Mets 3, Twins 2: A Fun Night, a Tough Loss

Solid enough start for Prielipp, which is nice to see. Tough to not be able to get through 5, though. Can't blame Twins management for pulling him; MLB debut probably isn't the right time to have someone throw 100 pitches for the first time in their pro career? Finishing off MLB hitters is harder than the minors by a lot and it's something Prielipp needs to work on. Too many 8 pitch AB's. But he's got the stuff to get there, and Twins should feel ok about him filling in for Abel. I liked seeing him finish 13-17 on first pitch strikes.

Offense needs to do better; not enough baserunners last night, and not enough hitting when we had runners on. Keaschall is definitely scrabbling. Buxton, Martin, and Bell (maybe Larnach; he's been great but hasn't gotten to play a lot) are the only guys you can really count on right now and that's not enough.

2 hours ago, Old Twins Hat said:

Lewis looked awful last night, on offense and defense.

But, what really chaps my ass is that he gets a bloop hit and he's all smiles and jokes and doing fancy hand-slapping at first base with the coach to the extent that there is no way for him to even think about stealing 2nd base on the first two pitches.

Then on the Buxton homer, you see him in the dugout hugging and jumping up and down.  It's the 6th tinning!  And he has two more strikeouts yet to come, and some more lousy defense to play.

What is he so over-joyed about?  

Can't Sheltie tell him to keep a lid on until we at least win the game?

It is really weird to be angry that Royce Lewis enjoys playing baseball.

3 hours ago, karcherd said:

A tough loss again, but it is going to be hard to get consistency from the bullpen.  And we gave them no margin for error by missing opportunities on offense.

A few thoughts on the young guys that everyone is down.  

Royce Lewis is just at 1,000 AB's right now, so per TK's motto, he needs to start figuring it out.  We need to give him this year and see if he is a part of the future.  He has just over 200 games at 3B, let's see if he can improve his fielding.  Not everyone comes up a finished product.  He was looking like his swing was getting better before he went on the IL, let's see if he can get back to that point.

Keaschall doesn't even have 300 AB's. play him and develop him.  Help him improve his defense at 2B, but leave him there or put him at another position but don't move him around.

I don't know what to say about Wallner.  He is just under 1,000 AB's and needs to figure it out.  I think they have to make a decision either ride with him or bring ERod or Roden up when healthy to replace him.  But if he is sent to St. Paul at this point you basically have to write him off.  He is not a young prospect anymore, make a decision either he is part of the core or he is not.  I still think there is something there but they need more talent to produce.  

They need to play Brooks or bring up Culpepper.  I am disappointed because I thought Lee would have more success but he does not appear to be the long term answer but it hasn't even been a full season for him at short.  I understand the doubt of whether he will actually figure it out.

But there are no options.  This team is not going to contend as currently constructed.  Giving regular playing time to players like Gray, Clemens, Kreidler is not going to be the answer and will not result in any additional wins that will turn us into a contender.  They need to figure out who is the core of the team and if this coaching staff can develop them, so we have glimmers of hope for the future.  But I don't want to see any more of these AAAA or 30 somethings with nothing to add being run out there.  That is boring baseball and gives us no hope.

 

Yeah play them, winning games is not important.

Gray, Clemens and Kreidler gave/give a better/good defense, that the wonder boys do not.

The same rhetoric you are spewing has been said about all the failed rookies for the past five years.  I will say bringing up a rookie for Right Field could not look any worse than leaving Wallner there.

If the fans want to the up coming gents in AAA, go to the St. Paul games, although, they lose there more often than the Twins do; fans do not want to see them get destroyed by Big League pitching.

Time to eliminate the failed youth or sit them.

Both Lee and Wallner are close to automatic outs at the plate lately. Lewis doesn't look good either. I think Wallner and Lee could use a week or two in AAA. See what Roden and a new SS can do. If they want to wait on K Pepper, bring up Arcia. Isn't that why they signed him?

Keaschall has been the worst regular hitter on the team by a pretty big margin but people are too focused on their same old complaints to notice. He should be batting 9th in the lineup.

I'm bullish on Priellep. Yes, I know the concerns over injury but who cares - I'll be optimistic. His stuff is elite. 

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

It is really weird to be angry that Royce Lewis enjoys playing baseball.

Yeah, I'm not understanding why Lewis' enthusiasm would upset anyone. If anything, I give him credit - he's been through quite the s*** storm with injuries and everything else - takes a strong person to keep smiling through all of that.

43 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Rojas looks a long way from being a consistent contributor. Prielipp might be there or is close. Too many non-competitive pitches from both and if Prielipp wants to stay in the rotation, he needs to almost always go 5 and occasionally 6 or more innings. He’ll need to cut down on his number of pitches 

Rojas will be on the train to St. Paul when Funderburk is back on Friday

32 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

It was not even recorded as a possible attempt for any fielder in the game by Baseball Savant. It was so far out of the realm of possibility it's not even in consideration for the potential a fielder could have made a play on it.

I really don't care what baseball savant said. If BS says that play was out of the realm of possibility then there are some bugs in the system. I saw a ball that landed a short distance in front of a slow footed outfielder who was pulling up to make sure the ball didn't bounce by him.