SEA 9, MIN 6: Bullpen, Errors Spoil Buxton’s Dramatic Homer

With a shaky bullpen you don't want to give away free runs because of errors.  5 errors in a games is extreme.  Sano is the one who worries me.  He just had a bad error in Boston and now this.  Plus he strikes out a lot offensively.  He needs a reset.

Just like hitters miss the ball when they don't keep their head on it and look away too soon. Just like football receivers look down field just before the ball gets there and miss the pass. Just like Buxton dropped one earlier in the year ...... unfortunate, but not a deal breaker at all. Throwing a ball with no chance of success .... those are the errors that I hate.

I was watching the game on mute with the fam and after watching the replay I commented that they might give Cron an error on the throw. Nothing about that was Garver's fault.

Even on the replay, the runner is safe if Garver had caught that cleanly. There is nothing he could have done with that throw to make an out.

That play is on Cron, not on Garver.

To read here that they charged Garver with an error is really surprising.

I may as well just prepare myself for the let down now.

History tells me this team isn’t going to do enough to fix this terrible bullpen (they’ll make some half-a&@ moves for expiring deals). If that is the case, this team isn’t even getting a whiff of the ALCS.

A lot of people are giving the bullpen a pass. But, it doesn’t take Keith Law to see that this unit was hanging by a thread thus far. That thread snapped against Milwaukee a couple weeks ago, and it’s in full-blown free fall at this point.

I may as well just prepare myself for the let down now.

History tells me this team isn’t going to do enough to fix this terrible bullpen (they’ll make some half-a&@ moves for expiring deals). If that is the case, this team isn’t even getting a whiff of the ALCS.

A lot of people are giving the bullpen a pass. But, it doesn’t take Keith Law to see that this unit was hanging by a thread thus far. That thread snapped against Milwaukee a couple weeks ago, and it’s in full-blown free fall at this point.

I disagree completely, or rather, a fair amount.   No, I am not happy with the makeup of the bullpen  and hope they improve but games are won in a variety of games and that includes playoff games.     How many times over the years have I heard that starting pitching needed to be great and power was absolutely essential and then see the Royals get to two WS with a lower level rotation and the very bottom of the league in home runs.    1987 Twins had a horrible bull pen.   Go look it up.    Buerenguer was at a 3.99 ERA and everyone else was 4.48 or higher and in some cases much higher but in the short series playoffs Schatzeder, Frazier and Niekro came up huge.     I can easily imagine a playoff where Odorizzi and Berios each pitch 7 good innings and Rogers, May, and Harper cleaning up and then a day of rest.   I can also imagine, Duffey, Magill or Pineda having a good week or some one else stepping up.      Getting ahead of ourselves though.    The number one factor in succeeding in the playoffs is to actually make the playoffs.    Lets win today. 

The math can be right, when using averages.

10 guys, each have 8 different partners. Average: 8.

10 women, 9 with 3 different partners, 1 with 13. Average: 4.

And the Twins pen can be worse than other contenders, and getting worser, despite being covered up by good fortune, great starting pitching, and historical offense.

In an equal population where are all the extra partners coming from for the men?    If there are 8 men and eight women it is possible for each man to have 8 different female partners but not if each of the women have only 4 different male partners no matter how it is distributed.     In a population of 100 men and 100 women it is not possible for men to be with women 800 times (100X8 on average)  while women have been with men only 400 times on average.    Every time a man has been with a woman a woman has also been with a man...

.

Yes, the Twin pen can be worse than other contenders and getting worse.    It can still get covered up by good starting pitching, offense and good fortune and at this point doesn't need a 70% win percentage.    It has been a weakness but far from a fatal weakness.    3 or 4 years ago Perkins and Jepsen blew about 5 games in two weeks and the team never recovered.    The pen this year has blown several games but has contributed greatly to quite a few wins also.    Overall, I am not at all unhappy with the performance of the pen thus far.   I wasn't expecting lights out and they have done enough to preserve enough wins to keep me happy.   Yes, I want a couple better pitchers to increase the odds of continuing to feel that way.     Go talk to the fans of the teams that have blown 12 games so far.    I do fear they are getting worse but a lot of my fear has to do with Rogers.   I don't know how serious that is.

Is this the panic people keep predicting?

The Twins have a .500 record post-Astudillo, btw.

In an equal population where are all the extra partners coming from for the men? If there are 8 men and eight women it is possible for each man to have 8 different female partners but not if each of the women have only 4 different male partners no matter how it is distributed. In a population of 100 men and 100 women it is not possible for men to be with women 800 times (100X8 on average) while women have been with men only 400 times on average. Every time a man has been with a woman a woman has also been with a man...

.

Yes, the Twin pen can be worse than other contenders and getting worse. It can still get covered up by good starting pitching, offense and good fortune and at this point doesn't need a 70% win percentage. It has been a weakness but far from a fatal weakness. 3 or 4 years ago Perkins and Jepsen blew about 5 games in two weeks and the team never recovered. The pen this year has blown several games but has contributed greatly to quite a few wins also. Overall, I am not at all unhappy with the performance of the pen thus far. I wasn't expecting lights out and they have done enough to preserve enough wins to keep me happy. Yes, I want a couple better pitchers to increase the odds of continuing to feel that way. Go talk to the fans of the teams that have blown 12 games so far. I do fear they are getting worse but a lot of my fear has to do with Rogers. I don't know how serious that is.

I don't know how to break this to you, but man + woman isn't the only possible combination of partnership.

I don't know how to break this to you, but man + woman isn't the only possible combination of partnership.

So many possible jokes to respond.    I tried to make it clear that the men were asked how many different females they were with and the women were asked how many guys they were with.     Otherwise, transgender, same gender, animal, corpse, robotic and alien encounters could  affect the result.   I suppose the definition of sex could affect the results but I suspect the answer is that men tend to inflate their numbers and women tend to be more conservative in their answers.    Either that or the polling methodology was flawed.     Maybe they shouldn't have asked all the drunk guys in front of the frat house and fewer women of the Temperance and Abstinence League.

So many possible jokes to respond. I tried to make it clear that the men were asked how many different females they were with and the women were asked how many guys they were with. Otherwise, transgender, same gender, animal, corpse, robotic and alien encounters could affect the result. I suppose the definition of sex could affect the results but I suspect the answer is that men tend to inflate their numbers and women tend to be more conservative in their answers. Either that or the polling methodology was flawed. Maybe they shouldn't have asked all the drunk guys in front of the frat house and fewer women of the Temperance and Abstinence League.

Sorry, missed that qualifier then.

I'd guess you are correct then. Men tend to inflate their actual achievements.