stringer bell

Sanó only had one plate appearance last night, but got four strikes (horrible missed call by the ump) and didn't come close. He's struggling for sure, at a time when the team could really benefit from him hitting his stride.

Many subtopics here, but one I find interesting is the thought that Sanó mashes fastballs. I seen him whiff on up-in-the-zone fastballs throughout his career and I haven't seen much damage done on those pitches. The majority of hard hits from Miguel middle-middle or middle-down in the zone (observation no graphs or anything). I will also say Sanó is not alone in struggling against high fastballs. To me, Sanó has two distinct weaknesses, high fastballs and chasing breaking balls. That is one too many weaknesses to be an elite hitter.

He homered later in the game. He and Elvis were the offense as they beat the Tribe. Good on Danny Santana!

Moderator note: We're two-thirds of the way through June and the game threads have been a lot of fun. Let's keep it up (and let's hope the Twins keep winning!). If anyone who hasn't introduced a game thread is interested, we are nearing the halfway point of the season, so time will be growing short. Read through the Game Thread intro thread pinned in this forum for instructions. I have started a google doc for July signups for the game thread introductions. You can find the document in my post today in the Game Thread intro signup thread. Thanks to everyone contributing to the game threads and particularly to those who have done the introductions.

I've put together another google doc for July game thread intros. Feel free to check the signup document and choose a date or dates when you would like to do the "opener". When you have chosen a date or dates, either post on this thread or send me a message.This is going very well so far, but variety is the spice of life, so I would like to see even more people sign up. Thanks in advance! stringer https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ImbnIszcTHvs8YcfTntj5-lEcZg5XPYKyjeKp3l21gA/edit

I'll post something tomorrow and also prepare a google doc for the month. Thanks for the offer.

Great thread everyone. I was going to move it, but many of us probably want to catch up on bikini ads and essential oils, so I won't move it for a couple hours. Seriously, lots of stuff here and some of the Twins Daily faithful might have not been able to stay for the duration.

Dang, you're right. The off day doesn't come until Monday.

Maybe the Red Sox were guilty of trying to hit a six-run homer in extras, but outside of Parker, I was pretty impressed with the whole bullpen. Magill allowed a couple of hits (at least one soft contact), but worked out of it. His stuff looks too good to give up on (high velo fastball and good slider). Duffey pitched out of a two-on none-out jam in his first inning and fanned the side in his second and I thought Littell looked very good, too. Rogers needs another quality lefty. It would be great to have a lefty be able to come in in the sixth or seventh to get a key out or two and still have another lefty "in the hole" for a save or key outs in the eighth.

They do have an off day tomorrow. Perhaps they can slide by today, especially if Gibson gives them more than 6 innings. The fact is that Duffey and Littell both pitched well and shouldn't be sent out on merit, but sometimes merit doesn't have anything to do with transactions.

I really liked what I saw out of Littell last night. He had trouble, not totally of his own making, in both innings and worked around it.The velocity and breaking pitch were both noteworthy and he showed good command. Finally, he didn't "pitch scared", which is what I've seen out of the pitchers who haven't succeeded for the Twins this year.

Pretty broad use of "from within". The Twins traded for both Nathan and Aguilera and to my knowledge, they were always used out of the bullpen for the Twins. I know Aguilera left Minny as a free agent and was used as a starter after he had done well here.

Sanó and JD Martinez had games to forget. At least Sanó contributed on defense.

Do the Twins get more arms for tomorrow? If so, who do they send down and who do they call up? Candidates to be sent down would be Littell and Duffey (both have had their option used this year and both pitched two innings in Tuesday's game). Who would be called up? Well, not Eades or Romero, since both were optioned less than 10 days ago.

I got home in time to watch what I thought was the last inning of a good game between the Rose Hose and our Twins. I ended up watching 9 innings of baseball with enough twists and turns for a month of "talkers". Apologies to the regular game summary guys, but much to comment on, so I started this thread. 1) The Twins got their first walk-off win of 2019, with Max Kepler singling in the winning run from third on a hot grounder just inside the first base bag. 2) Red Sox manager Joey Cora might get suspended for his outburst after Kepler's hit. Eddie Rosario tried to bunt earlier in the 17th, stepped forward in the box and made contact with the ball. The Red Sox said he was out of the batter's box, the replay showed Rosario's feet on the chalk line. 3) Zack Littell earned his first major league win. After a single, stolen base and throwing error, the Sox had a runner on third with none out in the 17th, but Littell got a strikeout, weak grounder and another ground ball out to strand the go-ahead runner at third. 4) Both teams used their entire bullpen. Even with a 13-man pitching staff, there may well be roster changes. Ironically, Littell is a likely candidate to be sent down, because he pitched two innings and his option has already been used. 5) The Twins bullpen held up pretty well. Morin and Harper yielded solo homers, but otherwise all the relievers kept the Sox off the board, with varying degrees of impressiveness. Parker pitched a scoreless inning, but allowed two hits. Magill had the bases loaded, but pitched out of it. 6) Mitch Garver was charged with the only error of the game when his throw went into center field. I thought the throw should have been at least blocked. Garver also got picked off third base with nobody out in the sixth inning, a huge mistake. 7) Kepler had a huge day with three run-scoring hits and a walk. His homer in the bottom of the 13th extended the game until the Twins were able to win. 8) If the Twins do make pitching staff changes, who comes and who goes? Only Duffey and Littell can be optioned out of the bullpen. I believe both Eades and Romero are not able to be recalled because they were optioned less than 10 days ago.

I don't know if it was mentioned in the game thread, but Luis Arraez is back, replacing Ehire Adrianza, who was placed on the injured list with "abdominal issues", according to ESPN. I don't know how serious Adrianza's problem is, but good to have Arraez available at AAA. Turtle remains in Rochester for now.

Nice reward for Cave who has been raking at AAA for about a month.

Polanco squared to bunt twice and Devers was playing in and close to the line. That pretty much makes the bunt Polanco put down a sacrifice. To me, if there is some surprise involved, it might be worth it to bunt, but if it is to give an out in exchange for advancing two runners, it is not worth it.

Something like that. Maybe seven innings for the starter today?

Okay Martín, another 1-2-3 inning would be helpful.

Cruz up with a chance to really change the game.

Crooked number in the fourth?

ESPN shows Pérez with seven swings and misses through three innings, fourteen foul balls. Junis' numbers quite similar.

Soler "just missed it". Kepler just got his feet on the track, he certainly had a few steps to go to get to the wall.

Nice third inning for Pérez. I'm not ready to give up on his improvement. I think he has enough stuff to be very effective.