Astros 9, Twins 1: Alvarez, Abreu and the Astros Deflate Target Field, Twins Face Elimination Wednesday

Sonny didn’t deliver and the offense reverted back to stinking. I’m so disappointed by our lefties in this postseason. 

Being there I have to say Target Field was never deflated. If there ever was a game for deflation it was this one, but the fans kept the faith and kept cheering until it was over. Let's get em tomorrow!!!!!

Skip the platooning. Kirilloff needs a game off. As Aggies7 has mentioned he has had blunders in the field, and this time it cost the Twins dearly. That first inning looks completely different if Kirilloff makes that play. Pitching and DEFENSE win games in the playoffs. The Twins cannot afford to give up outs like that.

Really disappointed in Sonny. 
 

I know he had a great season and I appreciate the WC win. 
 

But we absolutely needed a stud performance and he completely clunked it. 
 

set the offense up to press and swing away the rest of the game. 
 

massive opportunity missed. 

Man is that Alvarez strong. I swear the last two home runs he hit, he didn't hit the ball flush.

We have to find somebody that can get a clutch hit other than Correa.  Everybody but Correa is now somewhere in the ballpark of 2 or 3 for about 35?  You’d think you could at least luck into a few if you’re a remotely competent hitter.

The endless strikeouts in those are spots are unacceptable.

Royce Lewis may have taken the worst at bat in league history.  He swung at three straight pitches with guys on second and third that weren’t even on the same planet as the strike zone.  That was a tone setter.

You can’t have guys line Wallner and Kirilloff on the team and be taken seriously going forward.  Holy cow, those two are a couple of the worst hitters I’ve ever seen.

The pitching wasn’t great.  Not even close.  But, you can’t get anywhere with this anemic offense.  Going forward, gotta look at getting a competent hitting coach in here, rethinking this long ball strategy that clearly isn’t working, and rotate a few new guys in here.

You lose this one in reasonable fashion, fine.  But, this was an embarrassment and this team should be ashamed of itself for this performance.  What a kick to the nuts of Twins fans who have shown up for this team in droves.  They should’ve been boo’d off the field, IMO.

Not technically over….but it’s over.  Hopefully that humiliating loss is a lesson for some of these kids going forward.

3 minutes ago, Beast said:

We have to find somebody that can get a clutch hit other than Correa.  Everybody but Correa is now somewhere in the ballpark of 2 or 3 for about 35?  You’d think you could at least luck into a few if you’re a remotely competent hitter.

The endless strikeouts in those are spots are unacceptable.

Royce Lewis may have taken the worst at bat in league history.  He swung at three straight pitches with guys on second and third that weren’t even on the same planet as the strike zone.  That was a tone setter.

You can’t have guys line Wallner and Kirilloff on the team and be taken seriously going forward.  Holy cow, those two are a couple of the worst hitters I’ve ever seen.

The pitching wasn’t great.  Not even close.  But, you can’t get anywhere with this anemic offense.  Going forward, gotta look at getting a competent hitting coach in here, rethinking this long ball strategy that clearly isn’t working, and rotate a few new guys in here.

You lose this one in reasonable fashion, fine.  But, this was an embarrassment and this team should be ashamed of itself for this performance.  What a kick to the nuts of Twins fans who have shown up for this team in droves.  They should’ve been boo’d off the field, IMO.

Not technically over….but it’s over.  Hopefully that humiliating loss is a lesson for some of these kids going forward.

Not quite ready to give up on the youth just yet. 
 

but AK and Wallner are not having a good playoffs. 
 

Royce’s AB was atrocious. Somebody needed tell him you don’t have to get it all here. It’s the 1st inning. 

They executed their plan against our pitcher; we did not execute our plan versus their pitcher.  Stick 'em tomorrow and force Game 5.

I'm not sure if we can bring it back to Houston, but I think Ryan will pitch very well tomorrow. We need clean plays in the field and a pinch of clutch hitting.

15 minutes ago, Beast said:

We have to find somebody that can get a clutch hit other than Correa.  Everybody but Correa is now somewhere in the ballpark of 2 or 3 for about 35?  You’d think you could at least luck into a few if you’re a remotely competent hitter.

The endless strikeouts in those are spots are unacceptable.

Royce Lewis may have taken the worst at bat in league history.  He swung at three straight pitches with guys on second and third that weren’t even on the same planet as the strike zone.  That was a tone setter.

You can’t have guys line Wallner and Kirilloff on the team and be taken seriously going forward.  Holy cow, those two are a couple of the worst hitters I’ve ever seen.

The pitching wasn’t great.  Not even close.  But, you can’t get anywhere with this anemic offense.  Going forward, gotta look at getting a competent hitting coach in here, rethinking this long ball strategy that clearly isn’t working, and rotate a few new guys in here.

You lose this one in reasonable fashion, fine.  But, this was an embarrassment and this team should be ashamed of itself for this performance.  What a kick to the nuts of Twins fans who have shown up for this team in droves.  They should’ve been boo’d off the field, IMO.

Not technically over….but it’s over.  Hopefully that humiliating loss is a lesson for some of these kids going forward.

Never occurred to me to boo, except when directed at the Astros. Different strokes I guess

The offense needs to turn it around very quickly. With Ryan vs Urquidy the matchup tomorrow it's likely going to be a slugfest. I don't like our current chances at all if that's the case.

Hopefully the 1st half Ryan shows up. On the bright side, Urquidy's numbers look absolutely atrocious. 6.43 K/9, 3,57 BB/9 and 1.57 HR/9 with a 5.29 ERA. Without looking it up, I think all of those numbers are on the wrong side compared to the league average. If the Twins' bats can't get going against him they have no business going anywhere in the playoffs.

Not sure why some of you are so disappointed. Todays game was in all reality the Twins of 2023. You should be used to it by now. 59 Strikeouts in 5 games. 16 runs total. That's normal for this team.

Looks like Gray gave Rocco a going away present he'll remember. A turd of a performance.

I wonder if Falvine is happy now that they went out and got Gallo instead of going after a guy like Abreu. (Gallo WHO? Where is Gallo and his .177 batting average?) How's that extension to Buxton working out? Oh never mind, he's a game changer just being in the dugout. This team is laughable. Mr. HomeRun (Ryan) pitches tomorrow. Houston got 4 today. I can hardly wait. 

25 minutes ago, Aerodeliria said:

I'm not sure if we can bring it back to Houston, but I think Ryan will pitch very well tomorrow. We need clean plays in the field and a pinch of clutch hitting.

Don’t get your hopes up. They handled Sonny they can easily handle Ryan. Joe Ryan is a high fast ball pitcher, which Houston has no problems with. Alvarez vs Ober will be the likely result. 

27 minutes ago, wabene said:

Never occurred to me to boo, except when directed at the Astros. Different strokes I guess

Same here. Cheered my heart out to the deflating end. Twins are my team, win or lose.

44 minutes ago, Rik19753 said:

The offense needs to turn it around very quickly. With Ryan vs Urquidy the matchup tomorrow it's likely going to be a slugfest. I don't like our current chances at all if that's the case.

Hopefully the 1st half Ryan shows up. On the bright side, Urquidy's numbers look absolutely atrocious. 6.43 K/9, 3,57 BB/9 and 1.57 HR/9 with a 5.29 ERA. Without looking it up, I think all of those numbers are on the wrong side compared to the league average. If the Twins' bats can't get going against him they have no business going anywhere in the playoffs.

Javier had a 5+ ERA on the road this season…

21 minutes ago, Hashim said:

Don’t get your hopes up. They handled Sonny they can easily handle Ryan. Joe Ryan is a high fast ball pitcher, which Houston has no problems with.

We gotta pen full of fresh arms if young Joe ain't quite up for the job.  Bring 'em on.

I'm going to channel the former QB from our GB nemesis....

R-E-L-A-X 

Gray just didn't have it today.

We can absolutely get the W tomorrow and set up and EPIC Verlander vs. Lopez game 5 showdown....

That being said.... for the love of all baseball...  STOP STARTING WALLNER. How many AB does Rocco need to see to understand that he is completely overmatched at the plate?!

31 minutes ago, rv78 said:

Not sure why some of you are so disappointed. Todays game was in all reality the Twins of 2023. You should be used to it by now. 59 Strikeouts in 5 games. 16 runs total. That's normal for this team.

Looks like Gray gave Rocco a going away present he'll remember. A turd of a performance.

I wonder if Falvine is happy now that they went out and got Gallo instead of going after a guy like Abreu. (Gallo WHO? Where is Gallo and his .177 batting average?) How's that extension to Buxton working out? Oh never mind, he's a game changer just being in the dugout. This team is laughable. Mr. HomeRun (Ryan) pitches tomorrow. Houston got 4 today. I can hardly wait. 

You must be a blast to be around. 
 

why do you follow the team if they make you so miserable?

THE SERIES IS NOT EVEN OVER YET 

1 minute ago, D.C Twins said:

STOP STARTING WALLNER

Wallner was one of only four Twins batters to reach base twice today.  Let's give this a rest.

It just seems to me that the real difference here is that Houston is full of batters who have been there, done that when it comes to the playoffs and aren't trying to do too much.  That's why it was so important to win that first series and win, at least, a game here.  Experience.  Our young players look young out there. 

Also, in their big moments they have Alvarez, Altuve, and Abreu coming to the plate.  Our big moments consist of Polanco (scrappy), Lewis (inexperienced), and Kepler (nice 2nd half, but very average mlb player).

I'm not saying it's over by any means.  Anything can happen.  However, we need another Lopez-type to go with Lopez next year.  That, plus giving the batters some more seasoning, could mean we are the next Houston.

We live to fight another day. Go Twins!

By the comments here one would think our season ended today. 
 

it hasn’t. 
 

With the rangers set to close out tonight that should mean we are under the lights tomorrow, and we are a significantly better hitting team when the sun goes down. 
 

have some faith. 

1 hour ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

Wallner was one of only four Twins batters to reach base twice today.  Let's give this a rest.

Yeah Wallner is fine. AK needs to be benched, his defense has cost us. 

30 minutes ago, HokieRif said:

By the comments here one would think our season ended today. 
 

it hasn’t. 
 

With the rangers set to close out tonight that should mean we are under the lights tomorrow, and we are a significantly better hitting team when the sun goes down. 
 

have some faith. 

What hopes do we have when Sonny couldn’t get done. I don’t expect anything from Joe Ryan. 

1 hour ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

We gotta pen full of fresh arms if young Joe ain't quite up for the job.  Bring 'em on.

Yeah I’d pull him very early if he doesn’t get the job done. Give me Paddock & Kenta and the whole bullpen tomorrow.