mikelink45

What you have really demonstrated through your accurate summation (except Shoemaker) is the problem that MLB has created with its switch to bullpen games. You have only so many bullpen arms and will you use three to four per night some of them will always be unrested and unavailable. It also shows that we need better quality and the bullpen no matter what arm we turn to and the fact that Shoemaker gets through one inning is hardly a recommendation for the future

Sabato 0-4 with 4ks was an ugly line. minaya doesn't look like he's going to help

Oh my, Oh My, OH MY. Really impressed. Shoemaker is no longer starter worthy so maybe we should make him the closer! I am so impressed. Rocco, you seem to be a very nice guy - maybe too nice. Shoemaker is deserving of a nice retirement - don't make him wait.

Nice to finally see Sabato shine. But the pitching did not bode well for the rescue of the Twins.

I can only comment that it is just one game, but what a fun game. This is baseball and at this stage lets just enjoy each game we win. And let's hope for better SP than Happ and Shoemaker and Dobnak at some point in the season.

Interesting idea. I have read it hear before, but his time in CF is as miniscule as Gordons. Is he really a bad SS? How do we know? Next year is going to be the big SS auction from what I have read. Will we participate?

After missing this year and last is Royce Lewis really ready to step up? If not who plays SS? Not Polanco, Arraez, Gordon - do we sign another one year fill in? Not really an easy choice. With Larnach and Kiriloff getting established and hopefully Buxton back we should be better AB, but we need to concentrate on pitching.

This was an excellent and very depressing essay. Where is the hope? Where is the good Stat? It is hard to believe that we have so much professionalism on the team and that it all shut down at once. Buxton cannot carry the team - we were bad when he was great this year. Berrios and for the most part Pineda have been good starters, but nothing else has worked. The BP is a cause to turn off the video and go do something else. How many games have we been ahead after five innings? I don't know, but would love to see that stat. W - L after 5 innings.

Actually you can go back to Worthington and Mike Marshall! Let's hope Alcala can develop into that great RP - so far his results do not warrant it, but in a lost year an experiment is worth while since Rogers still is not the dominant reliever that he once was and neither is Robles.

Have you seen the Mets record over their lifetime? They are not the Yankees.

Twins of yesteryear Your memories are still around We wish you were too.

I apologize for posting twice - I just have to say that there are 101 games left and I am running out of things to say about this team.

Let's face it Smeltzer was a good story that ended a long time ago, Dobnak was a good story, but it is getting old and no longer appropriate. We need pitchers. Who are they? I do not know, but Happ, Shoemaker, and Dobnak do not make a major league rotation. Let's hope Duran, Balazovic and Canterino - can you answer the bell? If the Yankees had felt any challenge we would have seen one of their real relievers out there. Sad. And was our defense good tonight? NO - Donaldson had one great play, Simmons did not look sharp and Celestino needs to celebrate his hit because his throw was terrible. Is Jax ready to go fly some jets again because he has been given one bad intro to MLB. As a major critic of Sano I have to give him credit for a really good game. And Colome - way to go, they put up their scrubs, but you got them out, all but one.

Just looking at teams current IL and not the whole season: How about the first place White Sox with Luis Roberts, Eloy Jiminez and Michael Kopech? Or second place Cleveland with Zach Plesac, Franmil Reyes, and Roberto Perez? Or the Astros without Justin Verlander, Juan Castro and Lance McCullers? Or the Angels - Mike Trout, Jose Quintana, Dexter Fowler? Or the Dodgers - Max Muncy, Cory Seager and Dustin May? Or our opponents - the Yankees - Luis Severino, Zach Britton, Aaron Hicks, Luke Voit, and Corey Kluber. Sorry the Twins should be used to being without Byron Buxton by now and sympathy to them, but they are just part of the overall story, not the most suffering team.

I cannot go by the scorers judgment, it has been as bad as the plays in the field. Too may Hs instead of Es - sympathy? At a time when ground balls are at a minimum the amount of misplays really stands out.

Most innings pitched Jim Kaat pitched 304 innings for the Twins in 1966 and was healthy enough to pitch 264 the next year. Jim Palmer - HOF - Oriole led the league in innings pitched four times. Bert Blyleven led the league in innings pitched twice and since he was such a curve ball pitcher he probably disproves my theory that it is the non-straight pitches that hurt the hurler. career inning pitched leaders are not all in the ancient days - Nolan Ryan is fifth right behind Phil Niekro (but knuckleballers do not count - I just wonder why more don't throw it), 7. Don Sutton+ (23) 5282.1 R 8. Warren Spahn+ (21) 5243.2 L 9. Steve Carlton+ (24) 5217.2 13. Greg Maddux+ (23) 5008.1 R 14. Bert Blyleven+ (22) 4970.0 R Jim Kaat who belongs in the HOF is number 25 on this list. The longer 162 game season and the additional playoffs add to the stress as well as the all or nothing K/BB/HR craziness. We brag about averaging 12 Ks per nine innings. (Shane Bieber 2021 - 12.92) - now I know everyone hates pitch to contact, but let's assume that every one of those twelve batters hit the ball on the average of every second pitch and that every strikeout had a minimum of one ball and no fouls - 4 pitches. Now that is 24 pitches versus 48 and if they pitch 30 games that is 720 pitches versus 1440. If we figure fouls and full counts the number gets really skewed, no wonder pitchers can't go deeper, can't pitch as much.

I think the innings are not as important as the pitches that are chosen - putting a curve on the ball puts a pressure on the joints.

I wish I could explain it. This is an interesting attempt - Pitcher Abuse stat - and here is a look at shorter starts - Innings per start. This is just a look at the last few years and the trend of starter use Workloads Bob Feller says that it is because they do not throw enough, some say it is the extra torque for spin. I do not know.

It seems as if every pitcher must get TJ - is this the result of the emphasis on strikeouts? I do not remember so many pitchers going down when we used to field the ball and get ground outs and double plays.

The frustration in the majors with injuries and poor performances is having a domino effect and the minors.

A good team should win close games and pitchers duels, but we are playing the bottom teams and for us to barely win the games we are not blown out in is not a good sign. I do like having Ober pitch today and I understand what the writer says about him getting hit harder as the game goes on, but part of learning how to be a starter is to learn how to handle situations like this and to work through them.

I do not know where else to post this question - I wanted to see how many inherited runners each RP has given up. I would like to see those added to the RP ERA because their job is to stop the bleeding - this has nothing to do with this game because the bleeding in this was a major artery cut by Shoemaker and no amount of RP could save it.

I just reread the summary (I am sitting on a boat in a harbor just north of Seattle and not sure why I would reread such a travesty of the game, but I am glad I did. I missed the key comment by Jamie - Historic First Inning Fells Twins - I love history and this one will certainly stay with us for a long time and of course we hope Shoemaker does not.

Last place

The transaction I was wanting to see had Mr Shoemaker departing the Twins - and I do not care where he goes.