Twins 1, Giants 7: Listless Defense, Untimely Hitting Soils Joe Ryan's Homecoming

17 minutes ago, William K Johnson said:

Felt bad for Correa, he had outs on both sides of him.   Wisely had the game of his life.   He was like 4 for his last 40 coming in and I watched a Giants game earlier where he was just awful at second base.   Agree with earlier comment, over 162 games you will have games where the opponent plays out of their *** and your guys stink it up.    However, I still question Vasquez in the DH role.   Worst hitter on the team and could have given Carmargo some at bats.    Margot should be gone once Martin is healthy.

I get the frustration with Vazquez in the line-up with Miranda scratched……Camargo has hit .213 in St Paul since he was up with the Twins the first time though……I don’t understand the call-up choice with the All-Star break looming and the Catchers able to both rest a few days? 

RYAN really got a bad break in the first with Wallner turning a single into a triple, sets a bad tone …….but after the 1st he was his own worst enemy. For a “strike thrower” he managed to continually start guys 2-0. He was hunting the corners and continually 3” off the plate. Last, he didn’t seem to be able or willing to elevate his fastball…….Jeffers set-up high along the top of the zone at least a handful of times with Ryan throwing pitches belt high or just below…..the pitch Soler lined to left was the prototype for “middle-middle”. I guess he just lacked command last night? 

Homecoming have him too amped?

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

So often I see the line-up & scratch my head. Tonite with Margot leading off, Vazquez at DH & Miranda sitting?! Analytics is great but when you put garbage in you get garbage out. Let's reevaluate some of our priorities.

Miranda was scratched which pushed Vazquez into duty……didn’t hear but Miranda must have been sick? He was on the bench - in a heavy hoodie. Margot quite often leads-off v. LH pitching over past 2 months - pretty good rate of success over that period.

25 minutes ago, mrcharlie said:

BINGO!

Also, it pains me to watch Jeffers catch...sets a moving target, poor at blocking pitches and below average throwing out base-runners. 

Harrison has trouble with lefties so where was Kepler...who can play a very good OF?  Wallner is made for DH.

Weird Kepler didn’t start after a day off. I guess, giving Wallner a chance v. Lefty that most here clamor for……he’s not Max in the OF!

Do not disagree with Jeffers - his skills behind the plate seem to be regressing……or just getting worse….,,base skills seem to be lacking.

Miranda got scratched so, with an .810 OPS over the past 18 games, Vazquez DHed. Last 33 games for Camargo he’s hit .213 in St. Paul.

17 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

This is akin to the "Margot is hitting blah blah blah on Thursdays from June 3rd through July 2nd" line of reasoning that gets repeated herein. 

Margot is hitting .223/.297/.324 this year.

Chopping that up into carefully chosen parts to hide the truth isn't what I'd expect from a TD writer.

 

A guy brought up the question about Margot being in the lead-off spot last night - citing his stats as a lead-off hitter is somehow skewed?

That’s like saying a pitcher who gives up 2 or less runs over his past 5 games but has a 4.00 ERA after 14 games isn't pitching better now because his overall ERA is 4.00. (Ober like)

Recent performance matters whether you think so or not!

Vazquez sucks generally - certainly for the year! However, he’s had an OPS of .810 over last 18 games……got him a shot at DH last night.

Buxton was mired in mediocrity through most of the first 2 plus months of the season……he’s been on fire for 20 games…….recent events matter.

The stat that I throw around relative to Margot is .899 OPS from beginning of June through a week ago. If a guy hits .100 for a month, he can’t get back to .250 in a blink of an eye. I’m not in love with Margot in any way but fair is fair…….he was terrible……he became proficient…..,,we’ll see how long he can contribute and hang on from here.

Offense could use a couple breaks (4 balls caught at the wall in past couple games) - run scoring has been listless over past half dozen games - prior they lit it up.

Looking at OPS+ earlier………if Farmer & Margot go away at some point in August……..Team has 12 of 13 guys at 99 OPS+ or better now …..League average is 100 OPS+ ……Twins have 7 guys at 125 or above and 5 at 148 or above. (realize Lee - Wallner - Lewis are small samples and skewed a bit)

Offense should come around soon enough!