NYY 8, MIN 4: It’s Over

Lots of hate for Ervin. I don't like it. Sure, he didn't pitch too great - neither did Berrios or the rest of the pen. Plenty of blame to be spread around...the offense scored 3 in the 1st, but they should have scored more. The offense only put 1 run on the board in the final 8 innings. The Twins struck out 4 times in a row and crucially let the momentum shift to the NYY. 

 

Gardener is a Twins killer. I can't remember the last time I saw the Twins get him out. Judge is a monster. The Yankees have no holes in their lineup offensively. Their bullpen is stacked with shut-down guys. They are the better team and they put a whoopin' on the Twins as most thought they would. 

 

Erv didn't lose this game for the Twins. The Yankees pitching and hitting is astronomically better than Minnesota's, and they showed that tonight. Go easy on Erv, he didn't have a complete meltdown out there...the whole staff got roughed up. 

 

If you were to ask me, Berrios is the one who really blew the game, and he did get the loss.  Twins come back to tie it, Berrios quickly gives up 3 runs including that HR to Judge which really put the nail in the coffin. 

Great season from a fun team - Erv's what got the Twins this far and he did not lose the game last night. 

Santana made it astronomically easier for the Yankee bats. Serving it up like Colon. Right in the sweet spots. That surely was visible from all TVs. The umpires call on pitch 5 to Gregorius should have been a strike out. Instead, it became a home run on the next pitch. That didn't help. (the fancy 3D tracking showed it even better. Definitely was a strike, all through the zone. A perfect pitch.)

It is important for all of us Twins fans to read Mike Berardino's article "No Surrender" especially today after our disappointing loss last night. Matt Belisle had it right when he said: "Even if you lose, if you do it right, you're a winner." The 2017 Twins are winners. Period.

What does that even mean? What exactly are the criteria for losing right? Period.

It was nice to get to the wild card game. It really was. In the day after, It is ever so clear that this club is so not built for the playoffs. Maybe all the .250 bats with high potential will become that. Surely it will not be banked on. But the pitching, starting and bullpen, is so far away from doing anything except arrive. I hope the Front Office DOES SOMETHING this off season.... and not a Belisle or Colon type. I had lamented on a thread about a week ago that it sure would be nice if Verlander was pitching for us. Somebody replied that he was.... by beating some of the teams we were trying to get distance from for the 2nd wild card. And indeed, he sort of was    

But a Verlander was nowhere to be found yesterday, and certainly wasn't pitching for us.

Thanks Tom for everything this season! I hope to read much more from you going forward.

No hate for Santana, Berrios or anyone else. If the Twins score those extra 2 runs in the first and Santana pitches even a little better and we win, is Sevarino a bum who should be raked across the coals?

On thing I've found out in all of my years as a sports fan is that my favorite teams don't get to win the championship every year...or every other year.

You just needed to be a Giants fan 2010-2014.

It means that in the grand scheme of things: "It matters not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game." I am a Twins fan for more than just the wins, as enjoyable as they may be. I think many readers at TD feel the same. 

Still interested in your take on what the actual criteria is, specifics beyond the generality. I speak for myself, without summoning a group that I haven't polled.

It took years to build the Yankees bullpen into what it is today

Betances: drafted by NYY 2006

Robertson: drafted by NYY 2006, signed as a FA by the white sox after 2014 and then traded back to NY 2017

Chad green: acquired from Detroit in a trade after the 2015 season

Kahnle: drafted by NYY in 2010, lost to the Rockies in the 2013 rule 5 draft, traded to CWS in 2015 and traded back to NY this year

Chapman: signed after 2015 season

So, through shrewd drafting and trades, this BP was 10 years in the making. Can the twins do this?

Just brainstorming, but should the Twins have gotten Robertson and Kahnle? The White Sox were apparently willing to deal early... heck, we could have probably used Frazier too... I guess the response will be that it wasn't worth it with our lack of confident SP, but Robertson and Kahnle are both controlled for 2018 too, and as we saw last night, they can help cover for SP deficiencies.

Sure! But the brain trust was so sure that there would be no need for anything except playing the year out, getting their own manager, purging the minors and scouting, and concentrate on next year. Always next year, and hope there are not mysterious bilateral or unilateral leg injuries, nobody takes a pitch and breaks their hand for the year, nobody runs into a wall, etc etc..... next year. There was literally almost nothing done to this team yet. And even though they got to the wild card game, they are not even close to having a team that can really compete once they get in the playoffs, and no attempt, as of yet, has been done in that direction.

Dozier's was to left though, it seems a little tougher to hit it out that way. A moderately hard line drive to right field goes over the fence. The whole park is ridiculous. 

Not ridiculous enough for the Twins bats to hit more than 2 out and score more than 4 runs.