Make it Official! Twins 7, Royals 6: Bats Back Paddack

[UK Twin]

I'm not particularly concerned about Duran. His season started late, had virtually no ST and he is reaching 102-103 at times if not as often as we would like. 

[Mark G]

Looking at the top half of the bullpen chart makes me more nervous by the day.  I don't see a way to keep up that pace of usage the last 2/3 of the season; either the starters need to start coming through deeper, or the bottom half of the pen is going to have to step up more, especially with 9 games in the next 10 games (on top of playing the last 7 days straight).  Duran may be living proof of that usage worry.  

[umterp23]

13 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

Other than the NY series coming up, the Twins have a soft schedule going into the all star break. Hopefully they can pile up some wins and put themselves in the driver's seat for a playoff spot.

We are in the "proverbial" drivers seat as of today:  If playoffs started today, the narrative of worst division in baseball AL Central doesn't look awful:

Granted long season to go, I like our chances with 106 game to go

[wabene]

This team is showing some guts. It starts with Correa.

[jmlease1]

An important win; it feels very different taking 3 out of 4 in a series against a division rival at home as opposed to splitting the 4 game set. Wish Duran had made the 9th a little less nervous, but we got there.

Paddack could probably use to get skipped a turn in the rotation to give him a little extra rest; do you give him 2 off and IL him for 10 days to take a look at Festa? interesting question. Not a lot of other movable parts right now.

Alcala needs to stay in the bullpen (and I would avoid asking him to go 2 innings for sure). He's looking locked in on the mound. Hopefully he can keep his head in the game and do all the other things (like covering the bases like he's supposed to) that you need from a professional. The talent is there and he looks healthy and strong. When we get Stewart back we'll have some big-time weapons in the back of the bullpen, which should also help keep Duran from getting overworked.

Castro's ability to move around defensively and be effective is such a weapon. What a steal signing him turned out to be! I will admit it: I totally missed seeing what he could become, and the Twins have done very well in helping him reach his potential.

[bean5302]

16 hours ago, Shaitan said:

Rocco literally said they sent him down to 'work on some things,' or some such language when it happened.

This might mean mental, mechanical, or otherwise. I wasn't privy to that conversation.

...and you expected Baldelli to say something else?

Something like, "I pitched him way too much and he's going to be unavailable for a few days, but now we've got a roster crunch and I need to manipulate the 26 man a little so we're sending Alcala down for a couple weeks because he has options."
 

[JD-TWINS]

On 5/30/2024 at 7:49 PM, tony&rodney said:

Nice series versus a very solid Kansas City team. First two months have been good with the team on schedule to win around 88 games, which is really good baseball.

30-24 is 90 W’s on the nose. ……Duran, Thielbar, Stewart, Correa, Buxton, & LEWIS all hurt at various points. Wallner - Farmer - Vazquez all being essentially offensive no-shows. Along with DeSclafani & Topa never touching the ball & the Varland 0-4 debacle…….to be 32-25 as of tonight is a really nice accomplishment!

[JD-TWINS]

10 hours ago, bean5302 said:

...and you expected Baldelli to say something else?

Something like, "I pitched him way too much and he's going to be unavailable for a few days, but now we've got a roster crunch and I need to manipulate the 26 man a little so we're sending Alcala down for a couple weeks because he has options."
 

Makes perfect sense - his “to do list” was quit walking guys!

[bean5302]

11 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Makes perfect sense - his “to do list” was quit walking guys!

Yeah!!!! Stop walking guys! Except Alcala didn't really have a problem with walking guys...

He had a single bad game where Baldelli hung him out to dry for 48 pitches and he got sent down because he was going to be unavailable for probably the better part of a week after that. Seriously... a primarily SIRP who just dealt with major elbow issues before returning at the end of last year. FORTY EIGHT pitches.