MIN 8, KC 5: Bats Break Out

Ahhhh KC our slump busters

Maybe this will be the wake-up call for Minnesota bats. 12 hits must have seemed like baseballs raining from heaven.

BTW, what's the deal with throws to first by "Z" Duke? That's the second time he's thrown the ball away on an infield play.

As I am sure some of you were able to watch the game, I am curious as to how 'bad' the throw really was.

Throw was bad enough.  In the dirt and virtually in the feet of the baserunner.  Not a chance for the 1B fielder.

12 hits, 8 runs, it's good to face the worst pitching staff in baseball. Do the Royals have anymore former Twins pitchers besides Boyer?

Two out hitting. The Twins scored 6 runs on 2-out hits.

Miguel Sano. He matters. That HR lit a fire, no doubt about it.

Win was nice but a sweep would be nicer and must at least split the next 2. Guess who is next? Still one of the worst collections of batting averages I have ever seen in a starting lineup for any team at any level. Was Sano's homer the blind squirrel rule or the beginning of a hot streak? The 3 run single by Rosario was a combination of a terrible 0-2 pitch and lapse on defense by the Royals. Can't read much into that. By mid June the prospects for this season should be pretty well defined.

Nothing wrong with a little hyperbole.

If the Twins can stop having these losing streaks, they'll be fine. They have all the pieces, but injuries keep disrupting their flow. Losing Buxton, Mauer, Sano, and even Santana, Castro and Polanco... That's a lot of key pieces. This isn't even bringing up swapping Vargas for Morrison, either.

I agree they're really not doing that bad considering they have been playing without Santana, Buxton, Sano, Mauer, and Polanco. Those guys were a huge part of their success last year. The problem is, we don't know if any of them will ever be what they were last year again. Buxton and Sano are not on a predictable trajectory. Mauer's concussion symptoms may have recurred. Castro is out for the year. Santana could come back as good as ever but that's far from guaranteed, and could take a while if he does. Polanco at least wasn't injured, but was his surge last year sustainable? Who knows.

I'm not saying they sky is falling. They're only 3.5 back, even without those guys for so long. And the pitching depth is better than I've ever seen. Rosario, Kepler, and Escobar are doing their part. If the hitters get hot like they did last year, they could play with anybody. Add a rejuvenated Santana and Berrios and sustained success from Romero and they could be really good. It's definitely not over yet.

I'm just thankful that Cleveland has struggled so far.  It would be hard to be 12 games out right now, knowing the Twins could have a long, sustained hot streak and still never catch up. But as it is, the season could get very exciting up till the very end. The Twins could finish below .500, if things break the wrong way. But what happened last year could happen again.

I guess I'm not saying anything that isn't obvious to everyone. It's just that I agree with both the person who marveled at how bad our offense has been, and the person who said we got through a lot of injuries pretty well, all things considered. I have no idea what's going to happen. And that's kind of interesting.

I'm just thankful that Cleveland has struggled so far. 

Cleveland wasn't very interesting most of last year too. It seems unlikely they would rattle off 22 wins at the end of the season two years in a row. 

But ... they could certainly do enough to win the division again.

I re-watched Buxton's ABs:

AB 1: Solid ground ball single to left

AB 2: Ground out to deep short - he may have beat the throw to 1st, but the SS went to 2nd for a force play

AB 3: Bad push-bunt to 1st base.

AB 4: Got down 0-2, battled to work a 3-2 count but struck out with men on 1st and 2nd

AB 5: Line drive to center field, hit the ball on the nose right at the guy

Not great, but not quite as hopeless as it has been. He was moving in the right direction with last night's game.

BTW, interesting that KC chose to pitch to Garver last night with a base open and Buxton on deck. I'd have walked Garver and let Buxton bat with the bases loaded if I were them.

Two solid starts by Lynn to close out the month.  Maybe he is hearing the footsteps of May and Santana getting closer....

Sano looked horrible in the first two ABs.  Then the KC staff screwed up and thru him a strike.  I'd love it if he got hot, but I'm not holding my breath.

The fact that Buxton tried to bunt was also a pleasant site.  The fact that he had the whole right side of the infield open and hit it right at the first basemen was not so pleasant...

Nice hot take with a side of hyperbole.

 

There are nine teams in the majors that have a lower team batting average than the Twins. That’s just this year. And just at the MLB level. Perhaps this is the only team you’ve ever looked at so that’s why it’s the worst collection of batting averages?

 

Let’s cool it on the relentless negativity. It’s May. The Twins are 3.5 back in the division. The sky is not falling Chicken Little.

What hyperbole? I said "worst collections... I have ever seen." Still is and I bet the 9 teams you site (how long did it take to dig that up?) don't start a team with lower averages.

What negativity? Simply said they need to win this KC series and that by mid June we will know a lot about this team. Rah ra sis boom bah gets you no where. If realism sounds negative then draw your own conclusions.

What hyperbole? I said "worst collections... I have ever seen." Still is and I bet the 9 teams you site (how long did it take to dig that up?) don't start a team with lower averages.

 

What negativity? Simply said they need to win this KC series and that by mid June we will know a lot about this team. Rah ra sis boom bah gets you no where. If realism sounds negative then draw your own conclusions.

There is a fine line between negativity and commenting honestly about poor performance

So you think that the Twins team batting average is artificially high because their dominant bench has such high batting averages compared to the starters? Bobby Wilson, Ryan LaMarre, Gregorio Petit and Robbie Grossman? C'mon.
 

The Twins batting averages (21 out of 30 this year) is the worst you've ever seen? They're not close to the worst in MLB this year. That's hyperbole. "The Twins batting average is not good" is a solid point. "The Twins batting averages are the worst I've ever seen" is hyperbole.

 

It took me 12 seconds to find ESPNs team batting averages and rank them lowest to highest. Not a difficult fact check at all. Hyperbole rarely is tough to disprove, it jumps rights out.

Relax.  No need to get angry.