Make It Official! Twins 8, Mets 3: What This Team's Capable Of

[h2oface]

2 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Just because Lopez is outperforming YOUR expectation of his abilities doesn't mean he, the team or others in the fans base set the bar for him as low.  Many of us have faith in his ability perform at the level that landed him as the Cy Young runner up last year.

Sometimes we see and think what we want, regardless whether it is true. In fact, it happens a lot these days.

I wish it was Sonny we extended. But then, he spoke his mind and told the truth. Or, our guys would have had the conviction and foresight to trade for/sign Chris Sale. Somebody had to guess right, and it was Anthopoulos and Atlanta. They even got Boston to pay for the first year. Quite a cunning move. And pretty damn cheap, all and all.  https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/chris-sale-contract-atlanta-braves-boston-red-sox-trade/    But let's not get sidetracked.

 

 2023 Cy Young Award balloting, 

Gerrit Cole, NYY: 30 1st-place votes, unanimous -- 210 points
Sonny Gray, MIN: 20 (2nd), 6 (3rd), 3 (4th) -- 104 points
Kevin Gausman, TOR: 7 (2nd), 15 (3rd), 4 (4th), 1 (5th) -- 82 points
Kyle Bradish, BAL: 6 (3rd), 8 (4th), 5 (5th) -- 39 points
Luis Castillo, SEA: 2 (2nd), 5 (4th), 5 (5th) -- 23 points
Zach Eflin, TB: 1 (2nd), 2 (3rd), 3 (4th), 3 (5th) -- 19 points
Pablo López, MIN: 5 (4th), 1 (5th) -- 11 points
George Kirby, SEA: 1 (4th), 6 (5th) -- 8 points
Framber Valdez, HOU: 1 (4th), 4 (5th) -- 6 points
Chris Bassitt, TOR: 1 (3rd), 1 (5th) -- 4 points
Félix Bautista, BAL: 3 (5th) -- 3 points
Chris Martin, BOS: 1 (5th) -- 1 point

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I wasn't able to watch the game but as I went through the wrap-up, I made an observation. Luis Severino is a great SP just as good if not better against the Twins than the prior 2 LHPs. The key to the game was the 3rd inning which started with Martin. Up to this point, the Twins had been pretty flat against NYM & was behind. Martin could have struck out but he didn't, he could have stayed at 1B but he didn't, At 2B he scored easily on a single to LF. Fired-up Larnach stole 2B which also set up another run etc. etc etc. As I've said before Martin is a spark plug, if Martin struck out things would remain flat & nothing would have changed & Twins would probably lose the game. Martin has played sporadically & only against tough RHPs which is tough for any RHH player much less a rookie who is learning a new position on a MLB level. As a rookie he should be given only opportunities which help him advance in the MLB, which has not happened. Martin has had a tough row to hoe & he hasn't given up. Martin is a MLBer capable to impact this team with spectacular defensive plays, good ABs & spectacular base-running. Martin is worthy of our patience. He'll eventually settle in the MLB & stand out.

Hope you are right in Martin ……..seems to me, he’s sent down when Correa comes back. I get he had an impact yesterday and did what he’s good at, shown in your comments. There have been many, many AB’s that he hasn’t shown - I get, “that’s baseball” but his OPS+ is in mid 70’s. He needs to try and add 5 lbs or more of increased strength over the off-season, IMO. Needs a bit more gap power to make his speed play more. Hope he keeps improving.

[JD-TWINS]

11 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I thought we might finally stop hearing the writers of this site declaring Pablo Lopez "Ace" despite him never achieving full season results close to earning that title. As his ERA eclipsed 5.00 through the first half, the hype was just bottled up temporarily, and I was mistaken. A couple good starts, and the old ace moniker quickly gets dragged out of the cellar. I should have learned from the Byron Buxton MVP stuff I had to read for 9 years.

Nice to see the Twins avoid the sweep and stay 2 games up on Boston to avoid falling out of the playoffs. I'm glad Lopez pitched well, and I hope he can continue to outperform his abilities to give the Twins their best shot at making, and even advancing in the playoffs.

7 games with a 7.75 ERA & then last 7 games with ERA of 2.86……..he’s trending as they say. I’d like to see an outing where he doesn’t give up a homer just to prove he can do it - I think Larnach saved him from giving up 2 instead of 1 yesterday.

[LambchoP]

Good team win. Hopefully Lopez can continue this really good run he's on throughout the second half. I'm worried about our bullpen, especially after losing Stewart. Who knows if we'll get him back at all. Hopefully Topa is not too far away. Other than him, I think we should try Varland out there like we did last year. It's past time to give up on him as a starter. If he can be a hard throwing late inning guy that would be a huge boost for us. I really like Lee, but he looks a bit overwhelmed at the plate right now. I think he gets sent down when Correa gets activated. Lees a good player though. His defense has been great. He'll be back. He's an integral part of the Twins long term plans. I'm guessing he has the starting 2nd base job next year. Especially if Julien doesn't make drastic improvements.

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Just because Lopez is outperforming YOUR expectation of his abilities doesn't mean he, the team or others in the fans base set the bar for him as low.  Many of us have faith in his ability perform at the level that landed him as the Cy Young runner up last year.

Sonny Gray was runner up for the Cy Young, not Lopez, and Gray has proven his ace pedigree with a 3.30 ERA and 3.27 FIP over the past 6 years. Pablo Lopez got 11pts out of a possible 210pts last year in Cy Young voting to finish 7th. 

Same 6 year span 2019-2024:
Some ace performance level
3.15 ERA, 2.90 FIP Tyler Glasnow
3.16 ERA, 3.14 FIP Corbin Burnes
3.23 ERA, 3.10 FIP Zack Wheeler
3.30 ERA, 3.27 FIP Sonny Gray

Gotcha some #2-ish guys here
3.42 ERA, 3.88 FIP Marcus Stroman
3.48 ERA, 3.91 FIP Chris Bassitt
3.76 ERA, 3.03 FIP Dylan Cease

This is what #3s look about like
3.91 ERA, 3.85 FIP Nathan Eovaldi
3.97 ERA, 3.60 FIP Pablo Lopez, Ace & Cy Young Favorite!
3.98 ERA, 4.11 FIP Jose Berrios

Lopez obviously became the guy he is today after his first two seasons, and if you throw those out he'd now potentially slot nicely into that mid/back #2 category. 3.78 ERA, 3.49 FIP. Not even close to ace territory.

[David Maro]

Nice story about Dobnak,but if he wants to stay up he can't go 3-2 on every hitter.He looks more like a thrower than a pitcher.Him and Varland seem to think they are throwing a hot potato.

Lopez did get bailed out by Larnach in the 1st inning.The game could of looked a lot different if not caught.As far as him being the ace,he has a ways to go to pass Ober at this time.