MIN 10, NYY 5: Joe Mauer Grand Slam Highlights Big Night for Bats

It's nice to see the Twins beat up on the Yankees for a change.

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

 

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

If you think of them as "audition for next year" rather than "opener" it makes more sense.

Salt in the wound for me.

 

We needed this last October, and before that, in .... 2006/09/?, God, how many years did we lose to the Yanks in the playoffs?

How the f do you post an image in here?!?!

Ah the rare Joe genuine smile at around :45 in.  Love it.

If you watch Joe at first he's quite personable.

 

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

Pitchers give up runs.  1 run in two innings to the Yankees is below average especially, according to advanced stats, in the first two innings.   Also, to be fair to Duffey, Cave misplayed that ball in the 2nd inning turning a double into a triple and thus a run vs a runner stranded on 3rd.   Not advocating the Opener but I thought Duffey pitched pretty well.

Please don't ruin Taylor Rodgers.

I wish Joe would swing like that more often. You could see he put a little more jolt into that swing. Makes me wonder if he could get his left-centerfield power alley thing going again like he did at the Metrodome. Nice one Joe.

The walks will kill you. Tough night for Kohl Stewart, who really needs to be able to pound the zone to have success. Bad timing for May to give up the dinger, but that's a tough spot to come into.

It's always nice to beat the Yankees, since it seems to happen about as often as we get to see a total eclipse......

For all the angst Mauer has given people, I was truly happy for him yesterday.  It was a cool moment.......

It's interesting that, because the Twins hit a grand slam, the Yankees had to hit one too. Of course.

 

I'm looking forward to the Twins doing a 25-0 beatdown of the Yankees someday.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Doomtints

I fully expected to see Mauer's 4 run homer sneak over the left field wall. Instead it was a 406+ ft blast to slightly right center. So now the question remains why was that only home run # 6 for the season? The answer has to be that his main goal is maintaining that .300 life time batting average, not helping the Twins win baseball games. Therefore, simply make contact and hit to the opposite field. Bryce Harper did the same thing recently when his average was heading towards the Mendoza line. I honestly believe that Mauer will do anything to keep that .300 average including retiring.

I fully expected to see Mauer's 4 run homer sneak over the left field wall. Instead it was a 406+ ft blast to slightly right center. So now the question remains why was that only home run # 6 for the season? The answer has to be that his main goal is maintaining that .300 life time batting average, not helping the Twins win baseball games. Therefore, simply make contact and hit to the opposite field. Bryce Harper did the same thing recently when his average was heading towards the Mendoza line. I honestly believe that Mauer will do anything to keep that .300 average including retiring.

so Mauer hits a grand slam and you still have to rag on the guy, attacking his character by saying all he cares about is his average? Incredible. For some on here, it doesn't matter what the guy does, they just have to take shots. Edited September 12, 2018 by jimmer

 

I fully expected to see Mauer's 4 run homer sneak over the left field wall. Instead it was a 406+ ft blast to slightly right center. So now the question remains why was that only home run # 6 for the season? The answer has to be that his main goal is maintaining that .300 life time batting average, not helping the Twins win baseball games. Therefore, simply make contact and hit to the opposite field. Bryce Harper did the same thing recently when his average was heading towards the Mendoza line. I honestly believe that Mauer will do anything to keep that .300 average including retiring.

 

I wish Joe would swing like that more often. You could see he put a little more jolt into that swing. Makes me wonder if he could get his left-centerfield power alley thing going again like he did at the Metrodome. Nice one Joe.

Over the years I have seen Joe swing hard plenty of times where he fouls the ball straight back.    It seems like when he tries to hit for power his swing goes on a different plane and he just doesn't square it up.      In this case when he says he was just trying to hit a fly ball to score the run I believe him.   In this case it was 97 mph that he hit on the screws.    Carew used to say he could hit 20 homers a year but he would bat .270 instead of .330.    I have always appreciated Joe for who he is rather than get down on him for who he is not.

Looking at the BB's it might seem like Stewart and Gonsalves have the same issues.  But I'm not sure they do.  When I look at Steward, I see a guy who has stuff, but can't get it over the plate despite trying (and doesn't get totally annihilated when he does throw it over the plate)

 

When I watch Gonsalves, I see a guy without much stuff, who tries hard not to throw it over the plate.

 

Maybe, it's just me, but I remain more optimistic on Stewart.  (Which probably means Gonsalves has a long and successful major-league career ahead of him.)

Joe's earned his place here, I'd say. When you add them all up years from now and ask who were the great ones, he'll be among the Twins top five. How much more do you want out of a guy?

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

Duffey did well in the role and allowed Stewart to begin with the 8 and 9 hitters. I think it worked the way it is supposed to last night.

 

I hate the Yankees.

What's to hate about the Yankees?  An owner that puts a competitive team on the field year after year?  Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Gregorios? 

 

What's to hate about the Yankees?  An owner that puts a competitive team on the field year after year?  Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Gregorios? 

 

You make a very good point.

 

 

But they're still the Yankees.

Please don't ruin Taylor Rodgers.

This is what I've been thinking about today after reading on this site about the great run he's been on. I think both Rogers and Hildenberger have proven to be reliable and useful bullpen pieces. Let's hope Molly can practice some restraint with them the rest of the way.

Joe's earned his place here, I'd say. When you add them all up years from now and ask who were the great ones, he'll be among the Twins top five. How much more do you want out of a guy?

Among the Twins top 5 are 4 Hall of Famers and one more who probably should be. Mauer isn’t a slam dunk Hall of Famer. Bert probably should have been. He had 11 seasons bWAR above 5. Joe has had 5. Tony O also had 5 seasons of bWAR above 5 - out of 11 seasons with more than 130 PA.

 

Joe doesn’t have a good HOF comp. a guy who was a an exceptional catcher for roughly half of his career and then a barely replacement level first baseman for the second half. If Mauer had been forced to retire 6-7 years ago, he probably would already be in the Hall of Fame. The longer he sticks around, the LESS likely he gets in IMO.