Twins 2, Orioles 7: Stick a Fork in Them

[Matt Braun]

The inevitable struck in predictable and lethal fashion. 

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Pablo López: 5 ⅔ IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Carlos Correa (-0.96), Royce Lewis (-0.82), Christian Vázquez (-0.67)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Minnesota took the field on Friday with a clear mandate: win. Win like you’ve never won before. Their only shot at remaining in the postseason race required sweeping the Orioles—good luck—AND having one the Detroit and KC lose out. Well, the Tigers won (the Royals did not), so the Twins’ mission became just that much tougher. They controlled their own destiny much in the same way that a man in the electric chair could take matters into his own hands by violently coughing. 

Perhaps it was fitting, then, that their opponent was former Twins farmhand Cade Povich. The universe sure loves kicking you when you’re down. Naturally, he blanked them. For 5 ⅔ innings, the Twins could do little more than put the ball in play in vain, running directly into gloves and outs as the frames melted into each other. Some potential “bad luck” early quickly morphed into bland emptiness in the middle innings. Their best hopes at scoring were a two-out double by Byron Buxton in the 1st and back-to-back runners on second in the 5th and 6th. All rallies led to nothing. Good day. 

Pablo López wasn’t so fortunate. In his final start of the year, he dipped into “effectively wild” waters, seeming only to have a vague concept of what the strike zone is—a far cry from his typical, controlled game. Outside of one swing, it worked. Unfortunately, that one swing resulted in a two-run homer. So it goes. 

Typically, I would soliloquize about the game more, but the monotony of the last month has sapped almost everything from me; outs are simply just that, and runs are what the other team scores. Who cares. Some stuff happened; the Twins are now down. Rinse and repeat too often, and you’ll build a toxic calcium deposit of apathy—a vile curse that requires significant change to cleanse. 

López exited, and an assembly line of Minnesota’s 4th-option relievers revealed that maybe the starter was more brilliant than he received credit for. Caleb Thielbar allowed a homer to a lefty. Kody Funderburk invited four more runs to score. Quiet was the forest these trees fell in. 

The Twins did score when, in the 9th—with no stakes whatsoever—the Orioles took some pity on their opponents and allowed them to score. Twice. How kind. Maybe a Twitter account will post it. I doubt it.

Whatever remained of Minnesota's fleeting hopes finally ungracefully ended when Ryan Jeffers grounded out to end the 9th. The long, slow goodbye had been in the works for some time now, but it was finally complete; the Twins, once solidly ahead in the Wild Card race, were eliminated from playoff contention.

---

What makes a collapse so fascinating, I think, is the majestic totality of its grandeur: an entire collection of people failed at the same time—in differing magnitudes, certainly—but there’s no question that they faltered. The manager slips. The slugging DH misses a few hangers. Shoot, even the beer salesman dogs it. It’s a rare and unnatural phenomenon, but it’s one the 2024 Twins found themselves at the heart of, and there’s nothing more to be said than this: their season is over. Try again next year. 

Notes:

Pablo López ends the season with 198 strikeouts, two away from the 200 milestone and 36 off his high-water mark set last year. Still, his 2024 will go down as the 23rd most strikeouts in a season by a Twins pitcher, nestled between 1987 Frank Viola and 2010 Francisco Liriano, respectively.

With two RBIs on Friday, Carlos Santana pushed his career total to 1,081, good for 231st All-Time. Three more runs batted in will tie him with Lou Whitaker. 

Caleb Thielbar appeared in his 347th game as a Twin, the 8th-most by a Minnesota reliever. He is 18 appearances away from tying Glen Perkins.

Post-Game Interview:

 

What’s Next?
The Twins and Orioles will play the penultimate game of the 2024 regular season on Saturday, with Zebby Matthews set to take the mound against the calm and turgid TBD. First pitch is at 6:15 PM.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[thelanges5]

Hard to write about this team and this game, but you did a good job, bringing it together and summarizing the collapse.
 

Twins had a winning record in every month except September and boy do they ever have a losing record in September!

White Sox have won 8 games this month and we have won 9. I wonder who will have the most wins at the end of the weekend?

[BH67]

A eulogy for the 2024 Minnesota Twins:

You somehow dazzled us with your fecklessness in September. In so doing, you demonstrated The Process to be unsustainable as a winning baseball strategy -- and ironically also an economic disaster for ownership should the status quo be maintained.

You thus have forced the Pohlads to reveal their true future intentions, and quickly.

Thank you, and goodbye.

[thelanges5]

 

[NYCTK]

Let me be the first to say...Fire Rocco. No real rush. But anytime after now and before November. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Tigers doing a post-game selfie 

[ashbury]

Rocco's use of Funderburk was in direct contradiction of what he said in yesterday's post game about not giving up until elimination was mathematically official.

[Aerodeliria]

Well-said...it was the ugliest of the ugly. The game typified the season, including an error by Farmer. The only difference was that Castro didn't play five different positions in this one, but the rest of it was more-of-the same.

My team assessment:

Starting pitching: OK

Mid-relief: Mediocre

End-relief: Decent

Fielding: Beyond atrocious

In-game decisions: Poor

Line-ups: Head-scratching

Base-running: Strange

Hitting (besides Correa): Futile

Should have been DFA'd: Margot, Farmer, Vasquez (yes, I said it), Irvin (Why must we shop from the island of misfit toys?)

Should be in the minors: Lee, Funderburk

Anyway, fire away...

 

 

[Paul M]

Rocco’s comments in early September after loss after loss were always “we are still in a good place” This lack of urgency is exactly his management style. No manager deserves to be fired more than this man. If he does get fired this disaster of a season will be worth it. Let’s move on!

[Parfigliano]

19 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Let me be the first to say...Fire Rocco. No real rush. But anytime after now and before November. 

You're not the first or the last.  The entire FO and field staff must be gone.  Within the hour wouldn't be soon enough.

[S Bart]

For me, Pablo Lopez is a class act. It is very sad to see that picture at the top. He is articulate and a great team member who I have never heard complain. He puts forth a good effort and helps out the community through various endeavors. Gracias Pablo.

[DocBauer]

Another thread, another day.

I raise a toast to 2024 until mid August where I was having FUN as a fan.

And I'm going to STOP there!

ALWAYS an optimist, I'm HONESTLY excited about 2025 more than I was for this past season. 

I really and truly think the 2025 Twins are going to be better, and deeper, than 2024. ESPECIALLY if ownership doesn't do anything stupid! 

There's SO MUCH to like and SO MUCH hanging on the fringes to make a difference. HOPEFULLY, the pockets of ownership is loose enough to add even a little.

And I'm stopping there. Wrong time and place. 

 

[big dog]

Looking forward to either plenty of changes to this team, or having a lot more free time next summer. Either is ok with me. I will not accept the status quo.

[S Bart]

 

FEEL FREE TO WRITE HIM A LETTER. You are a fan/customer and have the right to be heard.

 

Mailing Address:

Joe Pohlad

MInnesota Twins
1 Twins Way
Minneapolis, MN 55403

[Yawn Gardenhose]

18 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Rocco's use of Funderburk was in direct contradiction of what he said in yesterday's post game about not giving up until elimination was mathematically official.

I had exactly the same thought. I had to go back to his comments yesterday..."We are not eliminated right now, at this point And I don't have the mindset that we are out of this. I don't care who's available in the pen tomorrow...my intention is to win out and see what happens." (emphasis mine)

Fast forward to down 3-0 in the eighth, in a must-win game, and bringing in...Kody Funderburk, lefty specialist, and he's allowed to just eat it, all of it. A situational AAA reliever literally called up today throws *41* pitches while Jax and Duran, your only good relievers, get that all-important rest. I realize that they both pitched yesterday, but it seemed like Baldelli was indicating that his standard bullpen management was out the window in such a dire situation. Nope, managed exactly the same as if this was a game in mid-May. Color me not shocked at all.

I certainly don't put *all* the blame on Baldelli, but it's this kind of s*it - and how predictable it has become - that should render him unemployed next week. Though considering the clowns that employ him, I do doubt that he will be fired. 

[NYCTK]

11 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

You're not the first or the last.  The entire FO and field staff must be gone.  Within the hour wouldn't be soon enough.

Oh, no of course not. I meant in this specific thread 😅

[MMMordabito]

It's fitting that they got eliminated wearing those clown outfits.

 

[Whitey333]

Typical Twins game the past month and a half.  No heart, no desire, no discipline, no fire, no sense of urgency,  no offense, no defense, no pitching, and no manager.  This team and organization is a fraud.

[knothole61]

In the words of John Masefield:

And many a broken heart is here and many a broken head;
But tomorrow,
By the living God, we'll try the game again!

That “tomorrow” is now months away,* so stay healthy and safe until we can dip ourselves in magic waters again.

It’s been real TD!

*137 days until pitchers and catchers report.

[bean5302]

Now we wait to see if ownership responds to this flaming sack of poop on the doorstep of Twins fans.

[mnfireman]

1 hour ago, Aerodeliria said:

 The game typified the season, including an error by Farmer. 

 

 

Hate it or not, tonight's error by Farmer was his 2nd of the season...

[Aerodeliria]

10 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Hate it or not, tonight's error by Farmer was his 2nd of the season...

I'm not pointing out the error by Farmer to indicate that his fielding in particular is suspect. My point is that the Twins make errors (including mental errors, which are not counted) at an alarming rate and VERY poor decisions in the field, especially in tight games (that is what is typical--it just happened to be on Farmer this time). The series against TB is a case in point. It could have been a sweep save for blunders in the field. (I would DFA Farmer though anyway but not based on his fielding. He's not really a very good hitter IMHO.) 

[Aerodeliria]

1 hour ago, S Bart said:

 

FEEL FREE TO WRITE HIM A LETTER. You are a fan/customer and have the right to be heard.

 

Mailing Address:

Joe Pohlad

MInnesota Twins
1 Twins Way
Minneapolis, MN 55403

I think I heard the sound of a shredder being turned on...

[Aerodeliria]

I know this is off topic, but S. Ohtani now has 12 hits in his last 13 ABs with RISP. That's mind-boggling...

[joefish]

DILLY.

DILLY.

[cmoss84]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Now we wait to see if ownership responds to this flaming sack of poop on the doorstep of Twins fans.

Was thinking the exact same thing. 

If they fire everyone, does that get fans off of their back and buy them time to not spend money?

[mikelink45]

I won't feel bad about spending another 10 days in Italy. Looks like there's no reason to hurry back for the baseball season.  Showed you to post a picture

[Blyleven2011]

ELIMMINATED ....

This is our reward from the pohlads who have profited from a stadium  we built for them and their business to make money this season and every season  , except maybe covid ....

We have been screwed and we won't get a kiss ...

[Mark G]

I hope you all will bear with me for this short story.  🥴.  This game did seem like a perfect example of the things I shake my head at.  Even with our stars healthy and in the lineup Rocco felt the need to put both our .223 and .224 hitting catchers in the lineup (neither one has an OBP of even .300).  Needless to say, though I will anyway, they went a combined 0-6 with a walk.  If there is no one better on the roster we are toast, I guess, but that does seem to be how he works.  And with the season on the line, and the bullpen having all hands on deck, he picks Thielbar and Funderburk to come in to a close game we HAVE to win.  

Of course, that was one game.  The season overall mirrored that, I guess, and leaves me still shaking my head.  You know a team is not in good shape when your super utility player has played in 157 of 160 games and leads the team in plate appearances, doubles, triples, and stolen bases (although his overall line was .247/.331/.386, so it was sheer number of plate appearances that led to the stats) and the other leader, HRs and RBIs was your 38 year old first baseman, which many are predicting will not be your 39 year old first baseman.  No one else has more than 461 plate appearances, much less at bats.  That is partly injuries, but also Rocco's philosophy of everyone plays.  Our BP continues to pitch approx. 40% of our innings (our top 2 stud starters even average less than 6 innings a start, much less the other ones).  Rocco has taken 2 elements of the game, sacrifices and stolen bases, almost out of his book altogether.  We have a TEAM total of 10 sacrifices and 65 stolen bases in 160 games.  When you won't manufacture runs, and your team average with runners in scoring position is sub par..........well, I guess you finish 4th in a division with the White Sox as the 5th team (actually, take away the 12-1 record against the Sox and we are 70-77 against the rest of the schedule).  

This changes next year if.......well, we stay healthy.  We get a couple of reliable relievers.  We make a well placed trade or two.  And we get an on field staff, beginning with the manager, who know how to get the most out of a roster possible; this manager is a very good baseball man, and a good clubhouse manager in the sense that he treats the players well, but a very poor game manager and that is what this roster needs.  Will this FO give that autonomy to any field staff?  I doubt it, so maybe they should be relieved as well, but I seriously Joe is going to go that route so I guess we better get used to this being Twins baseball.  But hope does spring eternal, so here's to 2025!  Be well Carlos and Buck; we need you.  Just as an aside, I was impressed with Carlos saying put the blame on him for not being available to his team for so long.  I just thought it was a glimpse of class we hope for in our stars.  

[CRF]

The fork has been firmly stuck in them for a couple months now. Will any changes be made? I honestly doubt it. Get ready for more of the same next season. Very disappointing.