Final: Phillies 3, Twins 0 - Minnesota Misses the Mark on a Great Start

[JD-TWINS]

12 hours ago, BH67 said:

Simeon Woods Richardson matched Zack Wheeler for six innings. Magnificent performance.

I welcome your collective thoughts on Jhoan Duran's pitch selection tonight. Not nearly enough fastballs thrown, and curves routinely missing the strike zone. Not his best mix.

SO VERY OBVIOUS…….he’s in love with his curve……making hitters look silly at times. He threw THREE IN A ROW to Harper….,last one ended up in LF corner. He continually keeps feeding LH hitters curves & many that are up……..do not understand the pitch selection whatsoever!!!……..do we remember the curve hit for HR by Rameriz for a walk-off? Remember, “he didn’t want to throw it…..he was following orders…..”. Maybe it’s coming from the bench? ….,don’t think so…..

TIRED of hearing about how his velocity is down…….the post here states he was struggling and only reached 101.7 - come on - struggling?!?!! His velocity is 3-5 miles per hour higher than “the electric fastball” thrown by Griffin Jax.

Throw your fastball (first pitch) for a strike - get a call - a fly ball - a groundout, whatever, even a hit. Throwing backwards to be cute is not working…..miss with 2 breaking pitches to start an at bat and then guys know your fastball is coming. Do we think on 3-2 in the 9th last night Castellanos was looking anything but fastball?

So glad this is obvious to so many - gotta get it fixed - he’s way too good to have these struggles! He can get hit occasionally - lose a game, he’s human. Not giving himself a chance due to approach sucks!!

Does anybody else notice he seems to stick mostly to a 2 pitch mix per outing. It at least seems very skewed to only 2 pitches per appearance. Maybe a philosophical change? Maybe I’m imagining this?

Sorry for so many words - his FASTBALL sets up his other 2 pitches…..needs to use it, show it to start in AB’s so it’s planted in the hitter’s heads and eyes.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Mortimerkenny21 said:

Sorry everyone, I saw this game was scoreless in the 9th and turned on the TV when I got home just in time to see the first double from Philly. It only got worse after that. Should have just left it off, I won't let it happen again. My apologies. 😉

Come on man!!! Just sit in the dark..,….,😉

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Great job by the starting pitchers. Nothing from the offense these last two games.

How about Saturday? 3 GREAT starts out of 4 games out of the break and only won 1….,,tough to watch.

[JD-TWINS]

12 hours ago, Rosterman said:

All the great fielding moments but the Twins still made two errors. Duran, forget the breaking ball sometimes and just throw heat!

Wrote a dissertation on this lack of fastball topic separately - where’s the pitching coach and veteran catcher on this subject???? We can see it from our living room……I never get down on coaching but nearly every game he’s struggled, his curve is getting hit all over the park because guys are sitting on it knowing, eventually, he’ll try “to fool them” with the curve. Disappointing when he’s got such good stuff!

[JD-TWINS]

3 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

Tough game last night.  I don't see much of a chance today with a bullpen game against the Phillies Nola.  Looks like a throw away game.  Twins continue to lose to teams with better records than them and in general to teams with winning records.  Not impressive.  So out of these 5 games with Brewers and Phillies it looks like we will end up 1-4.  But I'm so happy we have the injuries to blame.

Very upbeat…..can’t wait to watch today.

[JD-TWINS]

Eddie Julien ……3 K’s in a row looking……would rather have Eddie Brinkman hitting in his spot (old guy thought) …….Julien needs to, as I’ve mentioned before, to see a Sports Psychologist…..not trying to be mean nor funny, I think he’s got some mental block he needs to talk/work through. Whatever is appropriate, he needs help! Maybe Tony Oliva can loosen him up - anything at this point.

Lee is really fading offensively!!

Martin seemingly has little value until September for pinch running as the “extra guy” on the roster. Not pretty …….maybe not cutting him enough slack but the results are not there for a bit now.

[bean5302]

12 hours ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

I suspect he'll go back down when Lewis or Miranda come off the IL, whichever one is the first to return.

Or maybe Diego A. Castillo is first?

Castillo DFAd

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

I think we can call the Berrios trade. MN wins the trade with this great rookie season from SWR.

If it takes 3 years for the MLB ready guys they acquired to play and none of the players acquired make an impact in the postseason results, not so sure. The NPV of that trade doesn't look great unless the Twins do something in the postseason soon, IMHO.

[Pat]

Margot approaching 0 for 30 as a pinch hitter and yet he is still used in that role???!!!

[DJL44]

16 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Was hoping Julien would make who to send idown a tough decision when people start coming back. He looks just as lost as he did when he went down the first time.  

He has a .364 OBP since returning. He seems to be able to find the way to 1B.

[LA Vikes Fan]

9 hours ago, Karbo said:

It seems obvious to me that Castro is not a starting caliber ss. Good for a fill in or spot start there but I would put Lee there for a few games and let Willi play 3rd until Lewis comes back. I assume Julian will be sent out when all are healthy so then Castro can split some time at 2nd with Lee. Of course things can change if Julian can start hitting, but what are the odds of that?

Castillo is now in DFA land, and Lewis is ready to come back. Camargo is the easy first choice to go down. What about when Miranda is ready and then when Correa is ready? Pick two of Julien, Lee, and Martin to go. None of them are hitting great, but at least Julien has an OPS o in the .500s over the last 7. Both Lee and Martin are below .400 in the last 7.  Moreover, Lee looks lost at the plate, always in between on fastballs and expanding on breaking stuff. Also, do you want to keep Lee up when he won't get many ABS once Lewis is at 3B, Castro at 2B, and Correa at SS? The HD spot will be covered by Mirnada and Larnach/Wallner and Mirnada backs up 3B. NO real place for regular ABs for Lee. 

My guess is that they play Lee at SS for a few games to see if he can handle the position at the major-league level. That also gives him a chance to start hitting. If he can't play there or doesn't pick up at the platet, I would be surprised to see the trade out be Miranda and Correa in, Julien and Lee out with Martin staying on the roster to be the backup centerfielder. Should be interesting.

[Colbeh]

9 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I think we can call the Berrios trade. MN wins the trade with this great rookie season from SWR.

Its fun to look back at posts from Blue Jay's fans that said they absolutely fleeced us on that trade.