Twins (Ryan) vs Giants (Harrison): 7/12/24, 9:15pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Let's head into the break on a high note.

[stringer bell]

Ryan should have a lot of friends and family at the game. If the Twins hit a homer in all three games this weekend, they tie the record for consecutive games with a long ball. They still project to +90 wins, it has been a good season so far.

[DJL44]

Free game of the day on MLB.tv for those out of market non-subscribers.

[SF Twins Fan]

 

[BH67]

Divisional records vs .500 so far this season:

AL East +40

NL Central +7

NL East +2

AL Central -2

NL West -14

AL West -33

The AL is +5 against the NL in interleague play. Amazingly close over more than half a season.

Twins' remaining schedule:

Teams >= .500, 21 H 16 A

Teams < .500, 15 H 17 A

[2wins87]

16 minutes ago, SF Twins Fan said:

 

Lot of people seem upset it's not Julien.

My guess is Camargo will mostly ride the bench for 3 days then Martin will be back after the All-star break

[USAFChief]

19 minutes ago, SF Twins Fan said:

 

Looked to me like Jeffers was favoring a leg after running out a number yesterday. I wonder if maybe he won't play this weekend. 

As for Farmer..."Hey Kyle, that shoulder hurts, don't it? No? //whack// How about now?"

[Mike Sixel]

18 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Looked to me like Jeffers was favoring a leg after running out a number yesterday. I wonder if maybe he won't play this weekend. 

As for Farmer..."Hey Kyle, that shoulder hurts, don't it? No? //whack// How about now?"

I'm ok with Jeffers getting more time off is he's dinged up at all......We all know after a day off that Vazquez catches anyway, so he'll catch 2/3 games...one game for Carmago is fine.

[CRF]

Another west coast game, that I have zero chance of staying awake for! Hopefully, Joe's got enough Gold Bond down his pants, to stay cool calm and collected, and give us a win! 

[Mike Sixel]

Jeffers catching and Vazquez as DH? That literally makes zero sense, if Vazquez is the better defender. Zero. Nada. Nil. Zippo. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Giants are a tough out when they're playing at home. Let's get the series off on the right foot with a W.

The Fraudians, I mean Guardians, have 3 games with the Rays. Twins need to pick up at least one game this weekend. Head to the break down only 3.5...

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

Jeffers catching and Vazquez as DH? That literally makes zero sense, if Vazquez is the better defender. Zero. Nada. Nil. Zippo. 

That's horrific. I know I ruffle the feathers of some folks when I bash Rocco, but that's just a really weird decision.

[karcherd]

Is Vazquez really a better option at DH than Kepler, Larnach or Wallner?  This obsession with not putting a LH hitter in the lineup vs. a LH pitcher is getting over the top when you see that.

[Joe Schmitt]

Does anyone ask Rocco about his reasoning on that sort of thing?  My strong presumption is to defer to his judgment on this stuff. But I'd honestly be very interested in someone at a press conference asking why he did this.

[Vanimal46]

In an alternate universe, we would be playing against Giants SS Carlos Correa tonight. Thank god they got cold feet and voided the contract! 

[Patzky]

32 minutes ago, karcherd said:

Is Vazquez really a better option at DH than Kepler, Larnach or Wallner?  This obsession with not putting a LH hitter in the lineup vs. a LH pitcher is getting over the top when you see that.

It's a shame Farmer isn't available..

[thelanges5]

lefty lineup especial😁
 

[Road trip]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Jeffers catching and Vazquez as DH? That literally makes zero sense, if Vazquez is the better defender. Zero. Nada. Nil. Zippo. 

I guess, if I try to look for a strategy behind it, Vazquez at DH instead of catcher allows Rocco to easily pull Vazquez for Larnach/Wallner/whomever the moment a rhp enters the game for the Giants.  

But yeah... Vazquez at DH is just a strange move.  

[IndianaTwin]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Jeffers catching and Vazquez as DH? That literally makes zero sense, if Vazquez is the better defender. Zero. Nada. Nil. Zippo. 

I posted this in a different thread, but it makes more sense here: 

Jeffers is nicked. At least he was during the Chicago series. He was pinch hit for on Monday night and was noticeably limping on Wednesday. If that's still case, it makes sense to bring up Camargo rather than Julien. However, based on past experience, the desire to actually play Camargo is minute. 

Starting both Vazquez and Jeffers is a way of maximizing right-handed batters.

DHing Vazquez allows the opportunity to pinch hit for him. If you DH Jeffers, you can't pinch hit for Vazquez without a) losing the DH by bringing in Jeffers to catch; b) bringing in Camargo's -36 OPS+ (SSS) to catch. See first paragraph. Having Camargo available does provide an emergency catcher if you pinch hit for Vazquez and then Jeffers goes down. 

People may not like that. I may not even like that. But there is a defensible explanation. 

[mrtwinsfan]

2 hours ago, 2wins87 said:

Lot of people seem upset it's not Julien.

My guess is Camargo will mostly ride the bench for 3 days then Martin will be back after the All-star break

Lee at 2b  tonight, and i hope its a picture of the infield for after the break, Sorry for all the Julien lovers but the guy has issues , at 2b , and unless Santana flops , 1b is his and Mirandas, be better for Julien to be traded for his sake , , and Vasquez at D,H,  Says what ?/ I.D.K. ,  And Farmer ?? any future ? , Hope Carmago gets at least 1 game , Go Twins

[IndianaTwin]

Besides, in a truly ideal world, Vazquez doesn't hit anyway because the Twins have rocked the lefty so bad the Giants brought in a righty by the time they got to the No. 9 spot.

I can wish. 

[Mike Sixel]

11 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

I posted this in a different thread, but it makes more sense here: 

Jeffers is nicked. At least he was during the Chicago series. He was pinch hit for on Monday night and was noticeably limping on Wednesday. If that's still case, it makes sense to bring up Camargo rather than Julien. However, based on past experience, the desire to actually play Camargo is minute. 

Starting both Vazquez and Jeffers is a way of maximizing right-handed batters.

DHing Vazquez allows the opportunity to pinch hit for him. If you DH Jeffers, you can't pinch hit for Vazquez without a) losing the DH by bringing in Jeffers to catch; b) bringing in Camargo's -36 OPS+ (SSS) to catch. See first paragraph. Having Camargo available does provide an emergency catcher if you pinch hit for Vazquez and then Jeffers goes down. 

People may not like that. I may not even like that. But there is a defensible explanation. 

If Jeffers is actually nicked, then Carmago is 100% your catcher later in the game, Also, supposedly Vazquez is the greatest defensive catcher ever, this makes no sense to me. Why not just play Vazquez at catcher, and if Jeffers can't play, you can PH for your DH, and not have to put in Carmago? 

I get your point, we don't agree. No biggie to me.

[karcherd]

18 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

I posted this in a different thread, but it makes more sense here: 

Jeffers is nicked. At least he was during the Chicago series. He was pinch hit for on Monday night and was noticeably limping on Wednesday. If that's still case, it makes sense to bring up Camargo rather than Julien. However, based on past experience, the desire to actually play Camargo is minute. 

Starting both Vazquez and Jeffers is a way of maximizing right-handed batters.

DHing Vazquez allows the opportunity to pinch hit for him. If you DH Jeffers, you can't pinch hit for Vazquez without a) losing the DH by bringing in Jeffers to catch; b) bringing in Camargo's -36 OPS+ (SSS) to catch. See first paragraph. Having Camargo available does provide an emergency catcher if you pinch hit for Vazquez and then Jeffers goes down. 

People may not like that. I may not even like that. But there is a defensible explanation. 

How about just putting the best lineup out there to start the game.  Worry about bench moves when you need to make them.  Planning on having to pinch hit for someone is overthinking it.  There is no defense for having Vazquez in the game as a DH, there are better options even against a LH pitcher.

[IndianaTwin]

49 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

If Jeffers is actually nicked, then Carmago is 100% your catcher later in the game, Also, supposedly Vazquez is the greatest defensive catcher ever, this makes no sense to me. Why not just play Vazquez at catcher, and if Jeffers can't play, you can PH for your DH, and not have to put in Carmago? 

I get your point, we don't agree. No biggie to me.

To clarify, you're disagreeing with Rocco, not me. I specifically said that I may not agree with his thought process.

But it's no biggie to me either, it just leads into the rest of my comment.

---------------------

I suspect that in some of my posts, I come across as a Rocco fan. What some have called a Rocco apologist.

In actuality, I'm not sure I have a strong opinion on Rocco either way. But my general thought process on him is: 

1. Rocco is smarter than me. He also has information that I don't have.
2. Every move Rocco makes is intentional. He doesn't make decisions without a thought process (and to anticipate a comment, I think considering "hunches" and "feel" is part of his thought process, including considering whether or not to go with that hunch).
3. Given Nos. 1 and 2, when there's a move that I wonder about (and Vazquez DHing is an example), I try to consider things from every angle I can imagine and try to figure out what that thought process might be. 
4. In response, sometimes I say, "Hmm. I hadn't thought that, but it makes sense." And I enjoy the process of considering something from a new angle. Sometimes I post my thoughts.
5. Sometimes I say, "Okay, that's defensible, but I'm not convinced." Sometimes, but probably not as often, I post my thoughts.
6. Sometimes I say, "Hmm. I still can't think of anything." If I post anything, it's probably in the form of a question.
7. In the case of Nos. 5 and 6, I tend to revert to No. 1.

That may or may not work for others, but it works for me.

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, IndianaTwin said:

To clarify, you're disagreeing with Rocco, not me. I specifically said that I may not agree with his thought process.

But it's no biggie to me, either, it just leads into the rest of my comment.

---------------------

I suspect that in some of my posts, I come across as a Rocco fan. What some have called a Rocco apologist.

In actuality, I'm not sure I have a strong opinion on Rocco either way. But my general thought process on him is: 

1. Rocco is smarter than me. He also has information that I don't have.
2. Every move Rocco makes is intentional. He doesn't make decisions without a thought process (and to anticipate a comment, I think considering "hunches" and "feel" is part of his thought process, including considering whether or not to go with that hunch).
3. Given Nos. 1 and 2, when there's a move that I wonder about (and Vazquez DHing is an example), I try to consider things from every angle I can imagine and try to figure out what that thought process might be. 
4. In response, sometimes I say, "Hmm. I hadn't thought that, but it makes sense." And I enjoy the process of considering something from a new angle. Sometimes I post my thoughts.
5. Sometimes I say, "Okay, that's defensible, but I'm not convinced." Sometimes, but probably not as often, I post my thoughts.
6. Sometimes I say, "Hmm. I still can't think of anything." If I post anything, it's probably in the form of a question.
7. In the case of Nos. 5 and 6, I tend to revert to No. 1.

That may or may not work for others, but it works for me.

I'm with you on this.....he knows more than I will ever know.....and I think he gets waaaaaaaaaay too much blame around here, but I don't agree with this decision.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Correa's going to hear it tonight. Between the days in Houston and the Giants' contract not working out, the boo birds will be loud. I remember after a game against the Yankees in 2023, he said the boos fire him up and he tends to play better. C4 delivers tonight.

[Craig Arko]

I hope sampleSizeOfOne hopes we win.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

22 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

I hope sampleSizeOfOne hopes we win.

This expectation i can meet.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

I hope we win.

 

And our baseball team does too.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Jeffers catching and Vazquez as DH? That literally makes zero sense, if Vazquez is the better defender. Zero. Nada. Nil. Zippo. 

Don't do what your opponent expects.

 

(unless of course they expect you to win)