Twins 2, Pirates 1: Minnesota Conquers Paul Skenes

False hope? Lame?

I must have been enjoying the wrong game.

4 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

False hope? Lame?

I must have been enjoying the wrong game.

Thanks. Me too. 

🤣😂🤣  This ad actually popped up on TD the same night as they wore those godforsaken blue pajamas! 🤣😂😅

Again, good pitching, good defense & clutch hitting against the best SP in baseball now. Skubal also lost, so everything is good.

Pulling Skenes after 5 innings is just proof that Pittsburgh is tanking.

Nice win, but Skenes deserves to be pitching for a better team. He's about as hard luck as they come. 

Is Correa going on the IL? He'd be eligible to return for the Dodgers series and would only miss 5 games.

Per Dan Hayes:

Carlos Correa is walking around without any assistance. Said he’s fine. Wants to play Saturday, but #MNTwins will hold him out for precautionary reasons. Aiming for a late pinch hit or playing Sunday.

Nice win against a very poor pirates team.  The pitching match up was great but a bit of a letdown as they each only lasted 5 innings.  Great crowd 40,100.  Twins will sweep pirates then after all star break will sweep Rockies to make everyone temporarily happy.

9 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Best SP matchup at Target Field in God knows when, and they pitched a combined 10 innings. Pretty lame to be honest 

Against the two of the worst hitting teams even.

I think the NBA and NFL have warped people's ideas about what you should do with a season. It's much easier to do a quick turnaround in either sport than is likely/possible in baseball, which should disincentivize tanking. Beyond that, baseball margins are close enough (and anything can happen in a short series) that any time you have a chance to get in the playoffs, you should take it. Looking at the bust rate of prospects even in very smart and talented front offices and the challenges in surround great talent with enough support (when you're not one of the super high payroll teams, at least) only reinforces the idea that you should try and compete if you can make the damn playoffs.

All of this is to say, I'm enjoying seeing the team win. I hope they keep it up, no matter who the opposition is, and would much rather have the team keep winning and push for a playoff berth than quit on the season and have a fire sale.

Skenes is pretty awesome. Beating him was great. Larnach is a real threat against RHP.

Hope Correa is ok. Sounds like it isn't too serious, but it makes you nervous.

The twins did just enough to win the game ...

They beat a good pitcher ...

Ofense and defense  , Game ball larnach , 2 run homer and kiersey Jr for throwing out a possible tying run at second base ...

39 minutes ago, William K Johnson said:

If it were not for Wallner's great defense in right field, it would be hard to justify him in the lineup.

Your kidding , right  ....

Kiersey Jr  came in for defense letee in the game and played right field and saved a possible tying run by throwing him out at second base  ...

What game were you watching ???

29 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Hope Correa is ok. Sounds like it isn't too serious, but it makes you nervous.

No disrespect to Correa,  but it makes you wonder how MLB has changed over the years.

Cal Ripken...also a shortstop...played in
2,632 consecutive games from 1982–1998.

That’s every single game for 16 straight seasons.

Guess he was a freak of nature. 

But yes, I hope C4 is back on the field soon.
 

1 minute ago, Sjoski said:

No disrespect to Correa,  but it makes you wonder how MLB has changed over the years.

Cal Ripken...also a shortstop...played in
2,632 consecutive games from 1982–1998.

That’s every single game for 16 straight seasons.

Guess he was a freak of nature. 

But yes, I hope C4 is back on the field soon.
 

 

Yes, Cal was a freak of nature. I'm sorry, but this is seriously weird. Gehrig & Ripken's streaks are both massive outliers in MLB history. 3rd place is Everett Scott (ever heard of him? I presume not) which ended in 1925 at 1307. When only 2 guys in history have ever cleared 2000 consecutive games and both are more than 50% higher than 3rd place, I think it's safe to say that neither record has anything to do with "MLB having changed".

While one of the best abilities is still availability (tm Tony Kornheiser) you're missing a lot if you only judge durability based on consecutive games played. And comping anyone's durability to Ripken's is kind of meaningless. It's like ripping a guy who hits 30 hrs for not hitting 70.

25 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

It's like ripping a guy who hits 30 hrs for not hitting 70

Wasn't ripping anyone,  just pointing out how outer worldly Ripken was.

I do think the mlb mindset has changed over the years. Players are seeing themselves as commodities. They do anything to protect themselves.  I'd do the same. 

But we're off topic now, so, I'll stop. 

Was that a curveball that Larnach hit out of the park? That's nice to see, he normally has trouble with the off-speed stuff. 

I know it was Paul Skenes, but this Twins offense is absolutely abysmal. They couldn't do anything against the mop-up guy Mlodzinski and his 5.00 ERA. 

If the Twins sweep the Pirates they'll be .500 at the break. They are much worse than that record would indicate. I wish things were different but that's the truth of it. 

Royce Lewis could be the biggest disappointment in MLB this season. He's a shell of his former self. 

Was there any comment on the Willi Castro play?  Like he just fell down and decided not to run?

Typical Twins. Start off horrible then go on a win streak to get our hopes up, then fall apart for a month. Then, before the all star break and trade deadline they go on a bit of a run, preventing ownership from selling off expiring contracts and making moves like they should. I expect very little to be done just like last year. They'll claim we have enough talent coming back from injury to be a playoff team. Then after the break we'll have another horrible month, knocking us out of the wildcard race once again....definition of insanity anyone?

25 minutes ago, lukeduke1980 said:

Was there any comment on the Willi Castro play?  Like he just fell down and decided not to run?

Also very curious about this. I thought he might have been hurt but no, he was fine. He's had a few weird mental mistakes like this during the season. Like that one play at 2nd base where he got the out but for no reason didn't throw to first base to get the double play. There needs to be some kind of consequences for these types of screw ups. He's a veteran, not a rookie....

I was at the game, and watching, and I still have no idea what was going on for the Castro play. It was like he just decided not to try. I was baffled. So was everyone sitting around me. We should have had two runners on with no outs (and then a three run HR as well). 

I would have gone the Billy Martin route with both Willy and Wally.  Take 'em out of the game immediately, and publically.  Those were embarrassing plays, and embarrassment would be a proper solution.

But, I'm old school, so there's that.

1 hour ago, lukeduke1980 said:

Was there any comment on the Willi Castro play?  Like he just fell down and decided not to run?

I had the Pirates radio on while out on a walk, they were giving it to him and Wally both.  Pirate announcer, "Castro's not running!  What a buffoon!"   I mean, it's fair that he stumbled out of the box, that stuff happens.  But the play's right in front of you, and you can see your teammate busting his @$$ getting to second, and you STILL jog down the line?  Fuggetaboutit.

2 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

TC won't sweep Rockies.  2 out of 3 losses.  What's it gonna take to WAKE UP SMELL THE FKIN COFFEE 

A central division victory  ...

Little harsh on whitey333 , he's one of us that knows the twins are not a well run or organized club ...