knothole61

That was a very important win. If the Twins can shake their "getaway day" doldrums and win on Thursday the road trip will have been just disappointing and not disastrous. Come home on a high note and take care of business against the As and KC and I think the playoff train may be back on the track for now. My favorite Denard-ism last from last night's broadcast was: "That occurred simultaneously at the same time."

DC, Winning against crap teams can be very helpful! I'll take all that I can get...

PTL!

I agree. If you had the luxury to use him strictly as a lefty bench player that might work. Otherwise, I'd send him out on the hustings and wish him well.

Allman Brothers...take your pick!

Actually...no!

Baseball is a streaky game...streaky like no other. Part of the reason is the 162 games. It's hard for even the most dedicated players to keep their edge sharp and their bodies uninjured over a six month period of playing nearly every day, and the 2026 Twins are certainly no exception. The Chutes and Ladders picture someone posted seems especially apropos for the current crop of players as their ups and downs have been especially pronounced. Coming out of the break so cold is very sad indeed...but I have a feeling that getting back home and not playing the likes of the Cubs and Guardians for a while will prove very beneficial. Let's win at least one of the remaining games in Cleveland and then come home and start the playoff run in earnest. Hey, so little was expected of this team back in April that it's really all gravy at this point.

Man, this can't be the board we had in the 1950s!

The momentous nature of Ryan's frantic four innings tonight is steadily coming into focus for me. Since the infancy of baseball in America (let's say in 1876 when the National League had an original eight teams) I can find only one example of a pitcher giving up more that six home runs in a single outing...Charley Sweeney of the St. Louis Maroons gave up seven homers to the Detroit Wolverines on June 12, 1886. "An arm-weary and heavily drinking Sweeney gave up 21 hits and seven home runs in a 14-7 complete game loss." Furthermore, In July of 1884, Sweeney "openly drank whiskey during a game and walked off with a local woman." Later, in 1894 after his brief career had ended, "he shot and killed a man during a barroom brawl in San Francisco" and was sent to San Quentin Prison. It took Ryan, who likely was not intoxicated last night, only four innings to give up six! In the modern era of baseball (after 1901 and the establishment of the American League) Ryan has become the twelfth pitcher to give up a record six home runs in a single game: that's twelve games out of some 183,000 in modern baseball. In the words of Casey Stengel, that's amazin', amazin', amazin'.

Well put, T & R--the next 12 games are very important and none of those as important as the next three, I think. If the Guardians sweep us the resulting six-game losing streak will likely prompt management to begin another fire sale. Even taking one of four might not keep the Twins on life support. I think the boys must split in Cleveland and then come home and put a winning streak together. Any less and the 2026 party will be over and the Murray/McCarthy madness will begin in earnest..

Good points...just feeling desperate for a meaningful trade.

A modest proposal: maybe the Twins could package Larnach (keep Jeffers!), Wallner, and Zebby who is out of options unfortunately, for a #3 or #4 quality starter? Matthews has, I feel, become a black hole in the rotation and we cant afford to be non-competitive every fifth game.

The loss today is on Taj...I think he's an important part of the Twins' future but he was off. In addition, it's very tough to play in a packed Wrigley against a good Cubs team. We weren't likely to sweep the Cubs over the weekend in their beautiful bandbox park--but, if the Twins can win the rubber game, when facing another lefty starter, it will be quite a feather in their cap. Even if the ninth-inning base running had been perfect, a win on Saturday was still a long shot, but Bell's execution in particular has me flummoxed. Bell had to know that if PCA could somehow come up with that rapidly sinking ball he'd certainly have to go to the ground and thus not be able to rise immediately and throw into second. On such a play, Bell should have been halfway to third waiting to see what transpired. That was his first mistake--the second was jogging (why??) to third and then around the base to the point of no return, and then trying to return. I don't get it.

It is a great game in part because of its unpredictability. Clemens was on fire and now he's 0-18, or so. Keaschall looked to be headed back to St. Paul and now he's seemingly an MLB hitting savant. Same for Lewis, etc., etc., etc.. If I could figure baseball out (like my short game in golf) it might become boring...but I never will! Man, I dig this team...

Correct...Lewis and Keaschall are very athletic and it's hard to keep that at bay for long.