Game Recap: Twins 8, Cleveland 5

Well ya don't see that every day. I had mentally prepared myself for another loss at least three times that game.

About time. 

Quit paying attn in the 9th, but not surprised Robles blew it -- no offense to him; he just threw a lot of pitches yesterday (and they have no other options).

Anyway, I just want to say I really like this recap style. Nice write-up.

Fandom. One extra inning win, review of upcoming schedule, and talk yourself into how this can work. I'm doing it

FWIW, Baltimore lost today, the Twins are now tied for the worst record in MLB. 

Series won! Extra-inning game won! (This is not the minor league report, right?)

4 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Me in the tenth inning:

I would have been afraid to watch the bottom of the 10th actually. I don't think I could have done it. 

Winning is always fun. The warts are still there though. A leadoff walk in the 9th of a one run game is not what you want your closer to do. And it came back to bite him, predictably. And the win was produced by....yep, a homerun. Twins still have to figure out how to score runs doing the things that many teams do. A surprise bunt for example, which got the Indians to extra innings is something the Twins will never do. Its not in their DNA to do anything but swing from the heels. But thats a skill that can change games from L to W.

I follow the Orioles as close as the Twins. Fact is my two favorite ex Red Wing parents have identical last place records. Not happy about that. The O's are really in a major slump. Since Mean's no-hitter they are 2-13. They find ways to lose every night and their pitching is terrible. While the Twins are slightly trending up, the O's are definitely trending down....should be an interesting 3 games.

Anyone think Donaldson's .241 BA is a cause for concern? He gets walks, but is this what they want from the 2nd place hitter who is making a zillion dollars per season?

Looking at the bullpen usage for the last couple days and I wonder who the heck will pitch today when the starter is pulled after five innings. Farrell? Stashak? gulp Colome? Maybe Tortuga?

Glad we finally won an extra inning game, not happy it went to extras with another blown save.  We need to figure out who can pitch in the 9th inning and actually get outs.  No matter who we send out they give up runs. 

5 hours ago, Dodecahedron said:

Ouch.

The Series Win stat is inaccurate--The Twins took 2 of 3 from KC in the April 30-May 2 series, crushing them 9-1 and 13-4 on Friday and Saturday, while getting crushed 11-3 on Saturday.

4 hours ago, insagt1 said:

Winning is always fun. The warts are still there though. A leadoff walk in the 9th of a one run game is not what you want your closer to do. And it came back to bite him, predictably. And the win was produced by....yep, a homerun. Twins still have to figure out how to score runs doing the things that many teams do. A surprise bunt for example, which got the Indians to extra innings is something the Twins will never do. Its not in their DNA to do anything but swing from the heels. But thats a skill that can change games from L to W.

I follow the Orioles as close as the Twins. Fact is my two favorite ex Red Wing parents have identical last place records. Not happy about that. The O's are really in a major slump. Since Mean's no-hitter they are 2-13. They find ways to lose every night and their pitching is terrible. While the Twins are slightly trending up, the O's are definitely trending down....should be an interesting 3 games.

Anyone think Donaldson's .241 BA is a cause for concern? He gets walks, but is this what they want from the 2nd place hitter who is making a zillion dollars per season?

Donaldson has the 4th highest OBP on the team; the three ahead of him are Buxton, Gordon, and Refsnyder.  I don't think anyone would be excited about moving Donaldson down in the lineup for Gordon or Refsnyder.

Notice that when Sano starts hitting bombs, the batter in front of Sano (in close games) gets lots of fastballs over the plate. This has been easy to observe for about a week now.

This is a good development, obviously, and is a reminder that the offense COULD possibly catch fire...particularly if Cruz and/or Buxton can get healthy. Don’t know that it can matter for this year given the hole, and given the pitching. But, maybe the club can become more entertaining to watch.

(Still, Monday’s game is a tough matchup, especially without a healthy Cruz.)

21 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Also, things like batting average need to be mentally adjusted this season, as .245 is roughly .010 higher than league average last I checked. 

OK--is everyone happy with Donaldson's contributions so far? Is he doing what everyone expected him to do when they opened the vaults to sign him? If we signed him to get walks and make end of game killer errors, I guess happiness rules the 100 Acre Woods. So far, for me, I think he is underperforming. Just my opinion based on what I am seeing on the field, not on the computer screen.