insagt1

too many damn strikeouts.

Kuechel--PLEASE no more runs. Give us a legit shot at getting back in this

is anyone real unimpressed with Kuechel? I wonder if he has post season value or not?

unfortunately Twins hitters do what they often do best...k! And quickly. Gotta chip away fast before Keuchel gives up 3 more and the game is pretty much over.

so far so bad. Keuchel giving up some real hard hit balls. Down 3-0 already doesn't bode well...as O;s and Guardians are watching intently and not liking what they see. And we agree.

absolutely huge win! The kind of win you expect in post season. And the pen getting it done, clean and efficient against a real good team. Castro's game winner was a 'Vlad Sr. Special'. Vlad was known to hit HR's on pitches in the dirt. Its important to know Twins can beat the real good teams, if they want to also be a real good team. Another one this afternoon would be awesome. As the games peel off the schedule: O's lost to St.Louis so with TB losing too, they keep their 3 game lead with the big showdown 1 game away. Guardians beat the Giants, so Twins lead remains 7.5 ....but more importantly another game off the calendar as the good guys get closer and closer to the Central title. Only 17 games remain. Would be difficult to blow that big of a lead with so few games left. (Twins lead by 8 in the loss column) Of note too: It is mid September and still every team in the AL East is over .500. Quite unusual. On the 'crap-o-meter' KC has lost 101 so far; Oakland 99, and Rockies 92. Longshots to still lose 100 would be Chisox (89). To win 100--Atlanta for sure (95); O's maybe (91); TB maybe (89); Dodgers possibly (88)

so, they didn't win. I'm unhappy. Everyone check where their cats and dogs are! Still recovering from the mess that was the Buffalo Bills last night. some teams just know how to make losses hurt more than others. ok Twins...new day, new game. Get the win

To be realistic...we all have the Twins winning round one and moving on to round two. Twins haven't even won a post season GAME in......the number of games is too ugly to mention. Lets win a game...then we can dream on!

mostly, I will be unhappy! O's have a huge 4 game series with TB starting Thursday. It would be nice if they still had a 3 game lead...especially since their pitching right now is really hurting. And of course, I want the Twins to put Cleveland away ASAP and being able to beat the 2nd best team in the AL would be very neat.

I don't care how they do it, but they MUST beat the Rays. End of story.

and neither did!

Jax blew a magnificent game pitched by Pablo. I naturally want Twins to beat up on TB. Regarding our two really slump ridden hitters Wallner and Julien...they are both striking out far too much. While Julien is getting walks, he has totally stopped hitting. Wallner also has hit a wall. they both need a game or two off. When you get a great start by your pitcher, even against a very poor team, you must get him some runs. Our guys were 0-10 with RISP. I know you can't win them all, but they should have won this one and swept the Mets. It was there for them. Twins have to know by now that Jax isn't a closer. Guardians lost again, so all this does is take another game off the schedule. Twins still in excellent shape for the division. But some adjustments to the lineup are in order. Especially with Polanco away for awhile.

It does seem inconceivable right now that the Twins could blow this and not win the division. Cleveland is not playing well and Twins are looking pretty decent. Although it has happened in the past, a 7.5 lead with 20 to play is a lead that usually can't be beaten. One could look to the Phillies collapse against the Cards back in the day. Thing there is Philly was actually using only 2 starting pitchers...they had no confidence in any others and it took its toll. You will never see that happen anymore.

Kepler has become one of our more dangerous hitters over the last several weeks. Thats sure good to see. Twins are on a bit of a roll and I hope they keep it up with their next series against TB. Orioles gave up 12runs today on 23 hits and still managed to win 13-12! But man do they ever miss Bautista. Their bullpen is kind of a hot mess right now. Despite all that they have won 7 straight and 90 for the season. The final 3 weeks for everybody is more like a war of attrition.

I don't think Keuchel would be a good choice for a post season start. Still too up-and-down for a short series where you can't overcome a lot of mistakes and expect to survive. Maybe in the pen?

Did they manufacture a half-legit 'injury' that would allow him on the IL or is sort of a wink-wink among all the teams?

He had from near the end of last season all the way to April to 'heal' and it didn't happen. they could shut him down again for the same period of time and it probably won't help. I don't think he will ever be healthy enough to play the way he and we expect. I lean towards his career being over, unless we see some major change.

I would say with confidence that right now Gallo does NOT have power off the bench. Using him as a pinch hitter in any 'game' situation is folly...a wasted out, usually a k. With the game on the line, needing a run, Joey would probably line up behind some pitchers. I suppose if the sacks were loaded, two outs and behind by 4, you MIGHT go for broke and try him, but the odds are so small he would make contact, why do it? They may keep him around until the playoffs, but I doubt they would find a spot for him on a post season roster. I hope Kirilloff is here soon. Larnach...meh, I don't think he will add much frankly. He's had several chances and none of them sustained much excitement.

AAA season is almost over and there have not been a lot of complaints or controversy about the robot umpire. Each team has used its 3 appeals at critical times. Its actually fun to see how often the 'real' ump got it right. Its a decent safety valve for the more egregious mistakes an ump can make (often aided by expert 'framing' by a catcher) My 'observation' in watching games (both live in AAA and on TV for Twins and O's) has been (not scientific) that Twins hitters take a lot of 3-2 pitches that end up as strikes...not that the ump encourages batters to swing...but that good pitchers know how to paint the edges and hitters need to be aware they aren't going to get an 'easy walk'. Its more unusual for a hitter to get called out on a 3-2 pitch straight down the middle. But Gallo, for example, is clearly aware he has major problems making contact and he will take strike 3 on a close pitch. Sometimes he gets lucky and draws the walk. There is also a human factor that will never appear in the 'stats'. Umps know the pitchers who are known for their pinpoint control and often they do get the benefit of the doubt on close pitches because they know thats exactly where the pitcher wanted it to go (Greg Maddux a perfect example) Hitters should know that too and be ready to swing and not try to wait it out. Then there is the umps tendancies. Pretty early on the hitters should know that he is calling the 'high strike' or the 'outside strike' consistently...so don't try and get those calls. This is what makes the game so interesting. Some things just can't be explained away by the pages and pages of 'stats'. The human factor plays a role that allows us to yay and boo to our hearts content. What does all this mean? Hit the damn ball. Make contact. Make the other guys make a mistake or brilliant play. Yeah, simple right?😉

Astros right now are maybe the most dangerous team in the AL. They are on a serious roll and looking every bit like the defending Champs. If the O's have their 'non-swept' series streak snapped, it will be Houston doing it. I see them pulling away from Seattle and Texas and winning the division easily and I don't want to face them in any short series.

Lots of called 3rd strikes especially with 3-2 counts. Don't have the stats but very often you see the guys hoping to get a walk and taking nearly 'perfect' pitches on corners for strike 3. Almost like umps 'know' the batter isn't going to swing. I chuckle at the 'sarcasm' about Correa. But he does have the 2nd most k's on the team (123) and he has hit into 29 DP's...so come on. The DP's are frustrating but the k's are 4 times more frustrating. (or two times more if you count the DP's as two outs of course) STill, I will always want the batter to put the ball in play, in just about every case. Have also noticed they take a lot of first pitch strikes...which may be the best pitch they get to hit, and that puts them in an immediate hole. I hope Julien figures things out soon. Suddenly his bat has gone cold after a real decent hot stretch.

I remember when Chris Davis completely lost how to hit major league pitching. At one point he was something like 0-50 to start a season. He was a 'k' machine like Gallo. Fans liked him...to a point, but when it became obvious he was taking up space, the patience wore thin. He used to be a HR machine but that disappeared. His huge contract was a millstone around the O's neck. Gallo is not a bad guy. But he's not a good hitter. The HR's mask his deficiencies. And there have been very few HR's in the past 2 months...even meaningless ones. This is still a business...to field the best 26-28 ML players available. Don't feel Gallo is one of those 26-28 anymore.

Would have loved a sweep but 2 of 3 is very acceptable. Twins still strike out way too much but realistically...lets say they go 11-11 in their final 22 games. For Cleveland to steal the division they would need to go 17-5. I could see Twins playing .500, but I can't picture any scenario having Cleveland win 17 of 22. I could see them winning 4 from the Angels. But I also could see Twins sweeping the hapless Mets too. In the writeup Ben Revere was mentioned. Haven't remembered much about him lately. He seemed to be on the way to a very nice career, but somehow it got derailed fairly early. Doesn't appear to be injuries. And with the exception of this last year, he was always around .300 with tons of speed. Did he just sort of lose it? Anyone have any background on this guy? He played briefly for the Red Wings just before coming up to the Twins.

its always tough to see a 'decent guy' perform so badly. The poster's comments about him are probably pretty accurate. But if Twins get thru the next 22 games unscathed, I doubt they put him on post season roster...assuming AK is back and Taylor can also play.

He has been a very nice story this season. Hard worker, earning his spot. Over the past few weeks, his bat has cooled off a lot, so hopefully he can get some of his swagger back down the stretch. (9-43 .209 over last 15 games with 22 k's...come on mon ami...frappe la balle!!!!)