Beast

Walker JenkinsBrooks LeeEmmanuel RodriguezMarco RayaDavid FestaCharlee SotoBrandon WinokurDanny De AndradeCory LewisCJ CulpepperJose RodriguezTanner SchobelLuke KeaschallConnor PrielippTanner HallKala'i RosarioYasser MercedesAustin MartinYunior SeverinoZebby Matthews

There is more to it than a stupid decision by Toronto’s manager. That really has nothing to with Baldelli. There is more to it than Lopez and Gray’s starts in this series. There is no “myth.” Who is complaining about it right now? We have seen Baldelli pull pitchers at questionable times. He’s not made those types of decisions lately, that I can recall. Not sure what the article is driving at. That Baldelli has never made any questionable calls? That people have issues with decisions he’s previously made were wrong? That everyone else is doing it, so it’s OK? I think we just saw what can happen when a manager overanalyzes. I think we saw Baldelli do that that multiple times in the series with pinch hits. It just happened that the decisions didn’t come back into question because of a loss. But, I would’ve questioned if, for example, we lost a game or the series because Willy Castro struck out and grounded into a double play with the bases juiced in late inning situations, when it could have been Matt Wallner at the plate. Or, if Jax blew the game to Guerrero or Bichette in the 8th where he could’ve used Duran. Or, if Polanco committed a fourth costly error or misplay because Baldelli kept running him out there. Baldelli has done plenty of questionable things in his career. He made plenty of questionable calls in that series. Let’s be careful in crowning him because Lewis, Lopez, Gray, Correa and a nails bullpen carried him to one wild card series win against a Blue Jays team that looked lost. He needs to show me more.

Amazing performance by the pitching staff. Unreal. Such a fun series. Crowd was amazing. Gray just willed one tonight. He didn’t looks like he had it for the first couple innings, but found a way to get it done and finished strong. Bullpen is absolute nails right now. Need to find a way to get some more runs across, but that’s for later. Need to savor this one right now.

Stewart’s absolute nails.

Can’t give him that call when he misses his spot that bad. Good AB by Castro there, though.

Amazing.

Come get him.

Come on Varland throw strikes.

Holy cow, Vlad. Blue Jays are out Twinsing the Twins right now.

Lazy play by Jeffers. Huge mistake. Just put him on here.

This AB here might be the series. Massive. Come on Gray.

So unreal that they took Berrios out. Unbelievable.

Quit taking Alex K out for Solano.

What in God’s name are they doing? He’s absolutely cruising.

Yeah, we’re not scoring a run today. Berrios looks freaking untouchable.

Berrios just looks so damn good right now.

Gray’s got about 2 innings left at this rate. Gotta get to Berrios here.

Much better inning from Gray there.

Berrios is absolutely painting right now. We might get shut out today. Where was this when he played here.

Got away with another one right down the pipe to Springer. Tight rope walking here.

Gray got away with a hanger there. Kinda nervous about this one. NGL.

Berrios looks locked in right now.

Get Polanco off the damn field.

I’m not so much concerned about Polanco at 3rd (and I’m fairly concerned) as I am him hitting second. We don’t need two hacks at pitches outside of the zone followed by a meek pop up for 4 ABs out of the 2 hole. Id prefer Alex K in the 2 hole.

I’ve never felt better about about a Twins team making a run in the playoffs in my life. ‘87 and ‘91 excluded because I was barely alive. That’s a low bar to clear. I’m still not overly confident. I’m so jaded from decades of following this team, a nagging voice in the back my head is still telling they’ll lose the next 2. Also, some things that transpired last night still make me nervous. We need someone other than Lewis to hit a baseball. They might just start walking him to clog the bases since he can’t run. We can’t rely on an uncharacteristically erratic pitcher and tipped pitches to draw out long ABs and walks. We couldn’t capitalize on some RISP opportunities or against late in the game against some average relievers. We can’t keep taking our 3 best on-base and power threats out of the lineup in the middle of the game leaving Castro and Solano to hit with the bases loaded in key spots. We can’t make multiple defensive miscues. We’re going to be tested tonight. Berrios will have some extra motivation. Gray isn’t known as a big game pitcher or going deep in games, and we used our best bullpen arms last night. Can’t wait to see the lineup, but if I’m Baldelli, I’m trying to find a way to give Polanco a seat tonight.