Twins 11, Guardians 1: Opening Salvo

Big win to start road trip!!! If we can go 4-3 tgat would be great!!! Even better somehow taking 3 of 4 against Cleveland and 2-1 against Boston!!! Agreed about Buxtons catch last week! That was turning point and saved season!!!

Excellent game for the Twins. Just excellent.

I really liked seeing the offense keep piling on runs throughout the game and giving Ober more and more cushion. When your opponent is drowning, don't throw them a life preserver, throw them a bloody anchor. And that includes adding runs against the position player they tossed out there to save the bullpen. I don't care if he's throwing BP velocity, the runs still count. Give them all the misery you can. This ain't Little League!

Ober was excellent. Scattered the hits, few of which were hit hard. Nice and efficient with easy grounders and pop-ups, he had CLE off balance all night. Too bad he couldn't finish the 8th, but a great performance to start the series. He's definitely in a groove right now.

Good night for Buxton, Correa, and Jeffers three veteran hitters that the Twins need to perform, especially with Wallner and Lewis still out. They got it done. 

10 hours ago, DocBauer said:

I may be an eternal optiimist, but I'm not going to blow smoke either.

We took 2 of 3 from the Dirty Sox, but we didn't look great doing it. But the home town team seemed to be clicking much better overall against the Angels. Julien has looked much better. Correa's bat is apparently not dead yet. Larnach is getting hot again. Lee has been contributing defensively as well as offensively, even if it's in a quiet way. Is Jeffers getting hot? France is nothing special, but he's been solid.

We really miss Wallner! But Lewis should be back soon. He makes a difference. And a healthy Castro AT LEAST gives the team legitimate options besides playing DFA guys brought in to fill in.

But I do agree that the Bride who played in 2024 was actually a decent ballplayer. Considering the mess that the Marlins are, maybe we got a guy who's not a bad 13th man bench option? 

Part of me wonders if the great catches by Buxton and Bader and the SUPER debut by Keaschall haven't provided a wakeup call to everyone?

The offense isn't where it needs to be, and should be, and could be, partially due to missing pieces.

The rotation is doing its job. The pen has largely done its job despite some blow ups. This team is starting to remind me of 2023 when they started slowly, got to .500, but didn't CROSS THE LINE until after the All Star break where the offense suddenly matched the staff. Part of that surge was Lewis, Wallner, and Julien. Well. Lewis is back soon, Wallner by the end of May, Julien is much better, and Keaschall back by July? Maybe Rodriguez gets in a groove and helps as well?

The staff has to carry the load, but they can if the offense actually maintains decent production until everyone is back. They have a winning record when they score 4 or more runs. That's not a large benchmark to overcome. 

I'd be extatict if they could come home with a 4-3 record on this road trip. Its only ONE win, but it's a start.

Optimism is a good thing and I think yours is pragmatic.  I'm with ya!

4 hours ago, UK Twin said:

Only 2 K's for Ober but who cares! Very efficient start and another game where only one bullpen arm was used. I actually like the fact that Lopez now slots between Paddack and SWR in the rotation - Lopez will go 6+ virtually every start so bullpen won't have to pitch 4 innings in back to back games.

Twins now have a positive run differential (only the Tigers join them in the AL Central with that stat) and their expected record is 15-14. Clearly things are looking up - loving that hits are coming from everyone not just a few players.

Correa looks like he's figured things out at the plate and France looks a steal right now. On pace for over 90 RBI's. If he keeps driving in runs at that pace that $1mill deal is incredible value. If I'm being picky would like a little more power but I'm loving his approach at the plate.

You took the words out of my mouth. Ober only 2 Ks! I'll take the outs any way that you can, if you have the defense behind you.

Many fans were calling for Falvey to do his fire sale. But IMO, our core of Correa. Buxton, Lopez & Lewis is hard to beat. If we get rid of them, what will the next core leadership look like? Jenkins? IMO, it doesn't look that great as far as leadership goes.

Tigers are clearly the team to beat. Correa always starts slow but it seemed that a lot of good Twins' hitters including Correa had their swing screwed up to begin the season. Now that Correa has his swing back, the team can rally behind him. Buxton was mainly holding up the team, now Correa, soon Lewis & hopefully Miranda can get his swing back sooner the better. Hopefully the Twins can get the running game going & improve the INF defense to win the close games. We got the core to compete but do we have the management to get it done?

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Anybody hear anything about Wallner or Castro’s health? I assume Lewis will be back by 5/5/25?

Read the comments on page 1.

4 hours ago, Karbo said:

I guess this team just doesn't play well in bad or cold weather.

If this is true it doesn't bode well for playoff ball.

wins just don't make me a Rocco guy!!!!

14 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

I'm guessing we won't be seeing Sewald for quite a while. Inflammation is probably only one of his symptoms right now.

There has to be something to a guy like Bride, fighting for an actual career, shocking the system a bit. If the DFA guy can hit, why can't we?

This is setting up too well, I'm suspicious.

While very much a Rocco critic credit where credit is due. Ober is clearly a testament to the Twins development program and Bride gives the coaching staff credit for a hands adjustment that has turned 4-40 into a rope strokin' machine. Question. It's been said the Twins cannot beat a good team. Does that mean Cleveland is not a good team, or that they can, in fact, beat a quality opponent?

Ride the wave. Go Twins!