Make it Official! Twins 5, Mariners 1: Buck Truck Departs Again

Buxton and Lopez displayed energetic leadership. Lively, inspirational, really uplifting. Loved every second.

(Oh...there's a hidden message in the above paragraph.)

When I read the headline of the recap, I was afraid Buck got hurt again.

Nice of the Twins to record their 5,000th win on Harmon Killebrew's birthday (he would have been 88). Go Twins!

Nice win Twins.  Let's take the series with a win Su n day.  Go Twins!

Excellent win. Seattle is a good team, especially their pitching. 

Overall a good outing from Pablo, and hopefully he's getting back to form. The dingers are a little concerning, but the solo shots won't sink you (see Ryan, Joe). Alcala is a nice add to the back end of the 'pen, so if we can get Stewart back soon and Duran's issues sorted we'll be in good shape there, especially with Jax being so dominant.

Uncharacteristic struggles from Castro; no one likes to see the Golden Sombrero, but he's been so good this season you have to allow for the occasional stinker. And with Buxton on a heater right now and Carlos Santana refusing to change his Evil Ways the offense came through nicely. 

Winning the series on sunday would be an excellent way to wrap up the road trip!

Both Buxton and Correa are on fire. Then we've got Miranda and Lewis looking like Mainstays in the lineup for a lot of years. Alcala hitting 101 mph was cool, but even more impressive is how well he's pitched. If Duran can figure things out and we get Stewart back we'll have a solid bullpen. I still say we need a solid high leverage lefty at the deadline. Theilbar can go... Still think Farmer should be DFAd and Brooks Lee called up to man second base.

Coming into '24 season, SEA & MN matched up pretty closely. SEA may have had a better rotation, but RPs, defense, the "all or nothing" approach & dumping their biggest SO hitters are the same. Like MN, the league had the book against SEA. IMO MN has responded well to adapt & SEA has not, this area we need to capitalize more. SEA has been winning their games with pitching & defense & their offense has sucked. When SEA dumps their hitting approach they'll be a great force to deal with. If not HOU may catch them.

It's nice to win these blowout games but we'll need to find out how to win the close ones. Buxton has figured out that it's best to empty your head with analytics & go with how you feel & the flow. See ball/ hit ball.

It took three ABs for Seattle to finally decide it's a bad idea to throw Buck fastballs. I also can't believe Rocco sat Buck on Saturday. I'd have given in to temptation and let it ride (I know he needs regular rest). Regular season baseball can be funny. 

The Twins only have one more year before Alcalá becomes a UFA in his age 30 season. It's looking like we could get about 1.5 years of a back end reliever before he departs. That's if you don't include the 75 games of pretty decent middle relief in 2021-22 before his run of injuries started. He's pitching as well as Pressly was before we traded 1.5 years of him for Celestino and Alcalá. Celestino didn't provide anything. Alcalá could make it a much delayed wash. To bad it took them (the Twins and Alcalá) so long to get him going. I'm guessing they don't sign him to an extension. Yes the Twins could've used the Pressly Houston developed him into for those 1.5 years.

They've got 3 more years of Jax, UFA at 33 and 3 more years of Duran UFA at 30. Considering this makes an extension for Alcalá, or really any of them, even more unlikely.

2 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Buxton an All-Star? He doesn't have enough plate appearances to qualify, but his OPS would rate third among AL center fielders, behind Judge and Bleday. He isn't far behind Bleday (.760 for Buck, .774 for Bleday).

Not too many CFs hitting this season. Judge is in a different class, but Buck should start getting his reputation back. (Bleday isn't a great defender out there, but he can hit in a year when few guys can. Oakland actually has more than one not-terrible pick this year for their token all-star, maybe?)

The lineup is producing like most of us thought it could at the start of the season, albeit with some different characters in the cast. But it's awfully nice to have Correa and Buxton leading the way

3 hours ago, LambchoP said:

Both Buxton and Correa are on fire. Then we've got Miranda and Lewis looking like Mainstays in the lineup for a lot of years. Alcala hitting 101 mph was cool, but even more impressive is how well he's pitched. If Duran can figure things out and we get Stewart back we'll have a solid bullpen. I still say we need a solid high leverage lefty at the deadline. Theilbar can go... Still think Farmer should be DFAd and Brooks Lee called up to man second base.

100% with you on each of your comments.

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

The lineup is producing like most of us thought it could at the start of the season, albeit with some different characters in the cast. But it's awfully nice to have Correa and Buxton leading the way

At the beginning of the year if you would have told me that at mid-season Julien and Wallner would be in the minors, Duran's effectiveness would be diminished and Pablo would have an era about 5.00, I would have thought the season must be sunk. Also, I think Rocco is having his best season so far.

Learn how to win those one-run games before we head into any post season play. Relieve that sinking feeling.