insagt1

When you are 17 over .500 in August and finish just 2 over, yeah, this was a gut punch. What was most disturbing to me was the WAY the Twins lost games down the stretch. Mentally they looked they were somewhere else. Unable (or unwilling) to be creative in getting runners home with less than 2 outs. Having players they were counting on totally disappearing. Most disappointing season ever? Totally subjective. Its what each fan sees, remembers and is affected by. No wrong answers. No scolding if one happens to disagree. Some here go back a long way. Some don't remember the stuff prior to 1990. I think this was a VERY disappointing season based on how so many players simply stopped doing what they are paid to do best. We can argue about whether they were 'trying', or did they 'give up' on Rocco or any number of things we all saw through our own lenses. What did seem to be clear though is by these past few games even the radio guys, who are mostly paid to be 'positive', or even 'homers' were fed up. Not used to hearing that. And even the O's Jim Palmer was exasperated by the Twins mis-steps on the bases...fundamental baseball. That 'looked like' the guys just didn't care anymore. But we'll never know for sure. My opinion only: given the way this season degenerated, I truly believe there needs to be a shakeup with the on-field leadership. Its not unusual for teams to change managers and coaches, sometimes just to get new direction. Perhaps the current manager has 'favorite players' he was protecting. A new manager could come in with a clear slate and more objectivity? Real good managers do get fired. They also get new jobs rather quickly because the baseball powers that be understand the 'system'. If you truly aren't a good manager or coach, you don't get re-hired. Perhaps a small litmus test? Twins need a flush. And I still believe it will happen no matter what Falvey is saying 'now'.

Buck and Correa had decent seasons, but again, both missed too many games at a time when they were needed most. Santana was a surprise contributor IMO but his baserunning blunders in the final games were bothersome. Players who regressed real bad: Julien, Lewis, Miranda, Kirilloff. Lewis and Miranda especially troublesome since they are supposed to be our future. Both were invisible in August and September. Jeffers hit 21 HR's but his weak weak weak AB's while the Twins still had a shot at a WC were aggravating. Wallner and Larnach were fun to watch. Castro tailed off pretty badly down the stretch which corresponded with so many others disappearing from the radar as Twins completed an epic choke. Overall, a total team 'effort' caused their demise. Even the 3 listless games they played against the Orioles at home were mostly hard to take.

O's have their best lineup out there today, less Santander. They want to win this game. Unlike the Twins, they are not resting their 3 recent returning injured players. They want to play and they will be playing on. So why not let the fans see Buxton and Correa one more time? Why?

KC and Chisox with very early leads. But if that holds KC will go to Baltimore Tuesday. Careful what I wish for. Not wanting to face the juggernaut Detroit and their Cy Young pitcher in game one is preferable, I suppose, but KC won't be a pushover either....although I think O;s have a much better shot at beating them in a short series. Long ways to go. Ohtani made an out 1st AB further diminishing his chances of catching Arraez.

I wouldn't place much credence on what Falvey says right now. Owners and GM's have said stuff like that the day before they can a coach or manager. Lets see how the off-season goes. Disappointed that Buck and Carlos aren't playing. Why rest them? (shakes head vigorously) Lewis at cleanup. (shakes head even more) Well maybe today he fills up the tank and hits one out for old times sake. I definitely wouldn't start Margot. Why not give him one more shot at getting a pinch hit. Twins sure know how to take the fun out of losing.

Buck had a decent year. Glad he played CF. Wish though that the period of games he missed this season didn't correspond to the Twins falling flat on their faces. When they needed him and Correa most they were on the shelf and clearly it made a difference. While its also painfully true that Lewis, Jeffers, Miranda, Castro, Julien et al also fell apart at the seams, Buck and Carlos are our go-to guys and they missed games that mattered. Not blaming them...just pointing out the obvious. Injuries cost the O's the AL East. Once they got their guys back in the last week, the team perked up again. No magic there. However beating Detroit will be a hill they may not be able to climb.

in pro sports sometimes players just stop 'hearing' their coach or manager. The words and the music don't resonate. When that happens, you need to make a change. As they say, you can't change the wind (all 26 players) but you can change the set of the sail (the manager) Sometimes a new voice is not only needed, but quietly welcomed. Seems to me the Twins need to hear a new voice and a new 'song'. And quite often when a manager gets canned, its really on the players who just didn't perform. And the guy in charge takes the hit. They know that the day they sign on. 2024 will be remembered for a colossal flop in the 2nd half. Maybe even a choke. By the final week, none of the players had any passion left to win games. Maybe Correa; possibly Buxton but overall it was just going thru the motions. Anyone catch the Yankee box score today? Judge: 0-5 with 5 k's!! Was that a misprint. Against the Pirates? Wow. I'll bet the O's are meeting with them to find out the secret sauce to getting Judge out!

Twins get 2 runs in the last inning of each game to avoid a shutout. Nice. I see Pablo is the Twins choice for the Clemente Award. Good choice. He's had an up and down season but through it all, he has been a good guy. Was it worth trading Arraez for him? Well given the Twins pitching staff, I'd say yes. Would the Twins have liked having a guy in the lineup who never strikes out, blowing rallies? Probably, as he is one day away from his 3rd batting title. But, overall, I think Pablo can help stabilize the rotation next season. Glad he's a Twin. And hats off to Arraez if he outlasts Ohtani on the last day for the batting title. (some don't care about that anymore, but I do) O's will be playing Detroit Tuesday. That will be a killer series. Correa calling out Lewis was sort of strange. What he said was correct. But coming from another player who only effectively played half a season, it was a bit strange. I think Lewis problem is a lot more than just 'running out of gas'.

mini post mortem: Will be interesting to see how the two teams play out the final 2 games since neither of them have any particular thing to play for. The dust has settled. One team is washed up; the other has to be content being the #1 wild card with probably a date with the hottest team in baseball staring them in the face next week for a short series. All Twins fans have to be malignantly disappointed in the way they played this final week. The offense was the most offensive. How an entire team can fail so badly when given so many opportunities to succeed defies logic. The return of Buxton and Correa should have given them the same kind of boost that the O's got when their 3 injured regulars returned. It didn't. The two did contribute, especially Correa but they couldn't overcome the total failures of other key players. Lewis and Jeffers in particular come to mind. One has to wonder about Lewis. Who is he? Still hurt? Pitchers figured him out? What? But he went from budding superstar with a ton of power to a black hole in the lineup. Jeffers had a decent 1st half and then an awful 2nd half. Do the Twins move on from him? Santana...he could hit. He gave it a good shot...but wow, the mind-numbing baserunning. Castro regressed 2nd half. Kepler too and then he was hurt. Farmer never really arrived. Everyone here hated Margot. They MUST give him one more pinch hitting shot! Can he go 0-31? Larnach and Wallner had their moments but not enough of them when it mattered most. Lee tried. He had a few 'moments'. But overall, when you are playing a 100 loss team with the season on the line and you can't score runners at 3rd with no outs or 1 out, there is no hope for you. Miranda--had that great run of hits and then totally disappeared. Julien--thought he might be able to build on last season. Instead he crumbled. So much failure collectively. We can discuss the pitching later. Plenty to talk about there too. Especially the pen. Injuries didn't help but almost all the playoff bound teams suffered serious pitching injuries. Thats where depth and good scouting come in. While disappointed that Twins are out, the way this team has played doesn't merit October baseball. And last night with some breath still left, they couldn't do a thing against a starter who had yet to win a game on the road and whose ERA was over 5.00. The diary entry for the 2024 Twins won't win any Pulitzer prizes for excellence.

I was willing to throw my allegiance to the Twins tonite, since they still had a small shot, and with KC losing there was still life. But after about half the game, I realized Twins weren't even trying. Lewis and Jeffers still with just horrible AB's. Santana in the 9th...another base running blunder that even exasperated Jim Palmer, the O's color man. So the O's win a laugher and clinched the top WC spot and home field against either Tigers or KC. If its the Tigers, the O's might be in trouble. Anyway, what a choke for the ages --12-25 since mid August. And looking awful accomplishing it. I don't see any lane out there for Twins to not make a manager change. And then, go from there, because he isn't the only problem right now. Hard to believe how poor this team looked this week.

When I heard Cory's comment after Jeffer's failed bunt and Santana's basepath braincramp..I went hooray! Finally, they are willing to admit on air that this team is lost at sea. It needed to be said . We all felt it. Those extra inning failures were abysmal failures. We weren't hitting against a bullpen full of A-listers. Miami didn't lose 100 games by accident. Twins heads were not in this game. The extra inning AB's were probably the worst collection of failures all season. Miami tried to hand us the game and we simply refused. So on a weekend where playoff spots were on the line: KC swept the Gnats (who are terrible) Detroit swept TB (a good enough team)......and our Twins lost 2 of 3 to the worst team in the National League. Those results do not need critical analysis. Pretty plain. After Cory's blunt comment he should have just switched Morneau's mic off. Nothing he could say after that would make any sense.

see how easy it was to score 1 lousy run....when it didn't matter. Lewis and Jeffers combined left 14 men on base with some of the weakest AB's of the season.

Norby had fanned FIVE times....so the pitcher walks him. Well the clown show will end real soon now. We just saw why this team isn't a playoff team. The lack of concentration on the bases....the lack of any kind of clutch hit when the game was in their hands was just infuriating.

jeffers is more useless. Now a pop out bunt DP. Announcers are getting frustrated. 'Come on guys this can't happen' What a clown show with boos showering down.

lewis is still worthless

guilty...

geez is that all Jeffers can do is pop out these days? A wasted AB. Bad

bases loaded no outs. If they don't score here, they don't deserve to win this game. Pop-up Jeffers is up

didn't do anything I said. Lewis still on base and Santana walked!

If Twins get out of this down by just one...first thing I do is pinch run for Lewis, who can't run a lick. Then I do whatever I have to do to get the runner to 3rd. Then you've got 2 shots at tying it up and go from there. But you must manufacture that run, even if it means bunting the first guy (which unfortunately is our best run producer...but still you have to get that runner to 3rd

somebody needs to explain that

right away Twins are in trouble. Needed to get that run home in the 9th

Lewis has become sorta useless

If tomorrows game is still meaningful, my advice to the Twins is get to the O's bullpen. they are awful and they are all gassed since their manager rarely lets his starter go more than 5 innings. Thats how you beat the O's.

nice comeback. Lets see if they have enough juice to walk it off