insagt1

Since that loss against Texas that prevented a Twins sweep there have been simply too many gut wrenching losses like this one. Twins offense has gone south. They have managed to beat Cleveland only twice this season. And lets be totally honest...games are won and lost on the field, not on paper or computer stats. Cleveland has been the top team in the division most the season. They have weathered all the storms that have swamped the Twins. Let's not forget KC too. They are every bit as good, on the field. Twins don't deserve a playoff spot and they probably won't get one. Their lead has pretty much melted down and they are trending away from post season. Thats a reality. Even with a full lineup, they can't get the job done. And even just one mistake kills them because they can't score runs. If on Sept 16th, in a playoff race for their lives, they can't figure out how to win these games, then its time to turn out the lights. Of course, since the game IS played on the field, they could suddenly flip the switch and get hot JUST at the right time, starting Tuesday. Odds are it won't happen. too much is missing. As a fan, naturally I hope I'm wrong. (I'm battling a parallel problem...as most of you here know, with the Orioles...the other team sucking on the exhaust pipe right now because their bats have disappeared) Neither team is making me very happy right now. But until the math says its over, we hang on. Frustrated, but still kicking. Thats why we are fans.

Guy with 2 HR's 10 RBI and a BA in the .220's beats us in the 8th with a HR. Meanwhile Twins best hitters fan twice and weakly ground out in the 9th. And after getting a 3 run lead early, they let it get away. Now the WC is REALLY slipping away for sure. It could be gone by the weekend. Hitters can't get it done. The team that wants it more wins. Twins don't seem to be that team anymore. Carlos did swing at ball 4 when the count was 3-1, but Santana's grounder probably may have erased him? Even if the out was made at 1st, Lewis easily strikes out. Jax fails. Nothing is working. Cleveland is 8-2 against Twins. Frustrating.

everytime our team wins one impressive game, you always hope its the start of a 'turnaround' or a winning streak. Its getting late and Twins won't be catching Cleveland, but they need to play well against them to make sure the WC doesn't slip away. It amazes me every year...teams being talked about for not wanting to re-sign guys who have led the way in HR's and RBI. Santana has done all he was asked to do. Same goes for Santander in Baltimore...41 dingers and 95 RBI...why in the world would a contending team even consider letting players like these two walk? Oh they're gonna say money....always money, but it takes money to build and KEEP a winner. Why else do you compete? I fear the week. Twins don't play well against the Guardians. But they better start.

When you are a fan, you always want to see your team go as far as possible. Fans are also emotional and get frustrated when their team under-performs (like the Twins) So, can they win enough games to hang on to a 2 or 3 game lead against hard charging opponents....3 of them. If you get in (and the opponent is not the Yankees) you always have a chance. this isn't going to be easy for this team. If Buck and Carlos are on 'reduced load' will they be able to play come post season? If the reasoning is the team is better off having them play maybe 6 of the last 12 games rather than having a couple kids on the roster playing fulltime, we'll have to trust that decision. Santana with a dinger. A win today is absolutely vital now that Orioles have sucked again today against Detroit. Yanks may beat Boston which would help. Seattle later....

and the slumping Lee delivers a 2 run single. Boy do the Twins need stuff like that.

jeffers finally with a clutch 2 out hit to tie it up.

Sure is. I'm one of those fans who live far away. Can we remember what the dugout looked like when Nellie Cruz was here? He was the leader. He was the glue. He also seemed to make everyone happy. We don't have that with this team. thought it would be Buck or Carlos, but when you miss so much time, its just not possible to be that leader. Fans can't measure 'heart'. All we can do is observe and watch things like body language, player reactions (heads up or shoulders drooping). And sometimes what we 'see' is a bunch of guys who aren't as excited about winning as we'd like. Sure, they all say the right things most the time, but its rare when the players or the manager comes clean in public. You won't hear a post game interview (in most cases) where the question is asked: 'so what happened tonite'? and the response is 'we suck'; 'we aren't good enough'; 'we're pretty much done'. Thats not going to happen. So all we have is what we see. Everyone sees different things. But the above article does tell a tale. Maybe there isn't enough 'fight' in these guys once they fall behind. Sure seems that way. Thats the perception anyway. One has to hope though, that as pros, they all want to win. Thing is how much are they willing to sacrifice to make it happen? The White Sox are just not talented enough so 115 losses is to be expected. Twins have talent, but this year a lot of it isn't producing, or its sitting in sick bay. I don't think these guys deserve a playoff spot. Their play over the past month hasn't been as intense as the 3 teams chasing them. One of them will unseat the Twins and put them out of their misery this season. OR...maybe they go on a season ending 10 game win streak (it has happened before) and all will be forgiven and forgotten. Gotta love the game of baseball.

Reds are carving us up like fine prime rib. Best Twins can hope for is the final WC and the way they are playing, thats going to be a stretch. Maybe Buck and Carlos will help, but they can't pitch. Twins honestly dont look like a playoff team anymore. Too many pieces are broken. Yes we know they still control their destiny, but that destiny is looking foggier and foggier. Two games in a row where the pitching staff has allowed a touchdown or more. Thats not a playoff push.

Hope it's not too late to turn things around. I'm done ,'playing for draft picks'. Always a crap shoot and they usually don't make a difference right away. They need to win now. The WC is in major jeopardy unless they can start winning for real. Might be difficult. Last night's game was ugly...too many of them lately.

The 62 Mets have the modern 'worst record ever' at 40-120. They had two games cancelled. So to truly be the worst the Sox need to win only 39 and lose 122. Which is quite possible since they are now 33-115. If they lose 120 they will have won 42 so they won't be the worst. Still it has been an awful season for the team, its fans, and the city. I wonder now how many WhiteSox fans have pivoted and are cheering for them to break the record.

Twins dont expect any help from Orioles. Tonite they couldn't get one hit until 2 outs in the 9th against bullpen pitchers. O's sinking faster than Titanic sunk. Their hitters can't do squat anymore. Tigers, Red Sox and Mariners all have a real good chance of knocking Twins out. I get the bravado from the radio crew. 'we still control our destiny' crap...but they gotta start winning regularly now to stay in this thing. Twins are 16-25 against the NL. That sure doesn't help. This hasn't been much fun lately.

feels good to finally win and score some runs. Also nice to see a guy who has struggled all season (Farmer) starting to contribute. Especially with both Lewis and Lee not contributing. But they need more than just 'one in a row'.

Angels are not a good team. Twins should be able to beat them. But right now, they aren't beating anybody, good or not good. When a team is going south this in not uncommon. O's just got beaten badly in two games against two of the worst teams in baseball....Whitesox and Rockies. This late in a pennant race those two 3 game series should have been sweeps. But they weren't and then it led to a miserable series against Tampa and a blowout loss to Boston...currently ready to displace the Twins for the final WC. Can't take any team for granted. Even one that has lost 112 games. Twins need to not even look at the opponents uniform. They just need to go out an play better. If thats possible anymore

When a team starts to lose, a lot, like the Twins now, 'fatigue' is more mental than physical. Your mental attitude goes from winning to trying not to lose. When you're not 'happy', it shows in many ways. Watch the Twins faces. Look at their late inning AB's. Look at how they watch strikes down the middle and then flail away at pitches this side of Wyoming. They are in a collective funk and most certainly I would give the likelihood of them blowing a playoff spot now pretty high odds. Everyone is 'tired' near the end of the 162 game marathon. But the winners don't care. They soldier through...and win. The losers wallow, complain, make excuses and lose and they cant stop it. The Phils of 64; Cubs of 69; Twins of the years already mentioned; the Orioles this year. Fans can smell a losing team a mile away and they can't do a thing about it. Only members of FO's I can bring to my mind who meddled bigtime in the day to day activities of their teams would be King George; Peter Angelos; Marge Schott. So it does happen but not too much. Perhaps you all could name others. I too thought Twins would respond differently to the dressing down last night. Instead they looked every bit as bad; as mentally out of it; and in no way ready to compete. What does that mean? Bad manager? Lost the room? PLayers don't care anymore? Injuries taking their toll? Everyone is 'tired'? We can pick our poison. But what we all do know is that this team has been sliding for several weeks now and they may not be able to pull up.

After Saturday its hard to feel real confident with him at the helm. Yes the players have to do their job once the game starts, but decisions like pulling Ober really makes one wonder if he is on the same planet. Tonites game was about as lifeless as it could be, for a team supposedly trying to nail down a playoff spot. If the leader can't rally the troops now, when it counts most, I can't see him returning next year. We have half a month left to prove us all wrong.

Watching them tonite, they looked like a team definitely going thru the motions. the late inning AB's screamed, 'we just want to go home'. The broadcast team tried hard to put any kind of positives out there, but sorry fellas nobody is buying it right now. Team is a hot mess. the lineup is dead. The 3rd WC is now officially up for grabs. The O;'s are dead as doornails too and Boston clobbered them to move closer to unseating the lifeless Twins. It is difficult to watch a team play with so little passion. If Rocco thought they were 'unprofessional' against the Royals, wonder what he thought about tonites game and tonites opponent? Pretty sad.

Both Twins and Orioles are falling apart. Twins trying hard to miss playoffs and the O"s aren't that far behind. Two teams choking at the worst possible time. Hard to watch

Just never know about young players. Some hit the ground running...then as said above major league pitchers quickly learn their weaknesses and things get ugly. Orioles Holliday and Mayo raked in AAA but have not started well in MLB. The guy they traded Norby is hitting a ton in Miami. Go figure. Lee started well for Twins but not so much now. Hard to judge a prospect based on part of one season. Is Lewis turning into a head case? Would trading him make sense? Will Buck or Correa be ready for postseason? Will Twins actually qualify? It's no longer a sure thing. Our 2 regularly scheduled injured stars are needed but hardly reliable and we have enough dots to connect to know this probably won't change. Is Rocco's tinkering with where his guys play from day to day screwing with clubhouse morale? They used to attack the late inning deficits..now they go meekly as evidenced by the recent 3 game no-,show by the hitters. Gonna be a tough last couple weeks.

In the game thread that was (correctly) shut down I made similar observations about Lewis and was quickly rebuffed. Funny now that this article comes out (correctly) about him. His attitude is not helping and it goes along with his subpar performance. Meanwhile Buxton and Correa still can't play and probably won't. Twins needed all 3 and right now they are getting none. The offense has stalled out and the 3rd WC is fast disappearing barring a very needed turnaround. The energy doesn't seem to be there nor does there appear to be a real leader in the dugout. Twins are trending all wrong and don't know what it will take with this current lineup to pull them out of it.

Twins lack of offense is going to sink them ultimately. This has been a butt ugly series. Anyone think we will see Buck or Carlos anymore this year. Those 2 are chronic injuries year after year. Twins miss them. Something definitely amiss with Lewis. Since his game winning HR coupled with his public griping about playing 2nd..he has disappeared. Not good

Can't you just see Ober being Dennis Lemieux in Slapshot...on the phone with management and asking what do I say? "Say..trade me right....well you all remember what he said. Twins are playing themselves out of a playoff spot...seriously. Taking Ober out was in microcosm what has happened to MLB . Suddenly a pitcher can't pitch a complete game even if he has a no hitter or he was outstanding like last night. For decades at the very least if a guy had only thrown 83 pitches and allowed 1 hit he goes back out until he gives up a hit or a walk. Watching these games is very frustrating for me because it's not the MLB game I have enjoyed for so many decades. But that horse left the barn and I have to deal with what's left. Anyway last night's loss could have sealed Twins fate unless things turn around quickly. .

Very embarrassing loss tonite. Very. Our starter is pitching a 1 hit shutout with only 80 pitches and yet our manager pulls him. Why? What in the world is wrong with the starter pitching the entire game when he is going so well? Its the era of pulling pitchers with no-hitters. Its the era of not letting a starter finish what he starts..or at least until he gets into hot water. The bullpen guys were terrible. The 'd' was shoddy and the bats disappeared. But Ober was terrific...so you yank him. Can't blow games like this late in a pennant race. A wasted effort by our starter which never should have happened. Own this one Twins. It was terrible. And just an observation but Lewis is now I believe 0-13 which sort of corresponds to being asked to play 2nd base. More or less. Something is up. Anyway, this one hurt and should never have ended like it did. The guys who hit in the 9th looked totally defeated. Everyone who is disappointed, discouraged, disgusted tonite has a right to be. For me, taking a starter out after 7 innings with a low pitch count and allowing only 1 hit, is one reason today's brand of baseball is very frustrating for the ones who have been watching the game for decades. Barring unbelievable circumstances, there is no defense for what went on tonite.

He has been more than vocal in his displeasure to play 2nd. This is a bad look right now whether real or imagined. Is this going to cause issues in the clubhouse? Do the Twins really want this distraction down the stretch? Is this how a teammate reacts during a playoff push...specially one who has been injured more than he has been on the field. Do they need this kind of distraction now? Is Lewis being reasonable, honest, or selfish. All we know is what we are allowed to see and hear. And right now it's not real pretty. Guess we'll see though huh.

Some injuries are more 'predictable' .is anyone even remotely surprised that Buxton is still hurt? Hibs injuries are always measured in months not weeks or days. It happens every year. Correa has also missed a ton of time as a Twin. Lewis was creeping down that road too. It's reality. Twins must adjust and they are fairly proficient at doing just that. Kepler may be done for the year. And probably done as a Twin too.