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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. "Until." Are we presupposing? Have you looked at his track record, such as his game log this year? He had a bad outing for SF on July 13, quite similar to what we've seen, with 3 runs given up without recording an out. Blew the save. Team lost. Then he came in to a game two days later and began a string of 7 appearances leading up to the trade, where he pitched an inning each time and gave up an aggregate of 2 hits and 1 walk, for an OPS-against of .212. (Yes, his BABIP was a little low. ) I mean, this is the nature of a relief pitcher. He gave us two truly terrible games. His record doesn't say this is who he is, though. He's a 31-year old athlete. I don't think it makes sense to throw out his entire recent body of work, and make extrapolations like "until" based on two games.
  2. This current four-game losing streak has been hard on everyone's nerves. Hopefully the Twins figure out how to get back on track tonight.
  3. The eligibility question absolutely factors into the discussion, OTOH I think the FO is demonstrating that 40-man rostering issues won't always drive the decision on who gets a 25-man spot. Dobnak was awesome last night. His fastball got faster as the game went on, and he was hitting 95 in his final inning of work. (A scouting report I've seen places him much slower, so somebody in the organization may deserve kudos.) He gave up the one earned run legitimately, with a clean single and a double to start things off in the 6th, but he nearly worked out of it and the defense behind him did not do him any particular favors. Perennial ashbury-whipping-boy Jake Cave got a first inning single but promptly erased the good he had accomplished by trying to stretch it to a double. Two outs at the time, so maybe it's justifiable, but it was not close. Very crisply played game. They completed 5 innings with a 2-0 score in barely over an hour. Additional scoring ran the total to a very pleasant two and a half hours on a nice summer night with a spectacular sunset as a bonus. TD stalwart sampleSizeOfOne joined me for this night of baseball in Rhode Island.
  4. I was at the game in Pawtucket last night. I found the video of Gordon's HBP interesting because the PbP guy had the same first impression I did, that it hit him in the foot. At the game, I was speculating that he hurt his knee in trying to get out of the way. The video stops before he actually comes out of the game, and he was smiling, but it looked worse later on - they thought he might be able to stay in and he was trying to walk it off, but then the knee buckled under him. And then trying to walk back to the dugout after being removed, it seemed to buckle again. Hopefully it was just a painful thing, causing that, and not structural damage. I was totally unaware of the guy who came in for Gordon, Jake Hirabayashi. Just up from GCL after being drafted in 2019, kind of a strange choice for a AAA fill-in. He didn't do very well, especially on a challenging roller to 2B that looked very odd as he tried to come up with it and throw. I really would have liked to see Gordon get a chance at that'un. It's a difficult play that major leaguers do All The Time. More later, gotta run...
  5. Normal Twins Fan: SEASON OVER. Any Vikings Fan: hold my beer ...
  6. Rocco gave the new guy a chance to make friends quickly by coming in and being all bad-ass - "just got off a plane, howyadoin, let's go win some games now, whaddayasay". It blew up in their faces. But not a season-killer, I'm pretty sure. Just, didn't work. I'd need a lot of evidence to convince me that the idea had no chance from the outset.
  7. A large percentage of the US population lives in a small band along the I-95 corridor - although a goodly portion of that is north of Philly - still in terms of human beings his flight crossed a lot of the nation.
  8. I got out of the hobby when the discussion became predominantly about the speculative value of the player/card and not for the love of the game or the players. Sorry. Wanna buy some Topps/Fleer/Donruss from circa 1985? Didn't think so.
  9. He's a National Leaguer - he pitched against the Marlins as recently as late May. Plus I'm sure there was a conversation with him before he took the mound. Plus he has a catcher to share the decision making with, in the moment. He's a veteran, and isn't asking the bullpen coach, "what do you call that wiggly pitch, again?" He's got to make his pitches. That's all. And when he doesn't: Get'em tomorrow.
  10. Handling pressure well can come from multiple directions. I resist the easy interpretation that they are mentally weak, or whatever - with few exceptions, that kind of player gets weeded out well before they reach this stage, or at least coping mechanisms are taught. But I am concerned that the pitching strategy in the 9th or later is simply different from earlier in the game, and if our guys are going to the plate with the same strategy as in the earlier innings, they could be setting themselves up for failure. Which is why I named the batting coach, above, as needing to do some reflection. It's his job to find answers. WHY are the numbers like they are, is what he needs to get to the bottom of. It's SSS. It could be a fluke. But, like I said, worrisome.
  11. I hadn't, but it's a good question, and unfortunately there's an illuminating answer available at baseball-reference.com https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/split.cgi?t=b&lg=MLB&year=2019#all_innng MLB-wide, extra inning OPS isn't too out of line with other innings. (The 9th is markedly low, and there are probably good reasons for that, going beyond the word "closer".) https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&team=MIN&year=2019#all_innng Our 2019 Twins have an extra inning OPS of .602, going into today's game. The ninth inning isn't aces either, at .683. I needn't tell you, this is lower than any other inning. It's small sample size territory (106 PA in extras), but not comforting. We go from above average offense to below average, after eight. Time for some soul searching for our batters, and probably the batting coach as well.
  12. There is some irony in a move, intended to strengthen the bullpen, having an immediate result that leaves it in a highly weakened state heading into the next series.
  13. Because it's a discussion forum? People post here because they have an opinion. If you have no interest in a particular subject, move to a different one. If you want to provide a counterpoint, do it respectfully. Don't snipe at other posters simply for their having an opinion.
  14. Quickly!? The rebuild began in earnest after the 2012 season. Eddie Rosario reached AAA in 2015, Max Kepler and Mitch Garver and Miguel Sano reached AAA in 2016, so that we could begin the anticipation countdown for 30-HR power soon. Things have taken FOREVER to change.
  15. Name all the games where the temperature at first pitch caused multiple players to say to each other, "I hate this place in April."
  16. As Yogi said, when you come to a fork in the road, take it.
  17. Moderator's Note:* I would like to ask the moderators to stop bickering. * Not really
  18. Of course. But we're not looking for one reason that covers all. And weather is a completely plausible reason for some, including MN.
  19. Just a thought, but if a guy born and raised in Florida signs with Los Angeles the first time he has control over his own destiny, then signs with Phoenix the next time he has control over his own destiny, then accepts a trade to Houston but says he would not have accepted a trade to Minnesota or Boston or New York, one working theory is that he doesn't enjoy cold Aprils or Octobers. He can't control road games, but it might not be complicated!
  20. "In Case Of Emergency, Break Glass."
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