Twins 6, Rays 5: Arraez Slam Leads Twins over Rays

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

I don't know how long Luis Arraez can keep this up, but it's pretty darn amazing.  I will readily admit I wasn't a big fan due to the lack of power. I thought it'd catch up to him, he'd stop drawing walks, and it'd be tough to have any value.

I hope to continue being way wrong. He's just hard to keep off 1st base.

Two years Rod Carew went against type and had double digit home runs; two of his best years, if only Arraez had stealing capability like Carew, Oliva and Tovar, he would be the direct successor to thier place in history.

Keep Sweet Luis at First Base all season to save those knees. When he gets a day off, either rest him or DH him, depending how his knees feel. He will win a batting title. 

Farewell to Chi Chi, we barely knew yea, except by your inflated ERA. The Twinkies have very modest requirements for their starting pitchers, beginning with, don't give up three runs in the first couple innings. The team appears to have a better bet with other arms on the roster or emerging from St Paul. So it goes.

Meanwhile, good win for the "B team" of position players. Good plate discipline to draw a couple walks before Arraez walked up. Yes, he can hit for distance. Normally he does not, because he's so good at advancing runners, and swinging for homers would lower his average drastically. Arraez is more valuable than a typical power hitter for a couple reasons. First, he can very quickly dispel the notion that the opposing pitcher has "unhittable stuff." Second, he shows the rest of the team how to work counts, draw walks, and induce pitches down the middle. 

Today we saw the ultimate example of the result of plate discipline. Two walks to load up the bases, pitcher opening up his chest too soon, balls sailing arm-side. After six straight balls, he could not afford to walk in a run, so at 2-0, Arraez knew he could load up and sit on something pretty much right down the middle. 

Boom, there it is.

Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds were the last pair of teammates to finish 1-2 in the MVP voting race. Will Buxton/Arraez be next?

The Twins continue to eek out these close games and win ballgames they seemingly have no business winning. Example: Chi-Chi Gonzalez on the mound twice in the past week against the Jays & Rays respectively, won both games. Just crazy stuff. Look at this rotation! And the bullpen! How are the winning these games?!?!

Cole Sands for 4 innings today, Duffey for 2? With Buxton and Correa back in the lineup, it could be a very high scoring game on both sides.

Yeah yeah yeah Rocco, you won without Buxton and Correa, yup, you're a genius. 

But how bout those kids who's parents bought them tickets to see their heroes sit on the bench? Way to grow the game.

DFA Gonzales is no problem.  Maybe DFA Rocco.  Yes the Twins won again in spite of him.  My contention has been if he would actually be a manager the team could be a lot further ahead in the standings.  His "decision" to rest both Buxton and Correa on the same day, in front of a home crowd is pure foolishness.  The fact they won is a stroke more of luck than managing.  Listening to Rocco's explanation for resting both on the same day is more proof of his poor management skills.  By saying and implying he doesn't know how to handle it when those two happen to have scheduled days off on the same day is further proof he is inflexible and about the poorest in game manager in the majors.  It's cost the team plenty of games already and will in the future.  Not sure why they call him manager when he should be called computer analyst.  Had the Twins lost yesterday all of the anti Rocco people would have been rightfully blasting him.  To not know how to fix days off, how to not know how to fix the lineup so that doesn't happen is inexcusable.  To not have your best players in the lineup, especially at home and especially when one of them has been mashing home runs is befuddling.  

12 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

DFA Gonzales is no problem.  Maybe DFA Rocco.  Yes the Twins won again in spite of him.  My contention has been if he would actually be a manager the team could be a lot further ahead in the standings.  His "decision" to rest both Buxton and Correa on the same day, in front of a home crowd is pure foolishness.  The fact they won is a stroke more of luck than managing.  Listening to Rocco's explanation for resting both on the same day is more proof of his poor management skills.  By saying and implying he doesn't know how to handle it when those two happen to have scheduled days off on the same day is further proof he is inflexible and about the poorest in game manager in the majors.  It's cost the team plenty of games already and will in the future.  Not sure why they call him manager when he should be called computer analyst.  Had the Twins lost yesterday all of the anti Rocco people would have been rightfully blasting him.  To not know how to fix days off, how to not know how to fix the lineup so that doesn't happen is inexcusable.  To not have your best players in the lineup, especially at home and especially when one of them has been mashing home runs is befuddling.  

I couldn't have said it better myself. Exactly!

Arraez is obviously the hero of the day, but how delightful to see Celestino continue to hit. I've been a fan of his and thought he might be the ideal 4th OF for this team going into the season, and the way he's playing it doesn't look like he's ever going back to the minors. Sure, everything is falling in for him right now but last season he looked almost completely helpless against MLB pitching and this season he looks like a MLB hitter.

The offense is starting to click like we hoped it would at the start of the season. If we can get our pitching healthy, we should have a lot more series like this: wins.

14 hours ago, tjwilliams said:

Maybe somebody else already did this, but I wanted to get some context for how crazy Luis Arraez's start has been (he's hitting 52% better than the league average), so I calculated the "batting average above average" for every batting title winner for the last 100 years. Think of it as OPS+ but just for batting average and without any park adjustments.

Prior to this year, there have been only two seasons in MLB history where a player hit 50% better than the league average: Ted Williams in 1941 (.406 BA, 156 BA+) and Ted Williams in 1957 (.388 BA, 150 BA+). Arraez is currently at a 152 BA+. The closest modern comparison (not counting the Covid-shortened season in 2020) is George Brett in 1980 (.390 BA, 147 BA+).

When you consider that pitchers still hit during Williams's time (and Fenway Park was a crazy hitters' park in 1957), it's clear that Arraez is currently having the best season for pure batting average since Ted Williams became the last player to hit .400. 

Now, the league average is likely to come up over the next four months and Arraez is unlikely to keep hitting .367, but for two months, this has been all-time great season for pure hitting.

This would fit perfectly in the Fun With Numbers thread!

13 hours ago, rwilfong86 said:

Luis Arraez will be a household name by the end of this season. 

He's a household name in my household already.

15 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I'd also like to add that Max Kepler is looking good with this new found ability to go the other way. 

Ditto.

8 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

The actual question is: why would Correa need a day off? He'd only played 3 games, one of which was at DH.

Baldelli's quote made it sound like it was a scheduled day off. 

You can't change a schedule? A schedule made long ago? 

This is the right question.  If it’s actually schedules, Buxton and Correa being scheduled for rest could have been foreseen days ago, and the plan could have been altered.  So either the Twins are making schedules for rest for both players, and then not comparing them, or they literally don’t care if both sit on the same day, which would indicate that they will adhere to a schedule as opposed to flexibility.  
 

The third option is that the Twins did indeed assume they would lose yesterday even with Buxton and/or Correa playing, so they decided before the series even began to shoot for 2-1 by trying hardest to win Friday and Saturday.  No matter what the explanation actually is, I don’t think Rocco was being particularly honest with Gleeman, as a little logic reveals the inanity of Rocco’s rambling, incoherent non-answer.

2 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

His "decision" to rest both Buxton and Correa on the same day, in front of a home crowd is pure foolishness. 

So the fans should have a say in who plays and who doesn't? Maybe the fans should be setting the batting order too. And make pitching changes, make defensive substitutions, put in pinch hitters, decide when to send the runners, etc etc etc.

15 hours ago, rwilfong86 said:

Luis Arraez will be a household name by the end of this season. 

Arreaz was a household name in 2019 ....

He took his opportunity in 2019  and proved to me he was a major leaguer  after 2 months  , his hitting  was for real ( I usually need  3 years to evaluate  what kind of player  they will be ... not arreaz , I knew he was a major league hitter right away ) ... 

Bats like gwynn and hits like carew  ...

I cringed everytime someone suggested to trade him  , maybe the non believers  will be believers now and his defense is acceptable in his utility role ( better than the white Sox defense ) ...

Arreaz ( major leaguer  ) is the twins spark plug and now with his grand slam he is arreaz ( the big leaguer ) .... Major leaguers grand slam is the highlight of the season ...

It will remain the highlight of the season  until the twins win a playoff game  ... he sparked this win with his first grand slam , and to the non believers he is a major leaguer and now a big leaguer  ...

He loves the game of baseball  and it shows , he plays big  ...

I love what he brings to the plate and admire every at bat  .... remember that at bat where he had to replace schoop  being injured with an 0-2 count and 2 outs and managed to draw a walk against mets diaz the fireballer I believe ,,, he almost sparked a win but ended up on third as the tying run to end the game ,,, What a spark he is to this lineup ... 

Major leaguer  will definitely be in the allstar game this year ,,, the fans across the country should take notice and vote him in ,,, 

He also , if his success continues  will have mvp consideration votes ...

Keep playing major leaguer and don't change a thing in the game you love ...

This is a message for twins personal if they are reading...

Resting 2 critical players ( Buxton and Correa  ) on a weekend game at home that fans pay to see is not acceptable  ,,,

Rest your players on the road ,,, baseball is losing attendance already and now your loyal twins fans could decide not to attend games because their favorite players  ( good players ) might not be in the game ....

Rest them on the road and give the fans their monies worth at home...