Twins 5, Orioles 2: Buxton and Bader Bombs, Varland Goes Rolling All the Way to a Win

[Doctor Gast]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

The position players & pitchers have been playing very well & we've been winning games. So what is the difference from before to now (besides the absence of Julien & Gasper at 2B)? It's the addition of Lewis & Castro. There has been a lot of fuss over Lewis, but it's been Castro who has been getting the hits. Lewis is 0-6, hasn't been that great on defense or on the bases but Lewis still brings intangibles to the table that help the team to win, like fire & chemistry. If Baldelli went only by his spreadsheet, Lewis would be sitting on the bench & soon be sent back to AAA. Sooner or later, Royce will be 100% & be tearing up the league but until then he'll still help the team to win. (to be continued)

I cut the other text short because I wanted to finish on a positive note. Sometimes it seems that Baldelli thinks of himself as a chess master.  I applaud him for his moves last night, they were moves that any manager should make. But there are times when he overthinks a situation or has moves predetermined before the game (like taking a pitcher out too soon or PH too soon) & the result is undesirable. 

He is too dependent on stats on his spreadsheet & is biased towards some players. He needs to step away from his notebook & try to visualize the intangibles, & what lineup plays the best together to win games, especially the tough ones. Keirsey has started 3 games, Twins won all 3. The last 2 games he got a hit each against red-hot NYM team. He has hardly played since. Keirsey needs regular ABs at bats to adjust to MLB. Someone told me that MLB is about winning not development (adjusting). MLB is about continuous adjusting, a good manager knows how to balance both winning & allowing the player to adjust to the ever-changing MLB. 

Maybe what I have most difficulty with Baldelii is when he raises the white flag (like he's forfeiting the game) by resting Buxton, Correa & Lewis all in the same day! Having Vazquez catch with all the bench players playing. That's not fair to the team or the bench players or the fans. You have to manage to win. These players need rest but not all in the same game.

I hope we sweep BAL. We are winning with Keirsey & Lewis in the game, we need to be patient with them & allow them to get into their groove so we can beat tough teams like SF, who is coming up. One sure way to create fire, chemistry & morale among the ranks is when an in-house player is doing well.

[Aggies7]

Moved up to 20th in runs saved. Think they were at the bottom or nearly at the bottom a few weeks ago 

[Bodie]

10 hours ago, arby58 said:

Bader has been really good, and France has been acceptable - lots of people on this board who thought differently a few months ago. I know, it's a long season, but Bader also brings super defense to go along with good offense. Given the Twins credit for that pick-up.

Liked the Bader signing when it happened. Thought we'd get quality defense and acceptable bat.  Got that and more so far.  Add in a bit of flair, and you've got a potential fan favorite. At least for the people willing to get off the "Twins too cheap" horse for every signing that isn't the number one free agent in that years class...

As for France, he has saved close to another half dozen throwing errors by simply being an actual major league glove at 1B.  Don't think any one thought we were getting prime Morneau, but looking at some of the posts here you'd have thought they'd signed current day Morneau!  Adequate, which is more than I'd have expected from Larnach, Julien or Kirilloff (before his retirement announcement) all of whom were posited as "anyone can play 1B" solutions to the Twins having no viable 1B on the roster after Santana's free agent departure. 

[Riverbrian]

As concerned as we are about the Twins start this season and rightfully so.

Baltimore is a good reminder to all of us that other teams/fans are also disappointed. As much as the pundits talked about the Baltimore off-season and not finding suitable starters to bring this talented club home. Not many pundits thought this Orioles offense would be the mess that it has been thus far. 

Hoping for another W today. Go Twins!  

[jorgenswest]

9 hours ago, S Bart said:

Recent articles listed Ryan in a potential trade with Baltimore and Lopez in a potential trade with the Dodgers. Obviously, they are "writer rumors." Regardless, I hope that the Twins don't consider trading these two or Ober this early in the season. These three are the brightest area for the Twins.

I am not sure rumor is the correct term for the Ryan to the Orioles. It was Bowden writing about 5 trades he would like to see and not based on any information about Ryan involved in any trade talk. I am not sure of the Lopez to Dodgers source.

[amjgt]

10 hours ago, knothole61 said:

 

Impressive win...now 3 games below .500. 

Small steps...

Yeah, on Tuesday night I was happy to hear Justin's voice, like an old friend who had unexpectedly returned. Truth be told, Denard did nothing for me. He's knowledgeable, etc., but he left me kind of flat. So, when I heard Morneau's voice filled as it is with boyish enthusiasm, well, it warmed the cockles of my old heart.

Morneau truly was a great player, of that there is no doubt, and I think that he might make an effective (maybe great) hitting coach if he chooses to go that route. His knowledge of pitchers and pitching is absolutely amazing, but unfortunately, also absolutely unbearable at times. On Tuesday after my infatuation passed I found myself muting his voice quite frequently as his pedantry was loosed along the airwaves. Good god man, do you have to beat every explanation to death? The broadcast's producers should encourage him to cut his sometimes turgid analysis by about two-thirds...I think that would do nicely for starters.

 

 

Ironically... the longest post of the thread.

 

I DO agree with you though, that at times Justin can get extremely long-winded.

[saviking]

Twins starters that make 4 innings with 2 outs be like: ****, I'm going to get yanked. Only way I could have made it through 5 was if I got a double play on that last batter. 

[Riverbrian]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

The position players & pitchers have been playing very well & we've been winning games. So what is the difference from before to now (besides the absence of Julien & Gasper at 2B)? It's the addition of Lewis & Castro. There has been a lot of fuss over Lewis, but it's been Castro who has been getting the hits. Lewis is 0-6, hasn't been that great on defense or on the bases but Lewis still brings intangibles to the table that help the team to win, like fire & chemistry. If Baldelli went only by his spreadsheet, Lewis would be sitting on the bench & soon be sent back to AAA. Sooner or later, Royce will be 100% & be tearing up the league but until then he'll still help the team to win. (to be continued)

I'm not arguing your point.

But I'd like to point out that the Twins are 10-5 since April 22. There was a 4 game losing streak inside of that 15 game stretch but it's been a good stretch of baseball. 

As much time as I spend on Bride/Clemens McCusker debate on another thread and I'll keep going with that debate... I do recognize that the club is doing pretty good regardless (for the moment). As much as I talk about Bader and France. I'll stand here and recognize that Bader and France have been nice contributors to the current 15 stretch of decent results. I'll recognize the spark that Keaschall provided as we started rolling. It's been nice to see Buxton and Jeffers get it into gear. And I'll applaud someone that I have been really hard on... Christian Vazquez has been getting some key hits during this stretch. 

The performance from those guys buys time for Correa and Lewis to join the party.  

And... I recognize that Clemens almost won that game in Boston by himself. 

[jorgenswest]

6 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

As concerned as we are about the Twins start this season and rightfully so.

Baltimore is a good reminder to all of us that other teams/fans are also disappointed. As much as the pundits talked about the Baltimore off-season and not finding suitable starters to bring this talented club home. Not many pundits thought this Orioles offense would be the mess that it has been thus far. 

Hoping for another W today. Go Twins!  

I was thinking yesterday how much hope we have that things will be different with new owners. The new Oriole ownership was approved last March 27 so this was their first off season. They signed one free agent to a multiyear deal in Tyler O’Neill for 3/49. I think Twin fans would see that as pretty underwhelming in the first off season of a new ownership. The new owners likely were involved in the Burnes deal last winter that happened just after news of the proposed deal. That really wasn’t a burden on the budget though. The cost to the Orioles was prospects not dollars. They didn’t follow up that trade by securing Burnes with a big contract extension. The Orioles did add to payroll with several moderate one year deal for Morton, Sugano, Kittredge, Sanchez and Laureano but we have experienced several of those kind of one year deals for aging veterans with our current ownership. 

[jmlease1]

8 minutes ago, saviking said:

Twins starters that make 4 innings with 2 outs be like: ****, I'm going to get yanked. Only way I could have made it through 5 was if I got a double play on that last batter. 

Except of course the reason SWR got yanked was that after getting the first 2 guys he went double, single (cutting the lead to 1), single. He missed on 3 straight guys, the 7-8-9 hitters and the lineup was turning over. If the lead had been 5-2, he might get the chance to finish it off, but hard to blame the decision-making here. Lopez or Ryan might have gotten the longer leash regardless at that pitch count, but SWR getting pulled for Coulombe was on him. Considering how inconsistent the offense has been this season, would you really risk coughing up the lead?

 

[LambchoP]

Twins have been fun to watch again! Buxton being healthy and best hitter on the team brings a smile to my face every time he does something game changing. All three off-season acquisitions have been great, especially Bader and Coloumbe. The real test will be this weekend. Can we hang with a true contender, get some wins and get to .500? Or does our offense disappear again, we get swept and go on a losing streak? Hopefully Lewis and Correa can get going so Buck doesn't need to be the hero every day and we can keep this momentum going!

[DJL44]

9 hours ago, GNess said:

What was the source of those rumors?

An insatiable need for clicks to sell advertising.

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Keirsey has started 3 games, Twins won all 3.

No matter how many times you keep repeating this, that doesn't make it true. He's started 7 games and the Twins won 3. 

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Keirsey needs regular ABs

No he doesn't. No one besides Keirsey wants to see that. Just take the L on this man.

I love defense first OF, hence why I was championing the Bader signing so vigorously against all the folks here that are now eating crow. But Keirsey is just over matched and there is no reason for him to ever hold a bat in the major leagues ever again. 

[jorgenswest]

I really wanted SWR to get through that inning. The big mistake was that meatball to Kjerstad. Provus was in the middle of saying that Kjerstad swings at the first pitch at a very high rate as the pitch arrived at the plate. You can’t give him a pitch in the middle of the plate on the first pitch. You probably shouldn’t throw a strike on that pitch. That could not possibly have been the game plan for a hitter that swings so often and rarely walks. If he can execute the gameplan he probably gets Kjerstad out and maybe gets a chance in the 6th.

Fun game to watch. Good defense. Big hits. Shut down bullpen.

[jmlease1]

33 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I am not sure rumor is the correct term for the Ryan to the Orioles. It was Bowden writing about 5 trades he would like to see and not based on any information about Ryan involved in any trade talk. I am not sure of the Lopez to Dodgers source.

Bowden loves writing pieces where he sends players from teams he doesn't like/care about to franchises he'd rather cover. He's never liked the Twins, always happy to write us off as soon as possible.

[Riverbrian]

52 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I was thinking yesterday how much hope we have that things will be different with new owners. The new Oriole ownership was approved last March 27 so this was their first off season. They signed one free agent to a multiyear deal in Tyler O’Neill for 3/49. I think Twin fans would see that as pretty underwhelming in the first off season of a new ownership. The new owners likely were involved in the Burnes deal last winter that happened just after news of the proposed deal. That really wasn’t a burden on the budget though. The cost to the Orioles was prospects not dollars. They didn’t follow up that trade by securing Burnes with a big contract extension. The Orioles did add to payroll with several moderate one year deal for Morton, Sugano, Kittredge, Sanchez and Laureano but we have experienced several of those kind of one year deals for aging veterans with our current ownership. 

Love your post.

I hold no expectation that new owners are going to ride up on a white horse. The Pohlads will be leaving in the same Uber that dropped off the new owners. 

Market conditions are Market conditions. I think Elias did not a nice job tearing it down and building it back up but... Morton, Sugano, Kittredge, Sanchez and Laureano to finish the job? I'd be bitching about that on Oriolesdaily.  

[stringer bell]

12 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

No matter how many times you keep repeating this, that doesn't make it true. He's started 7 games and the Twins won 3. 

No he doesn't. No one besides Keirsey wants to see that. Just take the L on this man.

I love defense first OF, hence why I was championing the Bader signing so vigorously against all the folks here that are now eating crow. But Keirsey is just over matched and there is no reason for him to ever hold a bat in the major leagues ever again. 

I'm not quite as harsh about Keirsey, but I'm not surprised by his lack of production so far. BTW, 4 of 6 stealing bases isn't good enough either. The jump from AAA to the majors isn't a small speed bump.

Mickey Gasper is raking at St. Paul after we saw him look pretty close to pathetic playing for the Twins. Great Triple A stats aren't a guarantee of major league success or readiness. 

[Doctor Gast]

16 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

No matter how many times you keep repeating this, that doesn't make it true. He's started 7 games and the Twins won 3. 

No he doesn't. No one besides Keirsey wants to see that. Just take the L on this man.

I love defense first OF, hence why I was championing the Bader signing so vigorously against all the folks here that are now eating crow. But Keirsey is just over matched and there is no reason for him to ever hold a bat in the major leagues ever again. 

FACT- AI Overview In 2025, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. has started in three games with the Minnesota Twins. He has played in a total of six games for the Twins, including those three starts, according to Baseball America. 

No matter how much you refute the truth to support your narrative doesn't make it true. I never said that Keirsey was a superstar rookie like you who can hit w/o any regular ABs. Even many superstars with regular ABs take a while. How can you expect Keirsey to do better in very difficult conditions?  Until he gets a fair shot, nobody, even you, can judge him. As a faithful Twins fan, all I want is the Twins to win. That means putting players in the game that can help us win games, that means looking past tangibles into the intangible and with time the tangibles will also come around. That's my point which you missed.

[NYCTK]

19 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

FACT- AI Overview In 2025, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. has started in three games with the Minnesota Twins. He has played in a total of six games for the Twins, including those three starts, according to Baseball America. 

No matter how much you refute the truth to support your narrative doesn't make it true. I never said that Keirsey was a superstar rookie like you who can hit w/o any regular ABs. Even many superstars with regular ABs take a while. How can you expect Keirsey to do better in very difficult conditions?  Until he gets a fair shot, nobody, even you, can judge him. As a faithful Twins fan, all I want is the Twins to win. That means putting players in the game that can help us win games, that means looking past tangibles into the intangible and with time the tangibles will also come around. That's my point which you missed.

There's your problem. You're using the lazy machine. Try doing actual research instead of relying on a useless tool that makes **** up. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=keirsda01&t=b&year=2025

He's approximately the 400th best position player in the major leagues right now. He IS getting a fair shot. And he's squandered it even worse than his detractors could have imagined. 

[Mike Sixel]

11 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

FACT- AI Overview In 2025, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. has started in three games with the Minnesota Twins. He has played in a total of six games for the Twins, including those three starts, according to Baseball America. 

No matter how much you refute the truth to support your narrative doesn't make it true. I never said that Keirsey was a superstar rookie like you who can hit w/o any regular ABs. Even many superstars with regular ABs take a while. How can you expect Keirsey to do better in very difficult conditions?  Until he gets a fair shot, nobody, even you, can judge him. As a faithful Twins fan, all I want is the Twins to win. That means putting players in the game that can help us win games, that means looking past tangibles into the intangible and with time the tangibles will also come around. That's my point which you missed.

You used AI for this?

[NYCTK]

8 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

You used AI for this?

Not to be too harsh, but we should 100% mock and ridicule the use of AI tools for this sort of thing. You wanna use it to draft up stupid work emails? Fine. 

But for any actual research or creative endeavor? Seriously, you need to be better than that. 

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

As concerned as we are about the Twins start this season and rightfully so.

Baltimore is a good reminder to all of us that other teams/fans are also disappointed. As much as the pundits talked about the Baltimore off-season and not finding suitable starters to bring this talented club home. Not many pundits thought this Orioles offense would be the mess that it has been thus far. 

Hoping for another W today. Go Twins!  

Baseball is a cruel game year to year.  The Orioles being bad offensively was predicted by zero humans prior to this year.

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

FACT- AI Overview In 2025, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. has started in three games with the Minnesota Twins. He has played in a total of six games for the Twins, including those three starts, according to Baseball America. 

No matter how much you refute the truth to support your narrative doesn't make it true. I never said that Keirsey was a superstar rookie like you who can hit w/o any regular ABs. Even many superstars with regular ABs take a while. How can you expect Keirsey to do better in very difficult conditions?  Until he gets a fair shot, nobody, even you, can judge him. As a faithful Twins fan, all I want is the Twins to win. That means putting players in the game that can help us win games, that means looking past tangibles into the intangible and with time the tangibles will also come around. That's my point which you missed.

For the record, Keirsey has started 7 games in 2025. Twins are 3-4 in those 7 games. He's appeared in 27 games total, but has only accumulated 29 PAs.

.069/.069/.069

 

One could argue 29 PAs is too many.

Also, this **** is really easy to find...

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/keirsda01.shtml

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

You used AI for this?

People who believe AI is "the truth" will wipe out humanity.

[Mrs. Baseball]

13 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I said it two weeks ago:

The AL Central (and the AL in general) is weak enough that all the Twins need is one guy to start hitting like an all-star and their pitching staff can get them to rack up some wins.  Buck is making that statement come alive.

This game was well managed.  Something you won't see the usual crowd come to post about.

Very much not in the Rocco camp. He did a good job last night.

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I'm not arguing your point.

But I'd like to point out that the Twins are 10-5 since April 22. There was a 4 game losing streak inside of that 15 game stretch but it's been a good stretch of baseball. 

As much time as I spend on Bride/Clemens McCusker debate on another thread and I'll keep going with that debate... I do recognize that the club is doing pretty good regardless (for the moment). As much as I talk about Bader and France. I'll stand here and recognize that Bader and France have been nice contributors to the current 15 stretch of decent results. I'll recognize the spark that Keaschall provided as we started rolling. It's been nice to see Buxton and Jeffers get it into gear. And I'll applaud someone that I have been really hard on... Christian Vazquez has been getting some key hits during this stretch. 

The performance from those guys buys time for Correa and Lewis to join the party.  

And... I recognize that Clemens almost won that game in Boston by himself. 

I recognized the Twins' 10-5 record against CWS & LAA, & won the series against struggling BOS, in lieu of Lewis & Castro's return & struggling BAL after. But we got swept by struggling ATL & lost 3 games to CLE, IMO we could have won all those games, even w/o Lewis. We lost those close games because of the failure of doing the little things. I also recognize the success of Buxton, Jeffers, Bader & France; I recognize the resurgence of Correa & even Vazquez. But IMO we need to beat teams better than bad & struggling. We need to elevate our game. That's what I want.

[Mrs. Baseball]

11 hours ago, S Bart said:

Recent articles listed Ryan in a potential trade with Baltimore and Lopez in a potential trade with the Dodgers. Obviously, they are "writer rumors." Regardless, I hope that the Twins don't consider trading these two or Ober this early in the season. These three are the brightest area for the Twins.

For lo these many years looking for a quality pitching staff and immediately some so-called "experts" want to dismantle it, It's that type of thinking that has a team trading a batting champ for an arm.

Know when to hold 'em.

[Doctor Gast]

8 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

People who believe AI is "the truth" will wipe out humanity.

I know where you are coming from & don't trust it for important things but do you think that THEY will alter the truth on the account of baseball?

[NYCTK]

11 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I know where you are coming from & don't trust it for important things but do you think that THEY will alter the truth on the account of baseball?

You used it for something very basic and when told you were wrong you doubled down and called it The Truth. 

This world, and especially the US, is living in a post truth world thanks to the type of laziness and lack of curiosity you displayed. 

**** AI. It's a trash tool for the least intellectual of society. Make amends, admit you were wrong both in substance and to use the tool as truth in the first place.

[NYCTK]

17 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I know where you are coming from & don't trust it for important things but do you think that THEY will alter the truth on the account of baseball?

The president just pointed to a clear Photoshop and refused to admit it wasn't true. 

This is different in substance and scope obviously, but it's the same problem. Foolish people unable to discern reality. And it's a big ****ing problem.