Make it Official! Twins 4,Tigers 3: By the Hair of Their Chin

They somehow won, but 0-10 RISP. Not good. Ober was great. Rocco should have left him in a little longer. 

1 hour ago, CRF said:

They somehow won, but 0-10 RISP. Not good. Ober was great. Rocco should have left him in a little longer. 

Did you see the three sacrifice flies? How about the ball to the right side that moved the runner to third with 1 out? Did you see the ball in play that scored Martin?

The batters did a much better job with runners in scoring position. They put the ball in play. Four runs scored as a result. That doesn’t happen if they are striking out.

No reason to pull Ober after 6 innings. I don’t understand why he wasn’t run out in the 7th, especially with his pitch count being in good shape. . The BP has been shaky and not quite as elite as we’ve been told and with Stewart unavailable another inning from Ober would have been ideal. 
 

they finally moved some runners over and had a couple of sac flys which was good to see,… but still finished 0-10 w/risp, they have to improve in that area to help the pitching staff. 

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Did you see the three sacrifice flies? How about the ball to the right side that moved the runner to third with 1 out? Did you see the ball in play that scored Martin?

The batters did a much better job with runners in scoring position. They put the ball in play. Four runs scored as a result. That doesn’t happen if they are striking out.

Very good! See what happens when you don't SO (only 6Xs) even w/o hitting a HR, you win games.

Ober did a good job again. Let's see what Paddack & Varland can do to help get us back.

11 minutes ago, hitterscount said:

No reason to pull Ober after 6 innings. I don’t understand why he wasn’t run out in the 7th, especially with his pitch count being in good shape. . The BP has been shaky and not quite as elite as we’ve been told and with Stewart unavailable another inning from Ober would have been ideal. 
 

they finally moved some runners over and had a couple of sac flys which was good to see,… but still finished 0-10 w/risp, they have to improve in that area to help the pitching staff. 

Should the previous two innings and I think 41 pitches factor in? His third time through the line up thus far was a walk, triple and fly to outfield. Maybe that should factor in also.

Ober was great for 5. But it was time to pull him, without question.

Ober since his first start implosion: 3 GS, 17 IP, 2 ER, 16/3 K/BB, 1.06 ERA, Opp. BA .140. Not sustainable, but success he can build off.

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Should the previous two innings and I think 41 pitches factor in? His third time through the line up thus far was a walk, triple and fly to outfield. Maybe that should factor in also.

Absolutely should factor, but not a qualifier to pull after 6 and 84 pitches. He should have have had a short leash for sure 

1 hour ago, Verified Member said:

Is he a good fielder? I cannot get the games to watch, but when I listen to them it seems they are just out of reach, or just got by him, or bounce off the wall and he just missed it. Is he making any difficult plays? 

He is a rookie trying to hard rather than - been there - done that - of a veteran, but he has not been shabby.

Glad they won.  These past two games with Detroit have produced some bad baseball by both teams.  Sunday I give the edge to the Tigers due to the starting pitching matchups.  Then we get the 3-17 White Sox 7 of the next 10 games.  Need to hopefully sweep them or at least go 5-2.  After that the schedule toughens up some.  We should be able to crush the White Sox.  Could be interesting in that offensively speaking these are two of the poorest hitting teams in baseball.  Go Twins!

Huge much needed win!!! Let’s take series today!!! Go twins!!!

The Minnesota Twins sought to snap a five-game skid on Saturday, and Bailey Ober did everything he could to position them well for it. The offense remained in a sputter, and while opportunities were missed all day, Rocco Baldelli's club did just enough to get the job done.

Despite Rocco doing this:

Baldelli went with Carlos Santana off the bench. A weak fly out dropped him to 0-for-14 on the year with runners in scoring position, and he has just three hits in his last 40 at bats (.075). Manuel Margot grounded out on the first pitch of his pinch hit at-bat, and both runners were left on the bases.

Why play the pinch-hitting game, especially with 2 hitters that aren't hitting? There's no sense in his head.

Dang it was cold at the game! pre-game on the mall was brutal with that wind.

Ober looked really good early and was mixing his pitches well. Tough call on pulling him: he was still doing ok, but was starting to wobble a bit. But it was really nice to see him throwing that cutter down and then getting in that good fastball at the top of the zone, changing speeds and eye-level. Hope they've figured out what he's tipping for KC, because it's clearly something.

Martin's doing pretty well for a rookie. Hopefully he can keep legging out some doubles. I would like to see him given the green light on the bases when he does stop at 1B: he's got good speed and the skill to swipe bags. (I would like the Twins to run more generally; Julien, Martin, Buxton, and Castro are all guys who can give us an advantage on the bases but so far we're not seeing much there. Some of it's probably situational, but getting more aggressive on the bases should help generate some more runs too)

Santana and Margot need to DFA.Santana has 250 ft fly ball power and Margot is a shaky fielder.Was very surprised Buxton didn't stand at home admiring has line drive to left in the 2nd.Maybe someone had a talk with him.Other than that they finally played a game of baseball.

For the twins it's not how you play the game that matters ...

It's a the win that counts ...

Yippee  ...