

I'm sorry Chief you are wrong on this one. If you were able to watch on the replay Martin caught the ball & would have remained caught if not collided with Julien. Although Julien was in the wrong, I give him A for effort & chalk it up as a learning experience. Even though Martin had further to go, he was in a much better position to catch the ball & Julien should have stayed out of his way. as the common rule of thumb indicates. As he gave up early on the 2 high pop flies in RF showed me he had learned his lesson.

[bean5302]

53 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Julien did yield. He pulled off because Martin called it. But Martin was late.

That dropped popup was 100 percent on Martin.

 

3 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I'm sorry Chief you are wrong on this one. If you were able to watch on the replay Martin caught the ball & would have remained caught if not collided with Julien. Although Julien was in the wrong, I give him A for effort & chalk it up as a learning experience. Even though Martin had further to go, he was in a much better position to catch the ball & Julien should have stayed out of his way. as the common rule of thumb indicates. As he gave up early on the 2 high pop flies in RF showed me he had learned his lesson.

I agree with Chief here. Martin was way late on making the call, and Julien can't watch Martin for a signal while he's he's back tracking the ball. Julien was in a far better position to make that play, Martin lacked situational awareness there.

[Doctor Gast]

20 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

 

I agree with Chief here. Martin was way late on making the call, and Julien can't watch Martin for a signal while he's he's back tracking the ball. Julien was in a far better position to make that play, Martin lacked situational awareness there.

If it was 100% on Martin then the professional ref would have called an error on Martin. None was called. One who is running in is in a much better position than the one running back

[JD-TWINS]

18 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Wow! 

Lopez dominate. The bats just keep producing. Funderburk wild but still punched out 2 and continues to show he's got a future. Nice to see Staumont back on the mound and K-ing the side, even if he was also a bit wild. (Still don't like Alcala being over used, and then sent down. If the Twins don't want to use him for 1 good inning at a time, I'm sure someone else would be glad to do so).

Margot showing signs of actual life??!! Didn't Santana go on his homer binge right after an OP about sticking with him or cutting him loose, and how long of a rope did he have? And now Margot does the same thing right after a similar article? Who do we want to hammer next?   LOL! Who needs a turnaround most?

Twelve in a row, a loss, and then wins in 4 of the next 5. Seattle and Boston aren't bad teams devoid of talent. While they still aren't firing on all cylinders yet, this Twins team is starting to look like the one I envisioned before the season started. Lewis, Buxton, and Stewart back in the near future...hopefully Wallner as well...and my personal picture will be almost complete. 

Now let's go beat up on the Jay's!

I do not understand the Alcala sentiment. Yep, he was used for more than one inning and it didn’t go well - granted. HE didn’t get the job done and thus had to throw more pitches than optimal. There was nobody left that was available - maybe not fair, but no options for another path. He has options to go up & down - Jackson, Okert, Thielbar do not - gotta take advantage of the situation to keep the Pen as fresh as possible. It’s not some mis-treatment, it’s professional sports.

[Doctor Gast]

53 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

 

I agree with Chief here. Martin was way late on making the call, and Julien can't watch Martin for a signal while he's he's back tracking the ball. Julien was in a far better position to make that play, Martin lacked situational awareness there.

I reviewed that whole play, & I apologize, I was wrong. The ball wasn't that deep & Julien was in a better position to catch that ball.

[Squirrel]

14 hours ago, bean5302 said:

That catch by Correa off Miranda's glove was really fun to watch. Talk about awareness and concentration!

I think you need to watch that clip again …

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Martin caught the ball but the ball was knocked out after colliding with Julien. You always yield to the OFer in a high pop fly in the OF & get out of the way even if you can get to it. Julien learned by letting Larnach have the next 2  in RF. It's a shame that it happened but it was a learning experience for Julien.

IMO, Martin has to be screaming that it’s his ball - also, Kepler could have helped call off Julien…….he has the angle and everything is happening right in front of him. To me the issue is Martin’s inexperience in CF - he’s “the guy” in the Outfield at that position and he. reds to be more emphatic on letting all know he’s going after the ball.

To me, it appeared there was indecisiveness all around. I’m sure it got discussed in the dugout with coaches and will be again between games.

[Riverbrian]

4 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I reviewed that whole play, & I apologize, I was wrong. The ball wasn't that deep & Julien was in a better position to catch that ball.

Yeah... gotta pin it on Martin unless Julien couldn't hear him until it was too late. In that case, nobody's fault if the Twins fans were so loud that communication was impossible. 

My assumption was that the crowd wasn't that loud on a routine fly. 

If that's the case... by the time Austin Martin said mine. Julien was already in the way which left Martin with a difficult catch as he tried to avoid collision.  

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Julien did yield. He pulled off because Martin called it. But Martin was late.

That dropped popup was 100 percent on Martin.

I apologize, I was wrong, The replay doesn't tell the whole story. Watching the whole play I could see that the ball wasn't that deep & Julien was in the best position to catch the ball. And Martin was late at calling it or Julien couldn't hear him until the end & not able to get out of the way.

[Doctor Gast]

27 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

IMO, Martin has to be screaming that it’s his ball - also, Kepler could have helped call off Julien…….he has the angle and everything is happening right in front of him. To me the issue is Martin’s inexperience in CF - he’s “the guy” in the Outfield at that position and he. reds to be more emphatic on letting all know he’s going after the ball.

To me, it appeared there was indecisiveness all around. I’m sure it got discussed in the dugout with coaches and will be again between games.

Agreed, I was thinking Correa should have helped call the play.

[Squirrel]

11 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Agreed, I was thinking Correa should have helped call the play.

Yeah, Correa should've called that from the dugout

[Patzky]

Bet Sonny Gray wished he has this run support..

[ToddlerHarmon]

On 5/9/2024 at 3:44 PM, DocBauer said:

Still don't like Alcala being over used, and then sent down. If the Twins don't want to use him for 1 good inning at a time, I'm sure someone else would be glad to do so

Agreed. I'm not understanding their usage of Alcala this season at all

[Doctor Gast]

On 5/10/2024 at 11:04 AM, Squirrel said:

Yeah, Correa should've called that from the dugout

Good one. Correa was an instant reaction to that ordeal much like Kepler was JD's reaction. I knew Correa wasn't on the field. The absence of Buxton, Kepler & Correa proves the lack of veteran leadership to intervene in that situation. That is the point, veteran leadership on the field is very valuable. The absence thereof is really the cause of that misplay not Martin or Julien.