h2oface

Right to the shortstop.... oh. There isn't one there. The amazingly effective shift. Just giving away runs now.....

Astudillo needs to learn how to not look away from the ball, especially behind the plate.

Schoop owes the team a Homer here.

I guess we can expect Baldelli to let Astudillo pitch now in the 7th.

Yup, and he bounced all those balls in the dirt, too. From both Romero and Gibson. Amazing reach that Baldelli. He put them in the game, I think. A game that they were so fortunate to be leading in the 6th, with only 12 outs to get. Mental errors count. His mental errors, in my opinion.

Yup... all 40 of them.

Gibson shouldn't be pitching... Astudillo shouldn't be catching. The perfect storm.

Yup. Baldelli has lost it. Worst job of managing a game all season, and there have been many very questionable tactics and decisions. And such a very important game. Unbelievable.

This is time to go for the throat. It was bad enough to start this game like it didn't matter. This just blows my mind...... and now Gibson in relief? WT.......

I just don't get it. Romero with a great chance to win and sweep and bury Cleveland? And Baldelli is still managing this game like it is spring training and not a pennant race. Makes no sense whatsoever.

Yup. I would look at that different, and say no in my mind. 2 outs is the key. Not asking much, really, of the reliever. Just come in and relieve. Get a single out. Pitch a single clean at bat. Do your job. How about not throwing the ball 4 feet away from the target? I have a whole percentage applied idea that include situations with runners on which base and outs at time of entering game....to reflect on and improve ERA. Also the pitcher getting unearned runs when he let's his own runners in by throwing the ball away and makng his own throwing error on a pick off or just trying to throw out a runner. IR/IS is just a raw number, and it should be incorporated into ERA to better reflect what happened, I think. So many don't consider it, and don't include it, like this time, when they say the run was credited to...... of course it was as the system stands, but there was a huge contributing factor. Anyway..... for another thread. The main point was the choice of relief, mostly, and not trying to be that competitive too early in the game, and using the Rochester staff..... that Gibson did not let the run score, even though he allowed the runner on base was the aside that seems to be of more interest to argue about.

Pineda, as a team player, could have informed the FO and Baldelli about what was going on. Maybe he did. But it seems as everyone found out except Pineda and his agent just before the suspension, and after his last start. As these things go, he probably knew this was the final outcome before the trade deadline, too. That makes his choices and behavior exhibit even more a lack of being a good teammate and ultimately more selfish. Informed, the FO maybe would have been encouraged to actually do something about our starting pitching depth, you know..... since they are so awesome and innovative.

Call it my own advanced stat. Inherited runners scored I credit to the pitcher who came in to relieve and didn't. They were on the mound. It is an outdated custom to charge the pitcher that has left the game, in my opinion, especially with two outs. Plus, the target was low, and on the ground as he threw it, and Stashak completely blew the pitch, and missed the target by 4 feet. Sure, Garver should have still caught it, and it is an unearned run, but Stashak also loafed to the cover the plate, and if he was there, there could have been a play at the plate. But you are right, it was charged to Gibson, as if he made the play happen. Plus, there is no guarantee that the Nats would have used the same relievers that the Twins scored on. More for your refute. My point remains.... the relief choices were from Rochester, and a sad state of affairs, and another game seemingly given up on too soon, and now in a penant race that one cannot afford to give any game away for player development.

I can't believe the pitching guru's haven't identified Stewart as being a canditate for sale to a Korean team, yet. How long is it gonna take? How much more will this team have to suffer as he keeps getting run out there? Bullpen holds today.... and it is a 6-5 win. And hey........ it is not like the Twins are 10 games up anymore and you can just throw games away, and give up on the offense coming back and throw in your Rochester Red Wings, Stashak, Stewart, and Hildenberger. .

It always seems that the team that wins a series early, and has to sit a week and wait and rest..... is never quite the same to me..... but I have did not reasearch the actuality of what the results have been.

Rhythm of life. The ol' stay in rhythm and play all the time - or take time off to perform better. The player that gets too much rest says I need to play more and I'm out of rhythm. I would be hitting if only I would play every day. 2010 history. September 22 the Twins had just clinched the day before, had a comfortable lead and a record of 92-60, and Gardenhire started resting players to get them "fresh" for the playoffs, and let them "heal" from the little dings that they, and all teams, were now feeling from the long season, and took it them out of the rhythm that had gotten them there. They started the culture of losing (that seemed to go into 2011 and the 63-99 fiasco), finished the season 2-8, 0-3 in the ALDS - went 2-11 to end their season. I don't think analytics considers human rhythms yet, do they? It seems to be a thing that has been happening for quite some time, though.

Only one way to find the answer that question...... and the extras shouldn't be behind the plate.

If nothing else.... to send him a message and light a fire under his...... And........ what is Rosario doing in right field, now, anyway. It just makes for a further unstable outfield. Not only in right field unstable, but so is left. I know he has played several games there, but he is now a left fielder. How quickly our outfield turned into a weakness instead of a strength.

Pretty embarassing... watching Rosario, Astudillo, and Adrianza let 5.50 ERA Rodney take them out in the 8th. Eddie really needs to dig deep and step it up. Astudillo shouldn't even still be on this team. But Eddie....... he really needs to be a team leader and get his mojo working.

The home run record for a season is it's own thing. It is not connected to getting to and winning in the play-offs. It doesn't have to be one or the other, even in one'e own mind. They are separate accomplishments that may or may not happen. It doesn't lesson one to care about one more than the other. Not caring about one doesn't make the other more likely to happen. Records are fun. Always have been. Always will be. That is why we keep track of them.

No need to factor in the Twins are banged up, really. I mean........ it's not like the Yankees have been even close to fully staffed by all their sluggers all season, and Stanton has been totally absent. The Twins are slowing down, even those (except Garver, it seems) that aren't nicked up. But it ain't over until it's over. I hope the Twins do take and keep the record. I really do. That would mean winning a bunch of games in September. And records do matter. That is why we keep track of them.

Glad I gently saw this all before it disappears. Put me in the room that is still amazed Pressly was traded. And who couln't have used Escobar? Prospects? This was not the year for prospects. Especially A-ball and below prospects. This was a year to make a team ready for the playoffs. Winning regular season games is nice. But hitting great pitching under pressure is what makes champions. When the Twins bring up pitchers they develop that perform like Walker Buehler and Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urías, I'll be buying in, but not when the call ups perform like Stashak and Smeltzer. I could have used a signing of DJ LeMahieu instead of Schoop, for sure, and was disappointed in the decision, and still am. We have some over acheiving on offense that has made things a lot of fun, no doubt. But I am not enamored to a point of gushing. The break outs that have carried this team were not due to the current FO. But Cruz was. Times are changing, and I hope that the shifts are not always used when they don't have to be. If a group gels, and then they just split up the gang for a little more cash..... so be it. But hopefully they are developing staff that feels like a "community" and sees beyond the greenbacks, and stick around make us all believers. Proof is in building a team that can not only get to the post season, but win in the post season. This might be a tough year to do it, with the pitching staff that has been assembled (or should that be not assembled?), and with either Houston or New York in an ALDS.... that is, if this team can take it to the finish line.

I feel really bad for the guy. I hope he has a speedy recovery, and takes to heart that playing smart can lead to a much better career than playing with uncompromising reckless abandon. He will have plenty of time to think about it, that's for sure.

Still rehabbing Gonsalves in AA for a game 5 win or go home game in the playoffs? He doesn't pitch all year, starts rehabbing in August at rookie level, and then they have him pitch in the playoffs? Seems odd and not very considerate of the other teammates. Sure it's minors... but still. It is the playoffs, and that still means something to these guys, or at least, it should.

Amazing people don't get suspended for pitch framing... that is clearly trying to cheat, and not surreptitiously, but blatantly and in clear view for all to see, and on virtually every pitch trying to make something something it is not to create unfair advantage and trick the poor pitch judge, who is just guessing anyway. I wonder if umpires take PED's for sight? Are they ever tested? I stray and digress. Why do the results - the investigation and suspension process - need to be so secret after the suspension is decided and enforced? Why can't the transcripts be released? Shouldn't it then become public knowledge? Pineda could also just give interviews, too. And almost all perscription drugs can be acquired over the counter, without a perscription...... just not the counter at the pharmacy.