wavedog

Oh my goodness - Jeffers tried to blow it by forgetting how to run

You get the bunt down - then Julien gets a sac fly. Team can't execute though

Ouch! Way to take one for the team.

Detroit brought their version of Jax in

You go to a meeting and come back and all hell breaks loose. Apparently not-hitting is as contagious as hitting.

Unfortunately we have soon too many games like this this season. Frustrating that we did not pick up a hitter and bullpen piece at the trade deadline. We may still win the central because all the other teams are not good.

Baez fits the Twins hitting profile - we will get him next year to replace Gallo's strikeouts

futile

An actual hit and run! and it worked - maybe encourage calling for a few more of those.

Thank you Maeda!! Cover for our offense.

Maybe Max Scherzer from 10 years ago?

Looks like we have run into Bob Gibson pitching against us again

Actually the interesting thing is the Twins are performing about as I expected this year but they are still disappointing/frustrating to watch to me. The starters have way overperformed my expectations this year (so far) - the issue I have is more with the front office. Why sign Gallo another lefty slugger this offseason when our weakness is hitting lefties and we are loaded with LH hitting sluggers had options to add a RH bat at the deadline but did not. Why not address the bullpen both this offseason and at the trade deadline? Not sure Moran and maybe Winder as well should be on this staff as regulars. They did make some good adds this offseason with Taylor but he should be a 4th OF and not starting and Castro - still a mystery why Buxton has not played one game in the field this year.

One way to look at this game - the team was unable to cooperate with each other to score runs, but 3 individuals took it upon their bats and backs to plate a run. Let's see some more cooperation with this team going forward and get some big innings.

A couple of comments - when Gray goes off the rails he sure goes off the rails - 2 big innings in last 2 starts after blowing through the order in the other innings. I would like to See Buxton put on IL and him or the team hiring a personal trainer for him - someone like Bobby Stroupe who works with Mahomes - to try to get his body in shape so he can return to playing in CF. That may shut him down for this year but that is ok - he needs to be playing in the field to maximize his value. Playing in the field and being engaged in the full game may even help his hitting.

I would seriously question or be interested to see if there was an alternate universe, if Steer would be as successful hitting if he was with the Twins or would he also be sucked into our hitting philosophy and/or our lineup malaise. Reds look like they are having fun.

I settled down for an uninterrupted afternoon of baseball - someone needs to question my decision-making. Our pitch recognition ability has to be near the bottom of the league - I saw a lot of flailing swings. Don't know if that is lack of talent or lack of study/work. I can't see running the same lineup out there in the 2nd half and expecting much better or different - lineup needs a spark and/or need a new batting coach philosophy. Not sure what Moran and Sands were throwing out there either but it got embarrassing real fast. A lot of listless baseball which I don't really want to continue to watch.

I was checking some advanced hitting stats a week or two ago and if memory serves me this club is near the bottom at both chase rate - swinging and missing at pitches out of the strike zone and swinging and missing at pitches in the strike zone. So basically a lot of swings and misses - so we have some combination of lesser talented hitters, we are hunting mistakes and swinging for the fences, poor pitch recognition and/or lack of preparation. I do see some hitters trying to take the ball the other way at times and there is a room for a mix of hitting approaches in the lineup but I think we are too heavily loaded on the swing hard approach. I am just thinking if we have a heavy detectable approach rather than mixing it up - it becomes easier to develop a pitching plan against our hitters - and then when facing a better class of pitchers in playoff games where mistakes are fewer that leads to a very limited offense.

Gray had actually gotten the first 3 hitters in the order out 1-2-3 in the 1st and 3rd innings. He had problems with hitters 4-8 in the order in innings 2 and 4. That is why I was thinking to run him out for another inning to ease the load a little bit on the bullpen. Not saying he would do the same in the 5th but those were not the hitters he was struggling with. I did not think about the 35 pitch inning in the 4th impacting that decision but Gray is a veteran and given all the factors I probably would still have run him out for the 5th at 79 pitches.

We have been complaining about the same offensive issues the past several years and nothing fundamentally changes. I think as long as we have this regime nothing will change. I would be curious to see if there would be any difference in performance if for say Bruce Bochy was manager and running the philosophy. Watching Tampa Bay play this past series was a pleasure - they seem to be able to maximize their opportunities and we are inefficient. We do not do the little things correctly and that makes a big difference. Pitching has been real nice this year but addressing some hitting topics: I think the verdict is in - the shift did not take hits away from Kepler. He is batting no better than the last couple of years Byron Buxton body is like a 70 yr old not a 30 something year old. Unless he is the amazing benjamin button probably not going to get any healthier. Can't even last as a DH only - sad to say. Change in training staff has not curtailed injuries - we still have a revolving door of injured players. Polanco hurts hamstring - comes back - aggravates hamstring again. Are we doing stretching and yoga? I don't think the injuries are coming from practicing fundamentals maybe from swinging hard and missing so much. I don't think this aggressive pinch-hitting approach this year is working - we end up running out of roster when facing the closer of the other team. Maybe makes no difference because no one is hitting. We are not taking that approach on relief pitching - we are not dropping Duran in the 6th inning to bail out of a jam.

Taylor has good value as a 4th outfielder/defensive sub and pinch runner. Unfortunately the team is not using him in that role - he has played in the most games of any position player this year. I'll say one thing for him unique to this team - he can stay healthy - well at least until we overexpose him and wear him out.

A couple of observations: Can't say this with certainty but I believe if Royce Lewis had not been called up and playing this week we would be 1-3 instead of 3-1 and not feeling quite as good. Love the spark, attitude and talent he brings to the team! Glad he did not get hurt trying to catch that pop-up - held my breath a minute. We can all point to various player stats as to player value but I am glad Castro was batting with the bases loaded in the 9th and not Gallo. Shout out to Pagan and Jax for shutting down the Guardians - especially Pagan who I have been a harsh critic of. Maybe best to stick pitching him in games we are trailing and not leading. Jax also looked very good. Can't believe Buxton can find a way to get hurt DHing only - not his fault tough to get a pitch in the ribs. Maybe we try a few more games resting Correa, Buxton and Kepler and get Wallner up here while he is hot.

Frustrating to watch bad fundamental baseball - just not playing smart. Team has been in a funk (with the exception of pitching) for the past week - I was hoping the day off would help them reset but we are returning to some of the frustrations we have seen in recent years in poor fundamental play and hitting woes. Hello Manager and coaches - please help the players! A couple of notes: Every time Jax comes in this year seems like the wheels fall of - combination of dinky hits, walks and errors lead to runs. Last night - thought he could have made a better play on Kirilloff's throw and the error should have been on him - then he walked a batter - then weird throwing error not sure if Vazquez should have thrown but the ball was there for Miranda to catch Horrible at-bats - we are swinging at balls and watching strikes and seems like we are trying to hit 6-run Home runs each time up. Really impressed with Taylor - solid defense and he takes good at-bats. He is not the best hitter but he can bunt, run and patiently take the ball the other way. I also like Kirilloff's approach at the plate. Don't know what the heck is going on with Correa but he is absolutely a black hole in the offense the past week - needs a day off. I am pretty confident he will be back to his numbers by year end. Hopefully it is not too late by the time he kicks in. His defense is still solid. Need to see more Jeffers now and maybe less Vazquez for the short-term. I would bring Farmer up and DFA Solano - seen enough of Solano's defense

There is no one I enjoyed batting more than Luis Arraez and I will certainly miss watching him play for the Twins but I like this trade. We are selling high and I do worry about Arraez durability which his knees, in addition although his defense was good at first he was playing out of position. I was kind of wondering if we would move Polanco and shift Arraez to 2nd. In any case, I like all 3 players we received in the deal. We get a starting pitcher for at least 2 years and you can never have enough pitching and while very young - like the prospects we got with some speed and plate discipline - not close to Luis Arraez plate discipline for sure but better than we are used to seeing from others here. Interested to see how many games Kiriloff will be able to start at 1B and who might share the position with him - Miranda with Farmer playing 3B when Miranda plays 1B?

Good Topic - you wrote what I have been thinking! The analytics they are looking at likely show bunting, stealing bases and baserunning are not the smart percentage play and certainly if don't practice and try to perfect them and play players with speed then that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Watching last year I do not remember seeing many hit and runs either which is one reason why we were at the top of grounding into Double Plays. I believe from my point of view their hitting philosophy is try to maximize hitting the ball the hardest each plate appearance and that will pay more dividends than doing a lot of little things (bunting, stealing, hit and run). It was very frustrating last year watching us give up outs on the bases while the opposition was doing the opposite to us on the bases. I have not seen any moves that would change that philosophy this offseason so expect more of the same next year - I hope I am wrong.