Make It Official! Twins 4, Red Sox 2: Extra-Innings Struggle Ends in Minnesota's Favor

[Old Twins Hat]

23 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

After this season is over, somewhere from game 162 to game 165, all the Twins will have to show for it is having the worst pinch-hitter of all time.

Margot will have a long post-career run of fame.  It happens.  Bill Buckner, Marv Throneberry,  the umpire that blew the call at first on what would have been a  perfect game. 

"Manuel Margot. the worst pinch-hitting performance in MLB History.  Get his authograph, spend some close-up time with Manny, learning how he did it.  Ignominy on an epic scale makes Manny one of a kind."

How can you possibly have an average above .230 when you lug around an 0 for 30 in your pocket?

[LewFordLives]

[David Maro]

Rocco made sure this one went extra innings with his poor decisions earlier.Miranda looked blind at the plate and should of been PH for sooner.He started swinging at pitches coming out of the dugout.After all the talk about Farmer's speech and the way he has been swinging the bat he may have been able to get the ball in play.With men on 2nd and 3rd Miranda swung at 3 pitches not even close to the zone.And of course the Margot for Vasquez PH why what more does he need to see.Because of these decisions he had to basically use the whole BP.Now Lopez will have the pressure of needing to go deep into the game Saturday.  

[LewFordLives]

Try and win at least one more in Boston and then back to Target Field and the Marlins. They can still do this.

[LambchoP]

Much needed win. Festa looks really good, lots of K's, but really needs to find a way to be more efficient and go deeper into games. If he can do that, I think he has a shot at the number 5 rotation spot. Bullpen was unbelievable today. Offense, not so much. When you have more than 10 hits a game, you should be able to score runs. At least we didn't strikeout over and over, but that's more likely because Boston's pen sucks. I have to say it yet again, why is Rocco pinch hitting Margot?! Dude's 0-30 it's obvious to anyone watching he sucks as a PH. It makes even less sense when he had Jeffers or a lefty Julien available. Or even better, Farmer, who has been one of our better hitters lately. I hate Rocco's childish, stubborn managing style, continually making dumb moves because eventually it might work. Glad we have Pablo going today, but if he can't pitch real deep we are in trouble because we have basically nobody available in the pen. Wonder if we call up a fresh arm? Alcala would be the smart move, so it'll probably be someone else.

[NYCTK]

Manuel Margot is just indicative of how poorly run this team is. He was brought in as a defensive insurance for Buxton and he can't play CF. His hitting woes aren't some surprise, the guy has a career ops under 700. 

As soon as Rocco determined he couldn't be a suitable CF backup, the Twins needed to bring in someone else. And they just...didn't. Instead, Rocco has managed this team to allow Manuel Margot to be the #1 OF of the year. No player played the OF more than Margot! 

This team deserves 0-30. 

[JDubs]

I know no one on the actual club would ever think like this, but after having used basically every pitcher on the roster yesterday, you could almost make an argument they should just punt today. Make the starter eat innings no matter how it's going, use the worst guys out the bp and make them go length, etc. Then everyone is rested up for tomorrow, you take 2/3 from Boston, then you get the final off day to reset everyone for the final push. It was great they came away with the win, but given how already stretched thin they are, taking that many wins to do it hurts.

[NYCTK]

13 minutes ago, JDubs said:

I know no one on the actual club would ever think like this, but after having used basically every pitcher on the roster yesterday, you could almost make an argument they should just punt today. Make the starter eat innings no matter how it's going, use the worst guys out the bp and make them go length, etc. Then everyone is rested up for tomorrow, you take 2/3 from Boston, then you get the final off day to reset everyone for the final push. It was great they came away with the win, but given how already stretched thin they are, taking that many wins to do it hurts.

The twins used their worst guys yesterday. No one in the bullpen was actually taxed yesterday. No one went more than 1.1 innings. 

Everyone should be available, except maybe Varland since that was 3 straight days for him if I'm not mistaken. 

[terrydactyls]

Let's look at the pinch hit for Vasquez scenario a little deeper.  The Sox have a RH on the mound and Vasquez bats RH.  Julien is on the bench and he bats LH.  That would be a good move.  But since Jeffers is on the bench and he will have to enter the game to replace Vasquez, that move also makes sense.  But the Twins have RH-hitting Margot, who is zero for 2024 pinch hitting, accumulating dust on the bench, the Twins make the decision to use Margot.  I think Bailey Ober would have been a better choice.  Brilliant and absolutely awful to watch.

[chinmusic]

You have to go with what you got. The bullpen was not overused. It was a 12 inning game. And incidentally, they won. 

Having the tie breaker against K.C,  Detroit and Seattle is a tremendous advantage. Could well come down to that. So, are we having fun yet?🙂

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Rocco has managed this team to allow Manuel Margot to be the #1 OF of the year. No player played the OF more than Margot!

Other than Buxton and Kepler, you mean. SMH.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2024-fielding.shtml#all_players_standard_fielding_of

And Margot didn't have a start in the outfield until game 7 of the season.  He played more, after that, due to injury and/or non-performance of other players higher on the depth chart.  But you wanna blame Rocco for adapting to conditions, nothing's gonna stop you.

[bean5302]

11 hours ago, Otwins said:

Look at the Bullpen usage chart.  Pablo needs to be very good tomorrow

Baldelli clearly views this like the Twins are playing in the playoffs already. We've got the urgency, but time will tell if the bullpen can hold out with this kind of usage.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

...Or even better, Farmer, who has been one of our better hitters lately...
...Wonder if we call up a fresh arm? Alcala would be the smart move, so it'll probably be someone else.

Farmer has quietly gotten his bat back to about league average. I give him a 30% chance at getting an MLB contract from some team next year.
.226/.305/.379 OPS .684 wRC+ 95

Alcala cannot be recalled since he must spend 15 calendar days on optional assignment to the best of my knowledge.
 

[ashbury]

8 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Farmer has quietly gotten his bat back to about league average. I give him a 30% chance at getting an MLB contract from some team next year.

I think the other day you pegged his odds at 50-50.  Is there some futures market I can invest in, to play these volatile percentages?  😀

[bean5302]

2 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I think the other day you pegged his odds at 50-50.  Is there some futures market I can invest in, to play these volatile percentages?  😀

Like stock market analysts nation-wide, the odds change depend on random factoids. It's down to 21.6% now because the morning rain in the Minneapolis area which wasn't forecasted spooked investors, reminding them the world is an uncertain place.

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Like stock market analysts nation-wide, the odds change depend on random factoids. It's down to 21.6% now because the morning rain in the Minneapolis area which wasn't forecasted spooked investors, reminding them the world is an uncertain place.

I'll start watching the Farm Dog report on CNBC.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I honestly had a strong feeling Jarren Duran might try to steal home in the bottom of the 9th. Didn’t happen, though. 

Duran is one of the only players on the Red Sox who seems to have any passion left. (Caveat: did not watch last night’s game, followed it on MLB.com and radio)

Both teams had already demonstrated their ineptitude by the 9th inning—if only Jarren Duran had known what was still to come in the 10th and 11th 🙂

[Craig Arko]

Do most people overthink their lives as much as they overthink sporting events?

[NYCTK]

51 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Other than Buxton and Kepler, you mean. SMH.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2024-fielding.shtml#all_players_standard_fielding_of

And Margot didn't have a start in the outfield until game 7 of the season.  He played more, after that, due to injury and/or non-performance of other players higher on the depth chart.  But you wanna blame Rocco for adapting to conditions, nothing's gonna stop you.

Margot has played more games in the outfield than any other player. That's just a fact. Innings, I didn't look at. Is that more important? Sure. But why is a 0.670 OPS with bad defense on the team, much less the most common player in the field? 

Oh? Injuries? Man, the team really should have suspected Buxton might not be able to play 162. Whoopsadoosie! 

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Didn’t get why Julien isn’t sent up, unless there was a lefty counter move from their Pen? Maybe Rocco decided to go full George Costanza and do “the opposite” of logical to shake things up? It looked like the worst possible match up. Watching the 4 & 5 hitters pop out to 3rd baseman in foul territory seemed like the last nail, in real time.

On a separate note………Is Miranda gassed? He needs to square something up in a bad way - really soon!

Miranda is a great hitter, there is something serious here.

[ashbury]

13 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Margot has played more games in the outfield than any other player. That's just a fact. Innings, I didn't look at. Is that more important? Sure.

"Played the OF more."  Boo hoo.  Move the goalposts now, sure.  SMH.

[JDubs]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

The twins used their worst guys yesterday. No one in the bullpen was actually taxed yesterday. No one went more than 1.1 innings. 

I mean, sure they did use all their worst guys, but that's because they used everyone. Obviously I wasn't seriously saying they should just intentionally lose today, but look at that usage chart -- Jax, Varland, Sands, and Theirlbar have all pitched 2 days in a row so are presumably down today, and Duran didn't exactly have a short outing. Hope Pablo goes really deep this afternoon, because it looks like only the dregs of the bullpen are even going to be available.

[NYCTK]

It is factually correct that Manuel Margot has played more games in the OF than any other player this season. And that's embarrassing. 

I actually don't blame Rocco THAT much. But...I do blame him. You can only play the team you're given, but he knew Margot wasn't able to be a backup CF and didn't force the FO hand for an actual player? He can't speak up? Do they not have conversations? 

Ineptitude all around. 

[NYCTK]

Just now, JDubs said:

I mean, sure they did use all their worst guys, but that's because they used everyone. Obviously I wasn't seriously saying they should just intentionally lose today, but look at that usage chart -- Jax, Varland, Sands, and Theirlbar have all pitched 2 days in a row so are presumably down today, and Duran didn't exactly have a short outing. Hope Pablo goes really deep this afternoon, because it looks like only the dregs of the bullpen are even going to be available.

If you presume a pitcher can't pitch 3 days in a row you've bought into the Twins coddling of players too much. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

They should have put Alcala in to pitch the 10th.

Oh,,, wait.

OH, WAIT!  THEY HELD!  THE BULLPEN REALLY HELD!

[Craig Arko]

48 minutes ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

They should have put Alcala in to pitch the 10th.

Oh,,, wait.

OH, WAIT!  THEY HELD!  THE BULLPEN REALLY HELD!

The Pen bulled.

[S Bart]

4 hours ago, FanFromTheBalticSea said:

Was there. Flew over from Germany. Happy to see a Twins win. But grew 20 years older looking at that offense for 12 Innings. Got a ball from the Twins bullpen. And the Red Sox fans used a lot of swearwords right around me. It reached a low, when a couple of guys told Wallner he can go f*** himself. Not classy. 

 

3 hours ago, Old Twins Hat said:

Margot will have a long post-career run of fame.  It happens.  Bill Buckner, Marv Throneberry,  the umpire that blew the call at first on what would have been a  perfect game. 

"Manuel Margot. the worst pinch-hitting performance in MLB History.  Get his authograph, spend some close-up time with Manny, learning how he did it.  Ignominy on an epic scale makes Manny one of a kind."

How can you possibly have an average above .230 when you lug around an 0 for 30 in your pocket?

I am waiting to learn the new game time or if a cancellation takes place before I depart for Fenway. The fans sitting in the outfield bleacher section are next to the bullpens. They are the "Bleacher Creatures" and the bullpen pitchers are hit with insults constantly. It is really sad that you have to hear cursing. They card everybody at Fenway. Regardless, the alcohol flowing is beyond belief which include minors getting from adults. Most of the ushers are elderly (like me) and do little to even monitor the challenges. As a visitor, I still find this park and the ambience so unique. I met some really nice people and many Twins fans. Only Wriggley Field can match it. Someone mentioned Miranda. Trust me, he was swinging at air yesterday. Lewis is scheduled to be at 3rd base today. He almost fell down on one of his swings.  Regarding Margot, I cannot figure out Rocco's continued placing him in the lineup at times. Is Margot of Italian heritage?

[joefish]

18 hours ago, SD happy said:

BoSox was 1-19 RISP. Wonder what they are all saying on BoSox Daily!!

...if only they hadn't struck out 20 times. 

Something like that I think.

[joefish]

17 hours ago, Otwins said:

Look at the Bullpen usage chart.  Pablo needs to be very good tomorrow

Ignore the chart. All hands on deck. 

[DJL44]

22 hours ago, knothole61 said:

That brings me to Wallner: lock him up. Sign him for 6 lucrative years as soon as possible and do not try to save every penny you can on of his future contracts.

He is controlled by the Twins until 2030