MIN 4, DET 2: It’s All Coming Up Rosie

It's a great win for the Twins, especially after the overrule nonsense on Kepler's scoring play. I can't guess how they overturn that play. It's supposed be incontrovertible proof of a mistake, isn't it? That was laughable only because the Twins won.

Tomorrow, it's Lynn. Hold on to your hats boys and girls.

I thought replay was going to resolve controversial calls. . I am NOT comparing Rosario to Oliva, with the exception that neither ever saw a pitch that they considered unhittable.

I do feel that he was out, but with the replay views shown I have no idea how they overturned the call on the field.  Nothing was definitive enough in my view.

I also think he was out - based on watching the play live it seemed the ball beat him there and perhaps he got swiped before his back leg came down. But I also agree with you that the call should not have been overturned.

You couldn't see on the replay when exactly his back leg touched the plate. Essentially his leg was over the plate and the replay officials decided to make a guess and just assume his leg wasn't touching the plate at the time. Seems crazy to overturn a call based on an assumption, rather than video proof.

I'd love to see a 7-run outburst tonight. Let's see some spark from the offense.

Kepler was totally safe, not sure what they saw there

I don't think he was "totally safe" but I also don't think there was enough evidence there for them to overturn the initial call. That should've been a prime example of the call "standing" rather than being confirmed or overturned

Berrios being really good again is the story here for me. They need it.

I agree Mike. 

Great for Jose to go 8 and get the win! 

Bullpen nice and rested (except for Rodney) for Lynn's likely 3.1 inning outing tonight.  

Berrios being really good again is the story here for me. They need it.

Now that he's not tipping his pitches, he's doing fine. And I really liked the bats coming through at the right moments. But a laugher in our favor would be nice.

I know it is a fairly small sample size, but Kepler's splits are the opposite of what they were last season. 

Left
 .333  /  .396   / .690  / 1.086

Right 

.218  / .312  /  .382  / 0.694

That to me is an incredible flip-flop.

Twins need to extend Escobar and start thinking about a long term deal for Rosario.  Imagine where this team would be without those two.

Lynn won't be replaced by Slegers or Gonsalves. Slegers is a depth starter and they don't want to rush Gonslaves/start his clock.

 

Lynn has until May or Santana is ready. That gives him a few starts at least, maybe up to 3-4 if the Twins want to baby May (not crazy coming off surgery). Hopefully this lights a fire, it makes no sense that he's been this bad.

Lynn was almost equally as bad last year, 4.82 FIP vs. 5.35 this year. He's just not getting lucky like he did last year.

This is why there wasn't much interest in him around the league.

It's not just 8 starts. He's been bad since the surgery, he just got really lucky last year.

It seems to me that the Twins do not play the "don't want to start his clock" game as much as some other teams do. For that matter, seeing how few guys really live up to their potential, it seems like a fool's errand using that criteria in trying to decide which guys to hold back, and which to promote.

One more thing.

Nobody mentions this, but it seems to me that with catchers no longer allowed to block home plate, runners should approach home the way they run to first. No slide. Nobody mentions this, but most of these close plays would not be close at all if the runner ran through the base.

At the same time, sliding is ingrained in the runner's mind and actions, I imagine it is pretty hard to break the habit.

Lynn was almost equally as bad last year, 4.82 FIP vs. 5.35 this year. He's just not getting lucky like he did last year.
This is why there wasn't much interest in him around the league.
It's not just 8 starts. He's been bad since the surgery, he just got really lucky last year.

This.

Once you look beyond his ERA last season it's apparent he isn't the same guy prior to the surgery. 

I agree it's good to re-think strategies, but this picture suggests to me that Kepler's a larger and (more importantly) higher target to swipe at if he doesn't slide.

That is a good point, but I wonder: - It could be that if he doesn't slide, the swipe tag misses him because he's going faster than the catcher can swipe. Kepler possibly could have stayed on his feet and brushed past McCann there.

I've seen many plays at home where sliding was the wrong option. Not that I would have been able to suppress the instinct to slide - but running through is always faster...