Rays 7, Twins 5: More Harrison Bader Heroics Not Enough to Overcome Bullpen's Inability to Field Position

Ryan getting snubbed is a joke.

Good series win. Twins second to the Rockies in pitcher fielding errors. 

1 hour ago, palmspringstwinsfan said:

Why not let Varland pitcher the 9th?? He only threw 9 pitches in the 8th and tomorrow is an off day. Trusting Topa in that situation was/is/and always will be a mistake. 

That's what I thought Palmsprings. Varland was a strong SP, he is one RP that I'd trust to go an extra inning. If it were Alcala, he'd be called to pitch another inning. I certainly wouldn't trust Topa for that very high leverage 10th.

Twins winning 2 out of 3 & lost a very close, hard-fighting, extra-inning game against a very good team. Is nothing to be ashamed of. I don't blame the players for this loss.

Is Travis Adams going to get the traditional day-off option to the minors?

Two out of three against Tampa is a good series.

Embarrassing fielding by Twin's pitchers.

Who do you blame in a loss that should or could of been a win ...

I agree that Jax might have a mental laspe when a runner reaches but Sloppy eighth inning of defense and sloppy defense in the 10th results in losses especially when score is close ...

Great that we won the series , even though we didn't sweep the Rays it might have been one of the most exciting series of the year , we had another chance to walk off a third in a row  ...

Can't always get what you want ...

All year the Twins have struggled on routine Little League fielding plays!

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

303 hitters have at least 100 at bats. 2 are worse than Vazquez. No amount of defense makes up for that. He's not just worse, he's a lot worse. 

Is one of them Dashawn Keirsey? No, you said 100 AB cutoff. Keirsey doesn't have 100 AB for his career yet. Hopefully he'll never get there. 

Throwing out two base stealers today was pretty huge. That isn't something that happens every game, though.

This game is like some we see throughout the season.  Had you asked us to go into the series that we won the first two games and had a chance to sweep with Joe Ryan on the mound, we would have been ecstatic with the result.  It's unfortunate the way the game turned out, but I'm going to keep my expectations in check and be happy with the weekend's result.  

As for the game, I'm happy to see that the offense got up off the mat and fought back and not roll over like we have in so many of these games this year and lose 2-1 and saddle Ryan with the hard-luck loss.  We have constantly made the point on TD in the comments and in articles that the lack of focus, fundamentals, and attention to detail will eventually haunt us.  Looks like another refresher in INF fielding practice with PFP is in order.  The Rays are fast as a team, but the Cubs aren't exactly that much slower than the Rays.  I also liked the aggressive send by Watkins for Larnach to score and Wallner attempting to steal another base.  Even though Wallner was ruled out, it's at least shows that someone wants to show initiative and recognize that station to station baserunning isn't working, whether that is just Wallner or a directive from the coaching staff.

3 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

Embarrassing fielding by Twin's pitchers.

More embarrassing is the year by Wallner.  If he wasn't 'from here' he'd be gone.  There has to be someone in AAA or AA that can make contact with a baseball?  A below average fielding corner outfielder, 27 yrs old,(almost 28) , hitting .200 isn't an MLB player.  But I know many in this forum think otherwise.

Not the biggest TK homer, but he would never play him.

2 hours ago, Baumer67 said:

All year the Twins have struggled on routine Little League fielding plays!

Couldn't believe my ears.  Rays have guys on 1st and 2nd, no outs.  They are bunting.  I think it was Perkins tonight (?) says 'the twins don't practice or have a defense for this.' ???  Bunt, no one rotates to 3rd, so Lewis to 1st.  Then no intentional walk?

I don't rip Rocco but it was so basic and irritating.

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Fun to see the writer take a chance and call out Jax - so far no one has taken on the challenge.

mike, I'm maintaining my self-imposed prohibition on making any comments about Jax. I spent two months declaring that "he just can't be counted on in the clutch." and then after a magnificent inning against Seattle that culminated with a strikeout of the otherworldly Cal Raleigh, I asked for forgiveness and declared him the Second Coming...so, mum's the word!

Justin Topa, however, is another story altogether! 

6 hours ago, Wedman13 said:

More embarrassing is the year by Wallner.  If he wasn't 'from here' he'd be gone.  There has to be someone in AAA or AA that can make contact with a baseball?  A below average fielding corner outfielder, 27 yrs old,(almost 28) , hitting .200 isn't an MLB player.  But I know many in this forum think otherwise.

Not the biggest TK homer, but he would never play him.

Batters on the team with a lower OPS than Wallner

Correa, Lee, Lewis, Vazquez, Keirsey, Jeffers, France

but, by all means, let's make Wallner the scapegoat.

Nice series against the Rays.  Cubs coming in next.  They are hot and very good.  Hope we can win at least one game.  Co

Heard Reusse on a podcast the other day.  He said the Twinks' new motto is, "whatever it takes to lose."  They always seem to find a way to p*ss away a winnable game.  

On the bright side, look who's back! 😂

Postscript:  White Sox Watch-  Surprisingly, gave one up to the ROCKIES!  So we maintain our lead!

Haw haw haw!!! 🤣😁😅😝😂

I love how the pop-up video ad on these pages is always Manuel Margot actually getting a big hit! 🤣

9 minutes ago, David HK said:

Heard Reusse on a podcast the other day.

My condolences

I'll admit, I'm always a little blown away seeing pitchers throw so poorly to 1B. There's been several really wild ones this season on what should be a routine play (not just from the bullpen, either) and every time one goes flying past 1B with basically no chance I wonder "what in the hell is going on there?" It's got to be a mental thing where they start thinking about it, rather than just effing throwing the ball, but it's the sort of mistake that really sticks out and drives you batty.

This series is one where the order of the games probably impacts our perception of the series too much; If we win game 1, lose game 2, and win game 3 to win the series, everyone probably feels pretty good about taking down a quality TB team (TB is consistently good these days, and they've been very good at retooling on the fly. they might have awful stadium issues, but their professional staff is excellent). Lose the last game when you're gunning for a sweep and it's a bit of a downer.

I didn't hate the Bader signing when the Twins made it (though I was a little nervous about the money and whether he'd get overused in LF) but it's really been a good one. The defense has been as advertised, and the flair he shows out there is a nice, fun bonus. There's been enough big hits and the homers have more than compensated for additional Ks. Pretty good in a season when we haven't actually needed the Buxton insurance.

I saw the highlights, Vazquez did a great job controlling a dangerous running game. Bader was awesome. Jax & Topa were not.

16 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I'll admit, I'm always a little blown away seeing pitchers throw so poorly to 1B. There's been several really wild ones this season on what should be a routine play (not just from the bullpen, either) and every time one goes flying past 1B with basically no chance I wonder "what in the hell is going on there?" It's got to be a mental thing where they start thinking about it, rather than just effing throwing the ball, but it's the sort of mistake that really sticks out and drives you batty.

This series is one where the order of the games probably impacts our perception of the series too much; If we win game 1, lose game 2, and win game 3 to win the series, everyone probably feels pretty good about taking down a quality TB team (TB is consistently good these days, and they've been very good at retooling on the fly. they might have awful stadium issues, but their professional staff is excellent). Lose the last game when you're gunning for a sweep and it's a bit of a downer.

I didn't hate the Bader signing when the Twins made it (though I was a little nervous about the money and whether he'd get overused in LF) but it's really been a good one. The defense has been as advertised, and the flair he shows out there is a nice, fun bonus. There's been enough big hits and the homers have more than compensated for additional Ks. Pretty good in a season when we haven't actually needed the Buxton insurance.

All good points.  Especially the first one, though-- my God, these guys are supposed to be major league baseball players, there is just no effing excuse.

Do the Twins not have PFP or something? Most of our pitchers have looked like little leaguers trying to field their positions lol. Topa should never be out there in the 9th inning. Didn't like the pen management in this one. Winnable game for sure. Too many mental mistakes.