Minnesota's Sunday Night Massacre is What They Deserved

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

A desecration in athletic form. During their 3-0 loss, there was never a time in which the Twins appeared worthy of standing on the same field as Tarik Skubal and the Tigers. Rather, they were rendered a comedic sideshow in an opportunity rarely allotted to them. It had been five years since the last time Minnesota was on ESPN. It may be five more before their next showcase, on whatever network then carries such a thing.

I was not excited for this game. I had a feeling that playing against the best team in the AL—and probably the best pitcher in baseball—would turn the showcase from a revelation of a rarely-seen team into an extended mockery; display of foolishness; a reminder that the Twins are no longer the alpha dogs in the division and that (in this form) they may never be. Detroit has zoomed past them. They run the show. The Tigers have found the glorious combination of young, actualized talent and veteran savvy that turns good teams great. 

It helps that Tarik Skubal is a bad man. He's a bad, bad, bad man. There's a unique sinking feeling—one we all know—that comes with facing an ace starting pitcher. Everyone attached to the opposing organization understands acutely that the men we root for every day are likely to be truly embarrassed. So they were. Skubal struck out eight of the team's first nine batters. The other out was a soft pop fly. He ended with seven shutout innings and 13 strikeouts. Minnesota hitters either fell over trying to hold back on the changeup, or were three days late on the fastball. They accrued just a single and a walk, and even that felt like a miracle.

Given the spectacle of the situation—with the national broadcast and show-stopping ace—the Twins gave the country precisely what they wanted. They were sacrificial lambs, walked to a symbolic slaughter against which they couldn't fight back. Not with this lineup. Not with how they hit against lefties. Not when part of their resistance included the now-jettisoned Jonah Bride.

Ultimately, there's little about this game that tells us anything we didn't already know about this team. The organization is dogged by a glacial conservatism inherent in the front office's nature, amplified by ownership's sudden purse-closing following the 2023 season. In recent years, they've rarely come out ahead of the curve. Instead, they've chosen to sit and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for... something. Perfect health? Perhaps a silver-bullet prospect? A high-interest account to mature, so they can sign someone for more than $4 million? Who knows. In their stead, the team has been overtaken, and thoroughly overmatched by the class of the AL. Sunday was the perfect example of their failures. 

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[RpR]

At the end of the game, the ESPN announcer said the Twins pitching was not bad, but had two pitches that put the game away.

Lack of hitting except by France and Bader plus Vazquez walk , were the only offensive plus things; the so called best of the Twins batters, did not earn their titles that day.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

There are a lot of things to complain about with the Twins. Boy, oh boy, are there a lot of of things...

But...

Getting run over by the best pitcher on the planet is not one of them. Skubal does this to every team, good or bad. Go find another hill to plant your flag on.

[Major League Ready]

21 minutes ago, Matt Braun said:

Ultimately, there's little about this game that tells us anything we didn't already know about this team. The organization is dogged by a glacial conservatism inherent in the front office's nature, amplified by ownership's sudden purse-closing following the 2023 season. In recent years, they've rarely come out ahead of the curve. Instead, they've chosen to sit and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for... something. Perfect health? Perhaps a silver-bullet prospect? A high-interest account to mature, so they can sign someone for more than $4 million? Who knows. In their stead, the team has been overtaken, and thoroughly overmatched by the class of the AL. Sunday was the perfect example of their failures. 

 

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The Tigers 3 highest paid players account for $65M in payroll.  The Twins top 3 Cost $74M.  The Tigers and Twins have almost exactly the same payroll.  Their spending for the last few years has outpaced the rest of the division.  The complaints about spending are misguided and worn out.  Their current failure is a combination of Ober's sudden ineffectiveness, Correa's mediocre play, and Pablo's injury.  It also does not help that Lewis, Julien and Miranda turned into pumpkins.

[USAFChief]

As I noted in the game thread, we played the role of "Washington Generals."

[Whitey333]

Great article.  Very truthful.  The Tigers as a team and organization far outclass the Twins.  We knew it was coming.  Twins got embarrassed by a very good pitcher and team.

[mnfireman]

Skubal has 5 starts of 7+ IP and 3 or fewer hits allowed, 7 starts of 6+ IP and 0 runs allowed, 10 starts of 6+ IP and 1 run or less, 10 QS, and 5 starts with 10+ K's, the Twins are far from the first team to be "massacred" by Skubal.

[Linus]

2 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

As I noted in the game thread, we played the role of "Washington Generals."

Or the very capable Kenny Jaye. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

3 minutes ago, Linus said:

Or the very capable Kenny Jaye. 

Wow, a Kenny Jaye reference. I should be embarrassed that I know exactly who you're talking about, but I'm not. By the way, the very capable Kenny Jaye was originally "Sodbuster" Kenny Jaye.  

I see the Twins more as Nick Bockwinkel or Billy Robinson - good, but never quite good enough. Maybe someday we can be Verne Gagne or the Crusher. There's always hope. 

[Craig Arko]

8 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Wow, a Kenny Jaye reference. I should be embarrassed that I know exactly who you're talking about, but I'm not. By the way, the very capable Kenny Jaye was originally "Sodbuster" Kenny Jaye.  

I see the Twins more as Nick Bockwinkel or Billy Robinson - good, but never quite good enough. Maybe someday we can be Verne Gagne or the Crusher. There's always hope. 

I’m holding out for Baron von Raschke.

[chinmusic]

I understand the frustration, Matt. In fact, I share it. But calling Sunday night's game a massacre that they deserved, is a somewhat spiteful comment, imo.

[Doctor Gast]

If we didn't have to face Skubal or if the BP was depleted, we could have come back & won that game. I don't consider it as a massacre. But the only reason we were on Sunday-nite baseball for the 1st time for a very long time was that Skubal was pitching & we weren't embarrassed was a plus for me.

[RpR]

33 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

I’m holding out for Baron von Raschke.

The CLAW!!!

THIS is what we NEED:

[NotAboutWinning]

Sunday night's game was a stark comparison between a very well run organization and a very poorly run organization. Similar payrolls, managers with similar game management philosophies, both top 10 farm systems, both mid-market and AL Central. One team ascending, the other in a steep decline.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Wow.  Reactionary much?

It was one game against the guy who is probably the best pitcher in the world right now.  He’s done it all season in just about every game he has pitched.  No shame in that.  That’s one you turn the page from and forget about. Today’s a new game and a new opponent. Are we going to say that about every team that Skubel has faced all season and will face in the remainder of the season?  Because, I’ll pretty much guarantee he’s going to keep doing this.  Remember prime Johan Santana?  That’s pretty much what that was like except we were on the other side. 

Also “a stark comparison between a very well run organization and a very poorly run organization” and “the Tigers as a team an organization outclass the Twins.”  What exactly is the evaluative basis for that?  I would maintain that it is impossible to draw that conclusion from one game, or even from this season. Right now the Twins are playing poorly and the Tigers are playing very well.  Both have medium sized payrolls in medium sized markets with a lot of payroll tied up in just a few guys.  Evaluations of the quality of organization would seem to require more objective forethought than that.  YMMV.

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

Great article.  Very truthful.  The Tigers as a team and organization far outclass the Twins.  We knew it was coming.  Twins got embarrassed by a very good pitcher and team.

They've been awful, truly awful, for years. They don't outclass the Twins. 

It's not embarrassing to lose to the best pitcher in the AL. 

[Linus]

2 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Wow, a Kenny Jaye reference. I should be embarrassed that I know exactly who you're talking about, but I'm not. By the way, the very capable Kenny Jaye was originally "Sodbuster" Kenny Jaye.  

I see the Twins more as Nick Bockwinkel or Billy Robinson - good, but never quite good enough. Maybe someday we can be Verne Gagne or the Crusher. There's always hope. 

Good call on the Sodbuster - I forgot that part. 

[Blyleven2011]

It wasn't a massacre but it wasn't a good outcome by our hitters , the game was as expected , skubal pitched a gem ...

Our hitters looked foolish and helped skubal out on some bad choices to swing on pitches they couldn't handle  , paddack did okay , alot better than his previous 2 starts ...

Detroit is a talented team , playing well with young and old players , they rose to a good team last year and made a wild card appearance , added some off season help and has risen to the top of the central easily enough  ...

We are exactly who we are , good pitching but terrible offense and days where defense doesn't show up ...

We are the Minnesota possums , WE PLAY DEAD AT HOME AND GET KILLED ON THE ROAD  ...

I watch Kirby pitch last night for Seattle,  he threw everything on the outside edge of the plate , everything because the Royals made no adjustments to hit the ball to the opposite field , the Royals only managed 3 hits against Kirby  , the point is you have to make adjustments to how the pitcher is pitching  , where has the learning curve gone for hitting to the opposite field  ...

[jorgenswest]

Skubal may be the best pitcher in the game. He isn’t as great as the Twins all right handed line up made him look. That was his second best performance of the year according to game score.

[Major League Ready]

2 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

Sunday night's game was a stark comparison between a very well run organization and a very poorly run organization. Similar payrolls, managers with similar game management philosophies, both top 10 farm systems, both mid-market and AL Central. One team ascending, the other in a steep decline.

Over the last 10 seasons the Tigers have had a win percentage of .44 or 71 wins.  The Twins are at .494 or 80 wins so you appear to be influenced by recency bias.  The Tigers have done a little better job of drafting and one draft pick (Skubal) can make a world of difference.  The other big difference is that the Twins are getting nothing out of Lewis who was a 1/1 pick.  A year ago nobody would have complained about that pick and hopefully we won't be remorseful a year from now.  All that aside, the are now good after absolutely sucking for a decade so we should at least recognize a more macro view.  

[RpR]

2 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

Sunday night's game was a stark comparison between a very well run organization and a very poorly run organization. Similar payrolls, managers with similar game management philosophies, both top 10 farm systems, both mid-market and AL Central. One team ascending, the other in a steep decline.

It was a team with a true top level pitcher, and nothing more.

It was not a blow-out like earlier games, which did show  serious Twins problems.

[stringer bell]

It is a long, long season and every team is going to look dead on occasion. The Twins have had more than their share of lifeless games to be sure. However, one game isn't indicative of a full season and it isn't in itself a death sentence for the season for our favorite team. That we've seen far too many flat efforts by the hitters is much more damning to me. Getting dominated by Skubal has happened to most of MLB.

I don't have much hope that they'll be able to come out of their June swoon, but it's not impossible. Skubal's domination is another data point.

[twinstalker]

9 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

There are a lot of things to complain about with the Twins. Boy, oh boy, are there a lot of of things...

But...

Getting run over by the best pitcher on the planet is not one of them. Skubal does this to every team, good or bad. Go find another hill to plant your flag on.

This was as good an example of what's wrong with the Twins as any.  The ABs weren't competitive. Skubal wasn't saved by low BABIP.

And here's the thing.  When the Twins hitters are seemingly good/competent and when they're bad, they have no idea how to approach the really good pitchers.  It's been that way this whole century and has led to playoff embarrassments.  Except for maybe Gausman.

So by upvoting this, you're basically hiding your head in the sand.  Another excuse.  What does it matter which pitcher's on the mound?  Yeah, you're going to do worse against a Skubal, but that doesn't mean you should be non-competitive if you are a playoff team.  And if you're not a playoff team, well, maybe that's the point of the article.

[USAFChief]

10 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

There are a lot of things to complain about with the Twins. Boy, oh boy, are there a lot of of things...

But...

Getting run over by the best pitcher on the planet is not one of them. Skubal does this to every team, good or bad. Go find another hill to plant your flag on.

How about getting run over by Edward Cabrera?

 

[IndyTwinsFan]

8 hours ago, USAFChief said:

How about getting run over by Edward Cabrera?

 

Enough said, Chief!

[Linehan]

23 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Wow, a Kenny Jaye reference. I should be embarrassed that I know exactly who you're talking about, but I'm not. By the way, the very capable Kenny Jaye was originally "Sodbuster" Kenny Jaye.  

I see the Twins more as Nick Bockwinkel or Billy Robinson - good, but never quite good enough. Maybe someday we can be Verne Gagne or the Crusher. There's always hope. 

Or as Wally Karbo might say there’s going to be fine’s there’s going to be suspensions!

[Linehan]

 

Wally Karbo : “ there’s going to be fines there’s going to be suspensions”

[KirbyDome89]

Fewest hits allowed in any start this season.

Tied for the most Ks in any game (GC vs. Cleveland) this season.

Yeah sorry but that wasn't just a run-of-the-mill Skubal game guys. Be honest, for those of you waiving the performance away as this club running into a good pitcher, did you actually watch the game? Those ABs weren't even competitive. That's a massacre....

[Riverbrian]

7 Innings pitched - One Hit - One Walk - 13 Strikeouts. Skubal might be the best in baseball but his ERA is 2.15.

Zero Runs in 7 innings is better that 2 over 9 innings that he averages.    

11.4 K/9 on the season and he had 13 K/7 against the Twins. That's better than what he averages. 

.835 WHIP is incredible... that's rounds out to an average of 6 base runners per 7 innings. We managed 2. So that's better than what he averages and what he averages is already incredible. 

Skubal may be the best in baseball but what I saw that night was that he was facing a team that was beaten before they walked into the box. He entered the game with a 2.29 ERA and LOWERED IT with our help.   

With all that said. It's one game, we might put 5 runs on him next time we face him. Baseball is a funny game. 

That game doesn't make me feel any different. My opinion hasn't changed. It's been constant. The Twins offense isn't good.

It's below average in total, low on-base, station to station baseball. 

That's not a one game determination... it's not a reaction to Skubal. That's a season long determination.