h2oface

The stats may say that.... and I won't deny it. Stats can make for a contrary stance. And I'm sure you know the famous Mark Twain qoute about stats. But that's my prediction, and I'm sticking with it. If they exit early, it will be proven.

Continued use of Bullpen Games is over taxing the Pen and causing the recent melt downs. It may not happen in the pen game, but it happens protecting other games instead of "deGrom-ing" the starter. Continued use of Bullpen Games is the ticket to an early exit in the postseason.

More interesting to me, and I can't tell from the video or watching the game, did Diaz signal Eddie to advance from second, or did he signal to stop. If Eddie blew through another signal for a second consecutive day......... but if it was Diaz's decision..... maybe Diaz was too busy to get to Eddie? any help here?

4-4 against Detriot (so far) and 5-5 against KC. I just can't get thrilled about it. We really needed to sweep them to take this division back. I doubt we can win it going .500 for 20 games (1/3) of this short season, against the two worst teams in the division.

They really won't when/if the Twins let him go, and he torments us and wins games against us with the same style for the opposing team.

Nitty Nitpic. No, not both right. Good tutorial summary of the difference, but if it is said "the Twins left 22 runners on base", that does not imply that one means "the Twins' individual batters totalled 22 runners left on base throughout the game." The Twins left a total of 10 runners on base as totalled by how many runners were on base when each inning ended. If one is going to say, unqualified, that the Twins left 22 runners on base, it means the team LOB. Always. Always has, and always will. That is why they say it at the end of each inning. Good summary, but no reason to normalize not understanding the difference, and trying to make them both right when one isn't.

"Bullpen Finally Breaks"? A team doesn't lose 4 and 6 games in a row if the pen already hasn't broken several times.

Astudillio catching is a joke. Astudillio is a novelty. I hope the Twins offer him up at the gift shop.

Who is tired of Buxton? Certainly not me! Kenta got "deGrom'd" by his teammate again, this time Clippard. And Clippard's ERA even went down! At least the team got the victory this time, too. Pretty awesome grit shown by this team the last 3 games. Now I just hope the vaunted offense can start hitting.

"Defensively, well, no, he won’t be a Gold Glove winner, but he can play both corner outfield positions. ..... But he will make the routine plays. He can also play an adequate first base if needed. Rooker is also very smart." Well, he didn't look too smart or adequate diving for a fly he should have been smart about and played back for a routine single and not made the dive that wasn't even close that created a triple and allowed a run to score, and maybe both runs in the end. But maybe he will get smarter. I am sure he is trying to impress, but that didn't impress me much. I am glad the Twins are finally calling up some guys from the farm instead of signing guys like Vargas. This should have happened sooner. Wade is a waste of time. Just like Granite was. Time to go with the guys that can be part of the future instead of fillers. I also feel Arraez is a Danny Santana. Great. A good rookie year. But he is making decisions on in the field, and on the base paths, that are horrible. Baseball mentality? And to think folks (including himself) were silly enough to think he could/would/might hit .400. He will be lucky to hit .270, and with no power.

Seemed to me he was referring to one game/ series, this one, and not a season. Just like when Cruz strikes out 4 times in one game, one might say...."I've never seen Cruz look so bad at the plate" ...... because they usually see him rake. Same thing. Take the Sox hate away, and one can hear things in perspective. The Twins, since the losing streak, and blowing the simple triple play, have looked uncharateristically error prone, whether an error is scored or not. It has nothing to do with the "ya but" comparison to the White Sox, who also were very "error" prone. Kind of even a compliment, as it is not expected of the Twins by Ozzie.

Seems odd and not optimum for the Twins and Tigers to both take the day off today, and schedule the make up game as part of a double header on Friday instead, instead of playing single games on Thursday and Friday. Plus, 7 inning games are little league.

About 300. I doubt he has taken this time to get himself in better shape.

I guess Romo doesn't make the top 4 cut, eh?....... and..... are they really the best, lately? 3 of them gave up 6 runs in 3 innings, and May and Duffey both gave up 2 in .2 innings on Saturday, with May giving up a dinger in his last two outings.

I had to laugh at the MLB site with the headline "Twins' bats awaken, but losing streak hits 6". 5 hits. All of 5 hits. In a 9 inning game. That's how many hits pitchers used to give up in complete game shutouts. And 13 Ks. That is awake? And two of the runs (more?) came from 3 errors by the White Sox. Hey, sure, Kepler missed that fly, and the 3 runs are scored as unearned, but your closer has to step up and be a closer. There was one out, and a runner on first. Big deal. He could have walked him. No biggy. He proceeded to give 3 hits. Again. He really ins't fooling anyone. Rogers fall has been like watching Molitor keep calling on Perkins at the end of 2015 and every one knows what is going to happen, and it is not going to be good. Can he get it back? Did Wes break him? Can he fix him? At least Perkins was hurt. Rogers ERA even went down for this game! How is that for a good thermometer of his performance. Extra outs. Right. One. He is the guy that needs to be able to weather that. Cleveland brings up yet another farmed pitcher (Triston McKenzie), and he Ks 10 against Detroit right out of the gate. Why can't we have nice things like that? Maybe the pitching success at Cleveland had nothing to do with Falvey. I don't see that happening with our farm. I really don't think any of this is on the Manager. I think the boys got fat heads, and need to focus and wake up. This is really ugly to watch. I wish they would call up a couple prospects. One just might be fearless. Not ready you say? Well, are the boys playing now ready? They have had about 7 plus weeks now to get ready, and it doesn't look like it.

Looks like they read on TD that they were an automatic for the playoffs after their 10-2 start, and decided that was it. But you have to play the games. 10-13 since, with 4 game and 5 game losing streaks. MOY needs to light a fire. You still have to play the games.

Less travel, less varied exposure in the grouping. There is a virus that will shut things down in a wink, after all. Seems smart to me.

All tied up now. And Cleveland and Chicago even have greater run differentials by 8 and 6. This team can't win on predictions and what it looks like on paper. Going 5-5 against KC, and performing like they did in the later innings the last two games against Cleveland and I am not near so optimistic. And now two more double headers with Detroit. No fearsome offense to be seen and they need luck. I would take 18-10 for sure.

I watch the Twins ...... for a special form of punishment. To be disappointed and get angry and scream at the screen..... and I do it over and over and over, all my life. I am glad people put this game in perspective, and speak out about what is really important in the world. Come to baseball to ESCAPE? I don't know what anybody is talking about. I skydive to escape.

The sooner the Twins move away from more Thorpe, the better. Just an opinion.

Not really out hit. In fact, equal number of hits by games end, and starting the bottom of the 8th, the Twins had 10 hits to Cleveland's 7. The bottom of the 8th brought 3 hits, 2 more walks (to make the total 6 given) and a HBP. 6 walks killed us. 2 scored, and the 3 run homer off Berrios was by an inch or two distance and 10 inches from being foul. Timely hitting, maybe. But the 7 extra base runners given to Cleveland by the pitching put several more runners in scoring position. These are the type of games that show what a team has, not the ones playing Detroit. This is what a team has to overcome to become serious contenders, and advance in the playoffs. What we are seeing with Taylor blowing Maeda's gem, and these last two in Cleveland, are a team not ready, again, for the prime time and the bright lights. They hae some time to get there, though. And Baldelli seems to be playing the slow game and trying to make sure the team that is ready for post season is the healthy team we want to field, instead of this team.

"....it certainly wasn’t his best effort, but it wasn’t a terrible outing either and he gave his team a chance to win, which is all you can really ask for." I think most want and ask for the Ace to be smothering and totally shut down..... at least more that once a month. They ask that of themselves, too. Just giving your team a chance to win.... well, those teams don't usually win it all. And it takes more than one pitcher. I have always felt Romo is a risk in the back end of games and have been pleasantly surprised a bunch. I fear this type of outing will be seen more often. Sure hope this "fearsome" offense becomes one. 0-2 for the second half of this short season.

Hold the lead in the 6th or 9th? Alcala in the ninth instead of Duffey and there is less pressure? Alcala just wasn't up to it today. To bad, too. We had beaten Bieber up to that point, until we put Alcala in. He would have been a loser or a no decision at best if Alcala holds that inning. Alcala needed to hold, and set up Duffey. Man, was he serving the meat to Lindor. I wish these guys were ready when they come in. Poppen walked the first two as well. Hill was pulled at the right time. Especially with his rehabbing. This game was not sacrificed. Alcala had to step up, and Baldelli was right to give him a shot based on his success. Kudos. Alcala just wasn't ready. Sure, like others, I was giving Cleveland this game in a 2-1 series win for the Twins. But after you have Bieber beat, it is a real bummer to go back to that for comfort. Our line-up is pretty weak right now. We even have Wade in.

This is not really a problem. If an umpire('s) call(s) has always been wrong and inconsistent, and now a consistent accurate system based on the rule applied is set in place, some of the calls will certainly take adjusting to. That doesn't mean there were inaccuracies, as much as the batters will take some adjustment time, just like ramping up in spring training. The pitchers will have to adjust to, to actually throwing strikes, instead of relying on the catcher trying to cheat the call with "pitch framing" and fool the umpire. The pitcher will get some strikes, that they never got before, too, because their pitch really did enter, just barely, into the zone on angled trajectories. This change is already 5 years late, or more. Consistently wrong, just because the wrongness is consistent, is still wrong. Over and over and over.

Well, they did score one run. so that is good, I guess. Poppen says thank you.