Red Sox 6, Twins 1: Ryan Jeffers Homers in Sisyphean Loss

[Vanimal46]

9 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Someone do me a favor....check with Fangraphs and find out if we still have the best bullpen in baseball.

While they’re on that website, perhaps they can look in the archives at the “gold standard” ZIPS projections. Could have sworn I read that the lineup was projected to have 8 or 9 league average or better hitters. 

[Vanimal46]

7 minutes ago, S Bart said:

The only enjoyable part of the Friday night game was listening to Roger Clemens' stories on the TV broadcast.  Julien over sliding 2nd base and his fielding...ugh. 

Time heals most wounds, and most people find him likable even if he took steroids sometime during his 24 year career. But the HOF voters had to make a point and blacklisted 90% of the stars that hooked me on baseball as a kid in the late 90s. 

[Parfigliano]

21 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Offense has scored 7 runs in the past 4 games. 

But 11 before that so it averages

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

At some point someone on team Pohlad is going to notice that the FO and everything TC  is tanking the value of the TC asset they allegedly want to sell.

Actually this seems like a path but, alas, it isn't a given that the ownership people are interested enough to clean the counter and freshen things up. In a pinch could a Pohlad name the 40 person roster? I would hope so but it is possible that they too are very disgruntled and have fled to other pursuits and are waiting for .... Godot.

[Parfigliano]

11 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Actually this seems like a path but, alas, it isn't a given that the ownership people are interested enough to clean the counter and freshen things up. In a pinch could a Pohlad name the 40 person roster? I would hope so but it is possible that they too are very disgruntled and have fled to other pursuits and are waiting for .... Godot.

That's some dark and TC oriented ****

[knothole61]

2 hours ago, jkcarew said:

It’s “sisyphEAn”.

But, it’s futile.

I mean...we tend to feel so sorry for Sisyphus. His eternal task is laborious and futile; but can you imagine what kind of shape he's in?

[knothole61]

2 hours ago, wavedog said:

What, no mention of Julien's great slide into 2nd base?  I don't think I ever seen a slide so bad in little league.  I have Mlb.tv and watch a lot of other teams - no team has worse fundamentals than Minnesota.   Tom Kelly must be rolling over in his recliner.    I think it's time for Julien, Alcala and Rocco to go and I am not a big fire the manager guy but if a situation every called for a shake-up, this is it.         

Julian is such a strange bird: a little talent, a little power, a lot of clumsiness. I apologize for the stereotyping, and God bless the French for the Statue of Liberty and basically winning our Revolution for us with their fleet at Yorktown (and maybe for Bardot?), but his actions at times are reminiscent of that Peter Sellers character--and I'll say no more.  

[knothole61]

2 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

I said in the game thread that sometimes I’ll watch some twins games on YouTube from their better years. Just to see how the organization played at one time. I watched a spring training game of theirs from 1988 yesterday. Gagne laid completely out to make an incredible catch in the 8th inning of a meaningless game. Our current guys are devoid of the fundamentals of the game and have been for years.

 

Aggies, have you watched the September 30, 1967 Twins v. Red Sox game...what a lineup, and what a decisive, high-stakes game! That was back when only one team per ten-team league made the postseason! 

[Lasorda_This_Out]

At what point do we dumbies suck it up and admit we are following a really crappy MLB team?

Edited May 3, 2025 by Richie the Rally Goat
Swearing

[Lasorda_This_Out]

"As in, the Red Sox were clowning the Twins on the basepaths all night. We’re at that point now, where other teams can humiliate us. What has happened to my team?"

Answer: Ownership indifference?

[Mark G]

6 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Rocco - maybe the pen needs a rest. Varland is over worked, the top 5 have been in 12 - 16 of the games.  That is not sustainable.  And Alcala just does not have it.  Put a SP in the pen, someone who can piggy back and give us innings since you don't like the SP to go 8 or 9 (and most of the time 6 or 7).  Too painful.  I just don't have the words.  The SP have now gone 164 out or 276 innings.  

How about McCusker - I know how stubborn execs can be, but let's get someone who has the potential to sting the ball.  Do something Twins or there will be no one in the stands by the end of the season.

And as overworked as some of us believe the pen is (count me in that group), if my memory serves me correctly we have lost 13 road games where we never pitched the 9th inning at all.  That is 13 games the pen was spared at least another inning, or maybe even extra innings occasionally if tied (correct me if my memory took a nap somewhere along the line).  

I would like to think that maybe we are seeing a trend beginning where he is letting his top 3 starters go deeper, and if that is the case we can afford to go the route you are talking about with a couple of the starters piggy backing and saving some bullpen arms.  Maybe replacing Alcala with a Festa or a Matthews who would eat innings the short guys are working now.  

I wonder if Rocco would start accepting my calls if I stop calling collect.  🤔

[Dave Borton]

Quote

Who will have the biggest rebound season in 2025?

 Forgot to add option (6) to the survey.

"No one."

[CRF]

We need a 2nd baseman that can actually field the ball and make accurate throws to 1st. Julien ain't that guy. He's got Roberto Duran's "Hands of Stone" at 2nd. If he comes up with that hot grounder, which was an entirely makeable play, it could have been a different game. I say "could". Probably not though because Rocco would have still used Louie and Alcala at some point. We are not a very good team and I doubt we can turn this Titanic around. If it wasn't for the White Sox, we'd be in last place easily. 

[Hubie29]

9 hours ago, miller761 said:

How much longer do I have to watch Alcala and Julien. Neither are MLB ball players. 

This can be said about 70% of the team. Talent is there though! Lol

[Bodie]

9 hours ago, Rik19753 said:

Didn't watch the game so this isn't really a comment about this game, but if feels like this team just isn't built to maximize their chances to win when their better pitchers are on the mound, especially Ryan and Ober.

Not that it matters when the hitting is this poor, at this point we wouldn't be able to win if prime Johan were pitching every night, but how many times over the years have we seen a great Ryan or Ober start go to waste because they are literally getting 0 run support?

It seems like Ryan and Ober are pitchers that have a lot of variance in their performance. Most days they are dominant and give the team a great change to win, and some days they have off days where they are  pounded and the game is over within the first few innings. So if the offense were consistently scoring 3-4 runs per game, most of their outings would turn into wins. But what we have is an offense that seems like it is build to explode for 10 runs on good days, but on most days have trouble even scoring multiple runs. Thus it seems like we aren't leveraging the Ryan and Ober outings to our advantage.

The player evaluation and development is obviously poor, but the roster construction may just be the worst part about this team.

Maybe, just maybe, Johan could "deGromm" teams and drive in the run in a 1-0 game...

Gotta have confidence in something Twin-related!  It surely isn't this iteration. 

[Bodie]

8 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

Alcala needs to be sent down to AAA.    I don’t care if it’s waived or optioned.  He is a disaster right now.  Move SWR or Paddack to the pen.  Call up Festa to start.   The Zebster needs to get himself in a position to be next. 

Agree on Alcala.  He is utterly lost, and it is obvious to even such an emotionally "limited " person as myself.   He is on the verge of "loosing his shi..." as the kids say.  He needs to be sent down to save any vestige of hope for his future.  He looks like he is one mistake/error/lucky hit away from  a nervous breakdown.  Literally.   He is on the verge of being out of baseball if he doesn't get right mentally. 

I am serious,  I  am genuinely worried about him.  Not as a baseball player, but as a man on the edge.  I have never seen anyone looking more mentally fragile being run out regularly. It is painful to watch as a human being.

That is saying nothing about watching he and his team mates stinking so bad I smelled the team flight landing in Boston...

[Bodie]

8 hours ago, S Bart said:

The only enjoyable part of the Friday night game was listening to Roger Clemens' stories on the TV broadcast.  Julien over sliding 2nd base and his fielding...ugh. 

If Clemens was half as personable as a player as he was in the Twins booth for an inning, he'd be in the Hall...

[Richie the Rally Goat]

8 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Someone do me a favor....check with Fangraphs and find out if we still have the best bullpen in baseball.

Honestly, with 4 wins, 11 losses, 3 saves, and just watching the blowups, I expected this bullpen to be below average to bottom third in most categories.

12 in WHIP

7 in K%

14 in ERA

8 in FIP

15th IP

so average-ish to the beginning of the season. It needs to be better, this team can’t hit or field to save their lives

[Richie the Rally Goat]

6 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Julian is such a strange bird: a little talent, a little power, a lot of clumsiness. I apologize for the stereotyping, and God bless the French for the Statue of Liberty and basically winning our Revolution for us with their fleet at Yorktown (and maybe for Bardot?), but his actions at times are reminiscent of that Peter Sellers character--and I'll say no more.  

He’s Canadian, thank his people for Poutine and cheap oil

[Patzky]

14 minutes ago, Bodie said:

Agree on Alcala.  He is utterly lost, and it is obvious to even such an emotionally "limited " person as myself.   He is on the verge of "loosing his shi..." as the kids say.  He needs to be sent down to save any vestige of hope for his future.  He looks like he is one mistake/error/lucky hit away from  a nervous breakdown.  Literally.   He is on the verge of being out of baseball if he doesn't get right mentally. 

I am serious,  I  am genuinely worried about him.  Not as a baseball player, but as a man on the edge.  I have never seen anyone looking more mentally fragile being run out regularly. It is painful to watch as a human being.

That is saying nothing about watching he and his team mates stinking so bad I smelled the team flight landing in Boston...

Jorge Lopez .. is there some toxic mold in the Target Field bullpen or something ?

[Peter]

We got the pitching but no hitting  whatsoever!!! Julien getting caught stealing was turning point of game. 13-20 now. Desperately need Lewis/castro and Wallner back in lineup. Can these 3 guys give us the jolt/fire we need to get over .500 back into division race? What about bringing up kids from St. Paul? As frustrating the twins have been ill always watch/support them but we gotta start winning ASAP?

[Blyleven2011]

Who are these people that predict the twins will win the division  , and predict we will have the best bullpen  ????

[Whitey333]

Let's see here:  team is 13-20.  8 games behind first place Detroit.  Nothing changes.  They waste good starting pitching and can't hit or score runs.  Their record since last August is abysmal.  Oh well.  Let's see what happens Saturday haha.

 

[LastOnePicked]

15 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Who are these people that predict the twins will win the division  , and predict we will have the best bullpen  ????

People who didn't watch a lot of Twins baseball last year.

[David Maro]

This team fell into the Fenway trap as usual. They all were trying to hit the ball off or over the LF wall. 

[strumdatjag]

9 hours ago, S Bart said:

The only enjoyable part of the Friday night game was listening to Roger Clemens' stories on the TV broadcast.  Julien over sliding 2nd base and his fielding...ugh. 

Julien had a horrible game.  At some point Castro and Lewis return.   I suspect the most likely to go are Bride and Clemons.  Julien and Gaspar should be considered too.  
Later, Keaschall comes back too. 
Julien needs to turn it around offensively and defensively, or his days are numbered. 

[Edmond Dantes]

11 hours ago, miller761 said:

How much longer do I have to watch Alcala and Julien. Neither are MLB ball players. 

Julien needs to be removed from the team immediately. His garbage base running and defense last night were the last straw.

[FargoFanMan]

When are we gonna hear Rocco be honest? When will the postgame interview not be the starter who went 5 innings allowing only 1 run but instead be the player who made an error to score multiple runs or a reliever who blew a lead or a hitter who didn’t deliver in a key spot? It’s always Rocco talking about a few good things and a starter talking about ONE bad pitch. Totally masking the night in night out debacle that is the offense.

[LambchoP]

11 hours ago, miller761 said:

How much longer do I have to watch Alcala and Julien. Neither are MLB ball players. 

Julien is not a major league player, the guy has zero baseball IQ. Way too many mental mistakes, horrible defense. His only skill, his hitting, has disappeared. He's hitting under .200. send him down. Wait, we can't, we have nobody that can replace him. We need Lewis back ASAP to play third, Lee at second. Then we need Castro back as bench guy because Julien, Bride and Clemens are nothing but warm bodies. As far as Alcala I know he's out of options, but would any team even claim him off waivers at this point? I say try to send him down, if we lose him so what. Opens up a roster spot for someone else. Funderburk and Tonkin have been rocked so far. Too bad we let Blewitt go. Maybe give someone like Morris, or Raya a shot pitching in the pen. Might be useful having someone who can go multiple innings for when Paddack and SWR are pulled in the 4rth or 5th inning every time they start....

[Aggies7]

8 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Aggies, have you watched the September 30, 1967 Twins v. Red Sox game...what a lineup, and what a decisive, high-stakes game! That was back when only one team per ten-team league made the postseason! 

I have seen that, and I believe it is the first  MLB game on TV that was presented in color. Allegedly.