Twins (Woods Richardson) vs Guardians (Lively): 5/1/2025, 12:10pm

[IndyTwinsFan]

Just now, Patzky said:

That is the epitaph four, five times a week.

And getting Lewis and Castro back fairly soon isn't likely to solve any of that.

[KirbyDome89]

6 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

It’s not mental. When we don’t play the absolute dregs of baseball, we aren’t good. For years now.

Say this louder for the people in the back. It's been this club's MO for way too long. All of a sudden they have to play an actual baseball team and they puke all over themselves 3 out of 4 games. Tbh, Cleveland isn't some juggernaut either. They didn't look all that impressive and their offensive ineptitude matched our own. Can't wait to hear about how MN outhit and outscored Cleveland in this series though.....

[Aggies7]

Ramirez now has 80 rbi in 172 games against the twins 

[exeoud]

3 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

That last inning perfectly encapsulates the difference between these two squads. 

Lee fouls out. Bader singles and Gasper misreads the ball. Idk if he's sent home even if he gets a good jump but regardless, it's a baserunning gaffe. Bride sac fly. Bader caught stealing. Tough to moan about that with Vazquez at the plate. 

Arias is down 0-2 and instead of hacking away, he gets a pitch on the outer half of the plate and pushes it to 2B. A productive 1st out. Ramirez of course singles because I guess we're pitching to him? He swipes 2B. Manzardo is intentionally walked. Now it's runners on 1st and 2nd, tie game, 1 out, Cleveland in full control. Ramirez swipes 3B, doesn't matter, Martinez slaps a single. Ballgame. 

Our "defense first" catcher is so stout behind the plate that Ramirez beats the throw by 5 steps on an intentional pitchout and is willing to steal third with the game on the line.

[Aggies7]

Just now, KirbyDome89 said:

Say this louder for the people in the back. It's been this club's MO for way too long. All of a sudden they have to play an actual baseball team and they puke all over themselves 3 out of 4 games. Tbh, Cleveland isn't some juggernaut either. They didn't look all that impressive and their offensive ineptitude matched our own. Can't wait to hear about how MN outhit and outscored Cleveland in this series though.....

Yeah, Cleveland has been getting a lot of praise. But they surely aren’t some world-beating club

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

A sweep in Boston is going to be a gut punch.

[KirbyDome89]

Just now, exeoud said:

Our "defense first" catcher is so stout behind the plate that Ramirez beats the throw by 5 steps on an intentional pitchout and is willing to steal third with the game on the line.

Idk if that's on Topa being slow to the plate or Vazquez (or both) but Cleveland was surgical in the 10th. They flat out embarrassed the Twins with the way they pushed 2 runs across. 

[Aggies7]

1 minute ago, exeoud said:

Our "defense first" catcher is so stout behind the plate that Ramirez beats the throw by 5 steps on an intentional pitchout and is willing to steal third with the game on the line.

I was wondering if the twins chose not to walk Ramirez because they have yet to figure out how to defend against the 1st and 3rd little league steal 😂

[IndyTwinsFan]

11 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

It’s not mental. When we don’t play the absolute dregs of baseball, we aren’t good. For years now.

It's now reached the point where other teams look forward to facing us when they need to break out out of a slump of their own. 

[thelanges5]

2 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

A sweep in Boston is going to be a gut punch.

For them?

[thelanges5]

5 minutes ago, RpR said:

4 runs should not need only 6 hits, at that rate the offense is simply screwed.

You’re right this offense is screwed. They only scored five runs in three games and out hit their opponent.

[IndyTwinsFan]

6 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

A sweep in Boston is going to be a gut punch.

And I wouldn't bet against it happening to us. 

[jkcarew]

5 minutes ago, RpR said:

4 runs should not need only 6 hits, at that rate the offense is simply screwed.

Without the ghost runner, it was 3 runs on 6 hits. Teams do that 1000 times a season. 

[KirbyDome89]

8 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Yeah, Cleveland has been getting a lot of praise. But they surely aren’t some world-beating club

A slightly more polished version of KC. Pretty low bar tbh but seemingly insurmountable for the Twins. 

[thelanges5]

Per Gleeman:

Twins are now 16-34 (.320) in their last 50 games vs. the Guardians, which is a 52-110 pace for a full season.

[IndianaTwin]

5 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Ramirez now has 80 rbi in 172 games against the twins 

Looks like today was game 173, but thanks for digging this up. It just seems like 180 rbi. Or maybe I'm thinking of Sal Perez. 

Interesting -- by both that number and the tOPS+, the Twins have actually handled him considerably better than other teams, including the White Sox, Royals and especially the Tigers, whom he has crushed. Most of the teams who have done better than the Twins are in the National League with sample sizes of 20 games or less.

But he's still really, really good. 

[IndyTwinsFan]

Just now, KirbyDome89 said:

A slightly more polished version of KC. Pretty low bar tbh but seemingly insurmountable for the Twins. 

We're clearly among the dregs in the AL.

[Tlaker]

4 minutes ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

We're clearly among the dregs in the AL.

Absolutely! It’s not going to change under this ownership, front office and on field management!

But hey….. it’s nice to know that the summer on the lake won’t need to be scheduled around this gawd awful team! 
My tan will have a great base by Memorial Day 😀

[IndianaTwin]

11 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

I was wondering if the twins chose not to walk Ramirez because they have yet to figure out how to defend against the 1st and 3rd little league steal 😂

Clearly. There's the whole, "You don't put the winning run on base," and Ramirez certainly steals, putting runners on second and third with one out. So while it takes the bat out of Ramirez' hand, it also gives them two chances to win the game on one single. And while it's tempting to walk Manzardo, that also fills the bases, where a walk ties the game.

Ramirez is the toughest guy in their lineup, but at least by pitching to him, it took two hits to lose (barring a homer, which is certainly possible). So while choosing between lousy options, it was probably the right move to pitch to him.  

[Aggies7]

10 minutes ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

We're clearly among the dregs in the AL.

24-4 against the white sox and angels since last season.

71-95 against everyone else 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Cleveland's an 80 win team. The Twins are a 70 win team. 

[Aggies7]

1 minute ago, IndianaTwin said:

Clearly. There's the whole, "You don't put the winning run on base," and Ramirez certainly steals, putting runners on second and third with one out. So while it takes the bat out of Ramirez' hand, it also gives them two chances to win the game on one single. And while it's tempting to walk Manzardo, that also fills the bases, where a walk ties the game.

Ramirez is the toughest guy in their lineup, but at least by pitching to him, it took two hits to lose (barring a homer, which is certainly possible). So while choosing between lousy options, it was probably the right move to pitch to him.  

Or if they could execute a 1st/3rd play on the steal, maybe they get one of the runners? I’m just not letting a guy who I’ve witnessed get a ton of clutch hits against us do it again 

[jaimedude]

Need to move on from Rocco and get rid of the poor bench players. I know they have injuries but why are they insisting on filling roster of slow, short players with very little upside. Gasper and Clemmons need to be gone. You don't win many games with AAAA players starting games. Gasper breaking back the bag on Bader's hit, he doesn't belong in Big leagues. That dude's a jinx. 

[Vanimal46]

16 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

It’s not mental. When we don’t play the absolute dregs of baseball, we aren’t good. For years now.

It’s the kind of baseball that makes even the most diehard ball guys question WTF theyre doing watching this team 

[Hubie29]

36 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Topa could have done better, sure. But we should’ve never even gone to extra innings

I agree. This team is PA thetic

[IndianaTwin]

24 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Or if they could execute a 1st/3rd play on the steal, maybe they get one of the runners? I’m just not letting a guy who I’ve witnessed get a ton of clutch hits against us do it again 

I'm sure it's out there, but I wonder what the percentages are for getting an out on that situation, either at second or at home, along with the rare double play and the scenario of getting no outs (and worse, throwing one of the balls away).

Realistically, with the tying run on third, if you try for an out, you pretty much have to run the play that tries to get the out at home, don't you? I mean, get the out at second and let the runner score and you've let it be a tie game, albeit with the bases clear. Maybe it's one of those "play for a tie at home and a win at home" scenarios.

But all in all, it seems like they've essentially said they are not going to throw. And given what seems to be a pretty low overall success rate at throwing somebody out on just a straight steal, I'd probably handle it the way they did.

But yeah, with how they are playing it, second is pretty much a gimme right now with even average runners on base, let alone Ramirez and Kwan. 

[Irishman]

1 hour ago, Tlaker said:

Absolutely! It’s not going to change under this ownership, front office and on field management!

But hey….. it’s nice to know that the summer on the lake won’t need to be scheduled around this gawd awful team! 
My tan will have a great base by Memorial Day 😀

Twins offense absolutely suck!   If this ownership, FO and coaching staff are not revamped, I won’t come watch the games.  
 

Twins had 6 runs in last 3 games.   That’s not good enough.   They are joke.   I’m done with the Twins.