darwin22

Groundhog Day emerges AGAIN on June 4th. Just so frustrating to WASTE a great start by Ryan. As mentioned the game was basically over when CLE increased their lead to 2-0 on Gimenez's double off Thielbar. Count me in the minority here, but I'd have preferred Moran facing Gimenez instead of Thielbar for two reasons. First. Gimenez was 1-7 against Moran. Second, coming off IL in 1st appearance, I'd have rather seen Thielbar in a less high leverage situation. I'm guessing Moran having pitched in last 2 games led to that decision. Not going to criticize Castro's last AB, although better discipline may have had a better result. Pretty hard if not IMPOSSIBLE to beat any team (let alone) CLE when your top 5 "guys with a bat" (I cant call them hitters) go a collective goose egg for 18 with 10 whiffs! Just brutal. What is the updated report, if any on the status of Correa and Buxton being ready to play at TB Tuesday night? For all the faults of Rocco (and there are many), you cant blame him getting stuck with a short bench. I also refuse to agree with the decision to bring up Garlick over Wallner. I don't care about CLE starting a LHP as THE reason why Garlick got the call. Prior to today our "lefty masher" was anything but that as evidenced by his 3-16 performance (with 8 Ks) against LH pitchers this year. Time to DFA Garlick and move on. Finally on the bright side (sarcasm intended), I will leave with this nugget: Our 16 whiffs this afternoon further increases our MLB lead in K's to 613! Now averaging 10.22 whiffs per game. The whiff record of the 2021 Cubs of 1596 is absolutely within reach. Now to get there----we need Gallo, Correa and Buxton back in the lineup ASAP! On pace...with 101 games left to get to 1645. Twins fever...Catch it!

Not THE reason for another poor offensive performance (21st time in 59 games with 2 runs or less), but can someone explain why Garlick was called up to replace Gallo? Wallner has been raking for the last week plus. Larnach has also been hitting well. Makes ZERO sense to me.

Call me an old f*rt---I am-------but NOT being able to watch Ober's excellent performance, Moran and Stewart pitching well and Duran SLAMMING the door on the Guardians was disappointing. Paying a fair amount of $$ for MLB baseball package thr DirecTV, in my OLD MAN world should've allowed me the chance to watch the game. Anyway, a GREAT W with our big bats (insert laugh track here) missing--Correa, Buxton and Gallo, it was satisfying to see the Twins record their 4th shutout (2nd over CLE) victory this year. Did anyone notice that with the "big 3" out tonight that our hitters whiffed only 7 times? Correa & Gallo accounted for 5 K's last night. Time for Sonny Gray to build on his last start (1st stat of 6 IP since April 30th) tomorrow by harnessing his command and getting through 7 quality innings. With Duran (26 pitches) and Stewart (15) likely being unavailable tomorrow, who will Baldelli turn to in likely another low scoring game? re

For those keeping track----team K's now up to 560! The 12-45 Oakland A's have 538.

As much as credit (deservedly so) as Lewis should get by his performance today, I was interested to see how "BAD" our bullpen has been this month as it seemed quite a few losses can be centered on their failures. I found the following "pieces of information" that other may/may not find informative/interesting: 1. No surprise here: Jax and Lopez have been dreadful. Jax: 11 games/ 1-4 W-L record/ 0 holds/ 6.10 ERA in 10.33 IP. WHIP has soared to 2.13 this month. K to BB ratio is "ok"..12-6. Hopefully his last 3 appearances---0 runs with 0 BB and 6 K's is an indicator of him turning things around. Lopez: 12 games/0-2 W-L record/ 1 hold/ 1 SV, but 3 BLOWN SAVES in 11.0 IP with 3 HRs allowed. ERA in May has soared to 7.36 and his WHIP is awful (1.727). Far too many walks--6 in those 11 IP. His late inning work today was good to see. If these 2 key arms don't correct things very soon, any hope of playing meaningful games past the ASB won't happen. As much recent blame can be put on Jax and Lopez, I place as much OR MORE blame on the FO for totally ignoring adding to this pen in the offseason. Far too much confidence was placed on Alcala returning in an effective set up role. After some early season success---in May he got hammered ( 4 games/ 10.13 ERA/1.689 WHIP in 6IP with 3 HRs allowed). 2. Duran has been what we hoped for but hasn't pitched enough. He has the SAME number of saves this month (1) as Lopez and Stewart. Would it surprise anyone that including today Duran has only appeared in 8 games this month? Jax, Lopez, Stewart, Moran and Pagan have ALL appeared more often than Duran. When Duran pitches, he's VERY GOOD! In those 8 games, 0.00 ERA in 10.67 IP with a miniscule 0.75 WHIP and a K to BB ratio of 5:1 (15-3) 3. Brock Stewart has been terrific. How many fans even knew who he was or who he had pitched for before getting called up in late April? I didn't. Despite his allowing the grand salami to (cheater) Altuve, he's been a godsend to this pen in May with the struggles of Jax and Lopez. 13 games/ 4 holds/ 1 SV/ 1.50 ERA in 12.0 IP. Very good numbers. What is concerning is high walk rate (10). which has pushed his WHIP to 1.50. 4. Jovani Moran: Very quietly Moran is shutting up the doubters (myself included) by putting these numbers up in May. 12 games/ 6 Holds, which leads the pen/ 12.0 IP with a 2.25 ERA, which includes an excellent 0.917 WHIP. On top of that, he appears to gaining command as evidenced by his 14-4 K to BB ratio. Moran has been even better recently. Over his last 6 games: 5 holds/ 0.00 ERA in 6.2 IP with a 0.60 WHIP. With Thielbar returning soon from the IL, Moran has made the case to stay in this bullpen. 5. Emilio Pagan First to admit, I've wanted Pagan GONE/DFA'ed from this team for a long time. Saying that, his numbers THIS MONTH say he'll be around for a period of time. 11 games/ 2-0 W-L record/ 11.0 IP with a 3.27 ERA and a very strong 0.91 WHIP. I'm not saying I want to see him pitching in a high leverage situation (ahead or game tied from 7th inning on), but he's been "ok". 6. Jose DeLeon I'm sure I'm in the minority on DeLeon, but his performance, albeit in only 5 games this month, imo, shows he's worthy of some higher leverage situations with Jax and Lopez having issues. Only 7.2 IP, but has a 3.52 ERA--which would be 1.17 if not for Pagan's implosion on May 17th---with a good WHIP (1.17). Most impressive to me is his 10-2 K to BB rate. Overall for the month of May---for those interested, these final numbers for our bullpen. W-L record: 4-9------------Team is 11-14 this month as a "group" not good. Lopez and Jax responsible for 6 of those 9 losses Saves: Only 3---1 each by Duran, Lopez and Stewart Holds: 12/ Moran with 6 and Stewart with 4 IP: 86.67 over 25 games. To me, a telling stat as it indicates our pen is having to cover on the average 3.47 innings per game. Over the 25 games this month none of our 5 starters are averaging 6 IP per start. Today was the 1st start this month that Gray had a quality start. Need our SP rotation to give us more innings. That also goes to Rocco not having too quick of a hook. I would've like to see Gray stay in today with his only at 79 when he got hooked in the 7th. ERA: 3.531/ Not sure how that ranks with our teams. But it appears respectable, especially considering the trainwreck that Lopez and Jax have been. WHIP: 1.292/ Not sure of what numbers were in April, but this number is too high. K's: 98/ 1.13 per inning. Good. K to BB rate: 2.33/ 98-42

I flipped the game on right at the moment Kirk's ducksnort "double" barely eluded Kirilloff's glove giving the Jays a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Said at the time, "well, the way we hit, this games over." Sadly, I was right.

Not an unreasonable thought to express in any way. This team is to put it mildly rudderless. Where is the direction from the front office? Where is the accountability? This is for the coaching staff as well as the manager. Unless there is a DRAMATIC turnaround in the next 6 weeks---around the ASB---imo you absolutely explore trade avenues for Gallo, Polanco, Kepler, Gray and possibly Farmer. I doubt Buxton will be considered to be dealt due to backlash from (younger) fans as well as the fact that I dont see many contending teams willing to ante up fair value for an unproductive bat that offers nothing defensively. As many are hoping the future of this team lies with our youth. In the present that would include Lewis, Julien and to an extent Wallner. I've seen enough of Kepler. Time to cut bait with him. Hopefully, the bat (and glove) of Brooks Lee will prove he's MLB ready by the start of next season.

Another 14 K's today...just pathetic! Twins will remain #1 in MLB in whiffs---now with 533 on the season. With 53 games played---our "misfit men with a bat" (I refuse to call them hitters) crested the "10" average per game (yippee!)--now averaging 10.05 whiffs per game. On pace to break the 2021 Cubs MLB record of team strikeouts (1596) by more than 30. On pace for 1628. Embarrassing and disgusting. All of this while our pitching staff (minus certain BP arms--Lopez, Jax, Pagan) continues to shine--with the following ranks PRIOR to today's game. K's: 516/ 1st Opponents batting avg: .226/ 1st ERA: 3.46/ 2nd WHIP: 1.19/ 3rd Quality Starts: 25/ Tied 4th with CLE Fewest HRs allowed: 50/ Tied 4th with TX & Cubs Even without having to face Astros top 2 SP's (Javier & Valdez), I'd set the over/under on runs scored for the entire series at 7.5. That might be high, I know.

Fire in the belly from THIS team? Hmm.....I agree with you 100%, but then again showing toughness, grit and accountability goes against the grain of this team's mantra: "Trusting the process"

Well......at least our collection of misfit batters ( I can't say hitters) remain consistent in one area: Whiffs!----Another 12 tonight keeps our MLB rank at #1! Now at 508 for the season. Others may disagree, but this group at this rate-------averaging 9.96 whiffs (imagine what that number would be with Sano still here!) per game--------has a REALISTIC chance to break the MLB team record of 1596 K's by the 2021 Cubbies. 111 games to play x 9,96 per game= 1105.56......add that to our current 508= 1613.56. Imagine the marketing opportunities if this dubious mark can be achieved.

Can only go by the "eye test"--but what I saw in person last in his start against SF Cardinals was very good! 6 IP---6 hits--1 ER---zero walks on only 76 pitches was very good. If he can sustain his recent solid outings over the next 6 weeks, I can project a deserved promotion to SP. He has the ability to be a viable part of Twins rotation/bullpen by 2025.

It was a quiet night---no wind to speak of. Lee's oppo HR was impressive. As described, it really was just a flick of his wrists. Ball carried at least 350 to clear the LF wall.

Seth: Thanks for another great report tonight. Informative and detailed as usual. Had the pleasure of witnessing the game in person as my spouse and I always enjoy making a short 3-hour drive from the KC area down to Springfield. Great seeing the Surge bats consistently produce with RISP! As impressive as the Wind Surge offensive attack was (barrage of 18 hits), I came away very impressed with the performance of Blayne Enlow. As you noted, Enlow needed only 76 pitches (walking none!) to navigate 6 strong IP. After escaping a 2 out jam in the 1st inning, Enlow retired the next 11 batters mixing his pitches and consistently working ahead in the count. Hopefully, Enlow can stay healthy and continue to build on his strong start. The final highlight of the evening was meeting the parents of Seth Gray, who had 3 hits including a ringing triple to left center leading off the 8th inning. Extremely nice couple who are spending the week in Springfield following Seth. They mentioned they've had the opportunity to meet you and spoke of you in good regards. After a rough (0-4) night at the dish last night, it was great seeing Brooks Lee go 2-4 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. His opposite field 2-run HR in the 3rd gave the Surge a 3-0 lead. As impressive as Lee was with the bat he was flawless at SS with 5 assists.

Agree 100%---------It can absolutely get worse. Imagine how quickly this team will plummet if two of Gray, Lopez, Ryan or Ober have a lengthy DL stint.

For some idiotic reason I thought literally distancing myself from the Twins by driving to Springfield, Mo (from KC area) to see the Wind Surge open their series against the Cards AA team, might be the tonic for some good fortune. Well, not only did the Twins gag away ANOTHER game courtesy of Lopez and the offense's continued futility, but I see our collection of misfit hitters whiffed 11 more times tonight while drawing 1 walk. For those keeping track, our #1 rank in whiffs is holding strong. Now 485 in 49 games. Just brutal. My plan to distant myself from the big league club in hope of seeing the Wind Surge play well (ie score runs with timely hitting) by putting the ball in play turned out as well as believing the Twins would get multiple KEY hits with the bases loaded. Not only did that fail to happen as the Surge were hammered 8-3, but Brooks Lee took an 0-4 --failing to get the ball out of the infield. Surge hitters channeled the "bad jujo" of the parent club by whiffing 13 times with every hitter in the lineup taking a hard left turn exit back to the dugout. Can't wait for ANOTHER exciting day of Twins/Surge baseball tomorrow.

This team is UNWATCHABLE trying to hit a baseball. Call me a fair weather fan if you want. Thats fine. Been a life long fan going back to the early 70s. Attended many games at the Ol Met as well as the Metrodome. Followed this team for 50+ years and have witnessed A LOT of bad hitters in Twins lineups since the early 70s. I know that game has changed. Many consider batting average obsolete. I don't. Many say that high whiff rates just have to be accepted. I refuse to accept that. Many more say that stolen bases are meaningless/ too much risk. Count me opposed to that belief. For those who've been strong fans of this team for even 10 years, let alone 50+---I have to ask the following: When was the last time that TWINS PITCHERS this deep into the season have been ranked in the top 4 of MLB in ALL the following categories: Prior to tonights game: ERA: 3.43/ 3rd Quality Starts: 24/ Tied for 1st HR allowed: 43/ 4th K's: 464--------1st Opponents batting average: .225/ 2nd WHIP: 1.17/ 2nd Answer to above question: I would venture with great certainty to say----NEVER! One would think with those IMPRESSIVE team pitching staff, you'd have better than a piddling 25-22 W-L record. Why is that the case? Simple answer: A team that is unbearable to watch hitting unless you just love an occasional SOLO HR. For those unaware---Twins hitters --not counting tonights AWFUL performance--had the following ranks in MLB---See if you notice a "theme" here, especially considering what the pitching staff has done: Total Bases: 14th/ 649 K's: 1st (or 30th) Pitiful 458----------will still lead MLB after 16 MORE WHIFFS tonight. Just pitiful. Just a quick note: Guess what MLB team whiffs the least? If you answered the team that moved to within 2.5 games of leading the AL Central, you'd be correct. SB's: 29th/ 16 AVG: 14th/ .232 OBP: 22nd/ .312 SLG%: 14th/ .408 OPS: Tied 15th (PIT)/ .720 Commonality: No rank anywhere the "top 10" in any of those areas. * For those who might argue I "cherry picked" these stats saying..." Hey the Twins rank #7 in HRs!" My counter argument would be. How many of those have been solo HRs? I'd venture at least 50% of the 63 hit before Garlick's solo job tonight. I sure as heck know we have ZERO grand slams as we've got to the WORST team in MLB this season with the bases loaded. At least count, I think it was 5-43---all singles for a robust .116 avg. It is just sickening to me that this collection of hitters continues to FAIL to make contact by whiffing at such a horrendous rate. Now, 474 whiffs in 48 games! Thats an average of 9.875 per game! Even with all the changes in MLB---one thing hasn't changed: Teams only get 27 outs. Right now this collection of misfits is recording 36.5% of "outs per game" by taking a turn back to the dugout. That is unacceptable no matter year it is. If this pace continues, this team...once AGAIN will be playing meaningless games by August into September. Pretty disgusting as this pitching staff (mainly the SPs) deserves so much better.

Not sure this is correct---but I'm sure it is--------Twins have a +43 run differential, but are only 3 games over the .500 mark. Baltimore is 15 games over (31-16) with a +41 run differential. Yankees (29-20)/ +31 Astros (27-19)/ +38 To me this further shows how inept our offense is and how this team should have a much larger lead than 3.5 games. CLE will---you know its coming---start to hit with their SP remaining strong in addition to a much more stable and productive bullpen. What this means? Another mediocre season playing out meaningless games in September.

I'm at the point the point that teams should intentionally walk the bases loaded EVERY inning. That wold ensure ZERO runs scoring. That would prevent the occasional solo HR---which is all this putrid offense seems to produce.

Steve: Excellent report on our affiliates tonight. Even better with all 4 winning! Great to see Lewis return to SP with a mammoth BOMB! Also nice seeing Brooks Lee have a strong night. Looking forward to seeing the Wind Surge in person next week as I'm making a road trip to Springfield for two games. Hopefully David Festa starts 1 of those games.

Seth: Thanks for the continued excellent reporting on our minor league affiliates. Was wondering if you know how long of a commitment Twins have in keeping Lewis at Wichita? Selfishly, I'm hoping he'll remain with the Wind Surge for another 10 days as I have a road trip (from KC area) to Springfield, Mo planned for May 22-23 to take in two games.

Remember being in college...1983 or 84 when RD on opening night at the Metrodome was heartily booed by 55,000 fans during pregame introductions. His crime? Blowing at least (if memory serves) 2-3 saves on west coast trip to start the season. Not the last time RD was deservedly booed.

A few other observations after ( I know its only May) a crucial series win after losing the last 2 vs. the Sox & Tribe: 1. Bailey Ober: Sure looks confident and ready to seize a rotation slot for the rest of the year and beyond. 6 solid IP without his best stuff. Like his aggressiveness. Seems that Rocco is trusting him to go deeper in games. 2. Farmer: As already noted---a solid vet who's bat and glove will provide needed pop and stability. Hoping Miranda gets things figured out at SP, but when he returns--he may be the "rotation" bat to spell in at 1B or DH (if Buxton returns to CF). 3. Pagan: Very few words--dont want to mess with his good karma since the beating he took in BST a few weeks ago 4. If this offense collectively can find a way to score 4+ runs a game 60% of the time.....not an unreasonable goal...this team POSSIBLY could be playing meaningful games late in the season. With today's W----------Twins offense has scored 4+ runs in 20 of 38 games---52.6%. Record is 15-5/.750 win%. Going into today--Twins offense was tied for 23rd (with SEA) in MLB in runs scored. That was 2 runs less than KC. Got to decrease those games scoring 3 or fewer runs, which has happened in 18 of 38 games. 5. With Ober's solid outing today----the rotation continues to perform admirably. Even with some recent bullpen struggles, it might surprise some that going into today's game that Twins pitchers were tied for 2nd place (with the Cubs) with the FEWEST RUNS allowed--135. Tampa pitchers have allowed only 116 runs through 38 games. When Twins pitchers allow 3 runs or less their record is 16-6...727 win pct. Not going to gripe about Twins being in 1st place, but it could be argued that their divisional lead should be much more over CLE and DET if the offense produced runs at a better rate. Of the Twins 17 losses--------only 7 occurred as a result of the SP having a bad outing. Two by Mahle, 3 by Maeda (one in which he was injured and Pagan got hammered for 6 runs), 1 by Lopez (loss to Nats) and 1 by Varland (vs. White Sox) In the other 10 losses---seven Twins SPs----pitched 58 innings and gave up ONLY 13 ER--------for an excellent 2.02 ERA! With better hitting, imo, at least 5 of those losses could've been in the W column. Time to move on and win the weekend series against the Cubs.

Count me in the camp of a resounding NO on signing Mahle back. Forecasting Lopez and Ryan as "locks" for the rotation in 24, I'm still of the belief that Gray's departure is not a foregone conclusion. Should he return, then the development of Ober and Varland will dictate what direction the FO goes in the offseason. SWR "could" be a viable option. Same is true for Balazovich. Investing major $$ for Mahle, who won't pitch until 2025 is not worth it.

Plethora of reasons for ANOTHER horrible offensive performance tonight. Normally, I try not to overreact by centering the blame on 1 player, but after tonight I've had enough of the continued pitiful ABs by our "supposed" franchise cornerstone: Carlos "take the money and chill" Correa. Correa supporters/apologists bring it on in his defense. I beg you. This is not a bad 2 week start. Nor is this a rough 3-week period. This is ongoing malaise that is horrible: 0-5 tonight without getting the ball out of the infield. 2 weak pop outs. 2 whiffs and a groundout. 0-4 with RISP. Where is the accountability? Is there any? Nothing changes in the lineup, which I know is filled with multiple others struggling. The FACT is Correa is guaranteed over $169m from this season through 2027. After tonight's miserable performance, Correa is at 124 ABs with the following #'s: AVG: .185 OBP: .261 SLUG: .363 K's: 30 K %: 24.1% WAR: 0.2 Don't expect any changes from Rocco other than Correa getting a "day off" soon to rest. Pathetic.

For everyone that was pleased (count me in the camp) with a winning record (17-12) in April, reality is starting to rear its UGLY head as this team offensively is HORRIBLE! The April record, as others have noted, was skewed by going 6-1 against the Royals. 4-35 with the bases loaded this year speaks for itself. I don't see any imminent signs of hope---a dangerous thing------with this team as it seems inevitable that Gray and Ryan will regress. We've already seen that recently with Lopez. Bullpen also showing signs of trouble with Jax & Lopez being very average over the last couple of weeks. Nothing like another summer of mediocre baseball followed by "excuses" to explain a spiral below .500 by seasons end.