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I think we can all be happy that this game is over. Onward with the better things in life.

Gallo might be the worst hitter on the team, but he has scored 2 of the 3 runs against the Braves this year.

Do the Twins ever play the Saints in exhibition games? I think that'd be more the speed this team could handle. That'd probably be a pretty good game.

After the game last night it is clear that the Twins are just out of their league. They are a good team, but not a great team. They have too many players that don't hit well and strike out too often. Half of their relief pitchers are not consistent enough. I'm sure they were well aware of their weaknesses going into the season. Their only hope of squeaking out a winning season and a possible playoff run was to rely on good starting pitching, defense, and finding new ways to play the data. None of those things are working out right now, but I don't blame them for trying. While they might have a better chance of winning if Royce Lewis hits instead of Kepler with a righty on the mound --- despite the reverse platoon issue, they still don't have a very good chance of winning against a team that far outmatches them. Once we go through the however many stages of grief there are, and accept that this is not a world series winning team, we can sit back and have fun watching the young players develop; get excited about those rare good defensive plays (if they ever happen) from our supposed gold glove, mendoza line hitting outfield; and hope for the miracle that Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago end up even worse catapulting the Twins into the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, any team, no matter how bad, can get lucky and take it all. Playing the data is one of their only hopes. It isn't working. But neither is stellar starting pitching.

Just wanted to jump in to remind everyone that data is plural... ahem... data are plural. Datum is singular. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Prediction: Twins swept by Detroit, then win two of three both in Atlanta and Baltimore.

What happens if they bring in another right handed pitcher next inning?. Rocco knows they can't bring back the lefties who already left the game right?

You couldn't ever expect him to hit against a left handed pitcher under any circumstances whatsoever. Right?

Didn't like the deal then and I don't like it now. But I get it. The pitching depth is terrible. One more starting pitcher goes down and we're stuck with a bullpen game. Arraez may be the best hitter in baseball for the next 12 years, but he will spend so many of those years with the Yankees or Dodgers that when he enters Cooperstown, nobody will have remembered him as a Twin anyway, regardless of this trade. Correa, Buxton, Larnach, Vazquez, and Miranda weren't supposed to be this terrible. We'd still be headed for a sub .500 season even with Ted Williams on this team. All that said, I'd prefer to watch the next 2 years of sub .500 baseball with Arraez on the team instead of Doyle Alexander Lopez.

Don't know why we'd have to drop Garlick. He's been great against right handed hitters (though with a small number of at bats), and his .146 against lefties is NOT the worst on the team. In fact, there is another right fielder who is worse at hitting both lefties and righties.

Seems like signing a player to a long term high $ deal is the surest way to turn them into a pumpkin.

This team could just as easily pick it up and start tearing down the stretch, or keep slumping and end up in 4th place ahead of the Royals. On paper they have a lot of what it takes. I wouldn't be surprised to see Larnach, Miranda, Vazquez, Correa, etc turn it around and start to make us forget May. They have played better against good teams this year than in years past. They beat the Yankees, beat Kershaw, the Astros, and Blue Jays. My biggest complaint in years past was that they could only win against teams worse then them. This year it seems to be the opposite. If they can start dominating the bad teams, they'll go far.

My prediction is that the Twins will be the first team to win the division with a record of under .500 and then go on to win the world series after upgrading their team by trading for two mediocre relievers at the trade deadline.

The season is long. All players have their ups and downs and deserve a little patience. That said, DFA the MF ASAP.

It's the 'smoke the whole pack' punishment. Everyone loses.

For his punishment Pagan should have to pitch the rest of the game.

Are there any bullpen pitchers in St. Paul that need a job? How about AA?

265 .265 .529 .794 Gordon's slash line in May. Not great, but better than Correa and Buxton. Let's let them play the game. They're winning more than they're losing... AND they're in first place.

Yes. It is funny how a slump in part of a small number of games played can influence WAR. That's what I mean by slump.

With Buxton on 2nd and 2 outs, I will pinch hit Arraez for Gallo every single time.

By the way, you know who'd be better than both Miranda and Julien right now? Urshela.

Solano has done just fine for most of the season. He's in a slump. Most of the team has been terrible for at least 1/3 of the season. Everyone is always super eager to bring up the next generation talent until they too have a few bad weeks. We might as well DFA Correa and Buxton while we're at it.

If there was ever a loss to be excited about, this was it. The Twins, who have been unable to hit most of the year, came back and nearly beat the best team they've played. Most people contributed, a lot of the runs given up were due to bad luck rather than bad pitching, and they kept going after Cuzzball tried to hand the Dodgers the win. That was the kind of intensity we'd expect from a playoff game. Let's hope Ober can get a complete game today.

Unfortunately baseball is hard. It is even harder when you play against other teams that are also trying to win.

If the Twins are playing this well before Correa heats up, I'm not worried. Clearly the team will have ups and downs, but if they go a month or two with Correa, Buxton, even Kepler firing on all cylinders, then they're gonna start looking like a really good team. Let's hope its that version of the team that is playing when they start facing the better teams.