Hosken Bombo Disco

In the dugout, they are playing a game called, “who can hit it straight up in the air” and there are no winners

Damn beat me to it

Stew? Stew Thornley?

“Nobody posts in the game thread anymore. It’s too crowded.”

This is more of a gut feel, but I do feel like front offices, not just the Twins, do lean closer towards “blindly trusting” the numbers. Or that we have just passed through a phase of it. For example, exit velocity. The faster a ball travels to a point on the field, the less likely a fielder will get there to field it. Makes sense. As a result, we see players with hard swings and high exit velocities being scouted and promoted. But maybe the cost is faster swings and more strikeouts. On the Twins, you see it in newer players like Larnach, Julien, Wallner. The cost is faster swings and more strikeouts. Are they coached to just swing hard, let er rip and see what happens? I don’t see the ‘two strike approach’ much anymore. When these types of guys lose their hitting eye, it gets ugly fast. Shifitng gears slightly, you also see decisions taken out of players’ hands. Look at the ‘contact play’ when a runner is on third base. More and more, players seem instructed to just run. Dont even think about it. Just 15 minutes ago, bottom of the 3rd inning tonight, Austin Martin was on third base, Trevor Larnach hit a comeback grounder to the pitcher, and Austin Martin was stranded about 30 feet off of third base. Tagged out. We saw Louie Varland throw out a guy in a similar situation recently. Not even a competitive play. Player just ran on contact. Players are trusted less and less to use their own judgment. It’s not just the Twins. I’d say it’s a majority of teams. Amyway. Rant over—sorry this thread didn’t take off. Thanks for your contributions here and hope for many more!!

Yup, must win tonight. Baltimore is not going to roll over for us this weekend, just because.

That was very uncharacteristic of Correa to just lope back to second without an effort, and then to top it off, run through the bag and be an easy target to be tagged out, if not forced out. I guess we can conclude that his foot/ankle is bothering him and makes him tentative on pivots and slides. Also just slower than his usual slowness. No where near 100%

It looks like Rocco was in a no-win situation in the 1st and 2nd innings. He made the call to remove the starter, and it paid off. Never mind that really Miami threw the game away on all those errors.. it's a lonely walk out there to remove your starting pitcher that early in the game, when you want to save your few good arms.

Cleveland also with an early lead tonight *ducks, leaves* Ok Shhhh, the shows about to start. Be excellent to one another (and to Rocco, he needs it)

Dont save them if it’s gonna make you crabby (Because Baltimore & crab cakes)

KC continuing from last night, and already 4 LOB tonight Not just the Twins! Lol

Lots of reasons. Top reason being Kepler is on the way out, and it would be really bad form and a bad sign ahead for clubhouse mood to call out younger guys who will still be around next year.

a Twins win tonight, combined with a loss from 1 of the other 2 teams, and this thing suddenly looks very doable again. *ducks*

I personally think Correa’s comments were aimed mainly towards Kepler. Just a bunch of circumstantial evidence, reading between the lines—plus those two just feel like they mix worse than oil and water. No first hand knowledge.

The Twins are still wondering what their everyday lineup should be. Five more game to figure it out.

The Twins get one more mulligan. After that, it becomes a ‘win-out’ scenario and hope one of Detroit or KC loses their final series. Speaking of, the hurricane might have an impact. I can see the Braves and Royals possibly needing to play a doubleheader Saturday or Sunday. Crazy.

Good point about managing egos. Another example of having the wrong voice in the clubhouse is the White Sox hiring Tony LaRussa a few years ago. That decision will set back the franchise for years. The ironic thing is that all the White Sox had to do is get an actual manager, keep their good players, make a few tweaks, and they would still be really good.

Agree. I think it was easier to keep tabs when people had regular beats or regular days. There are only so many hours in a day to track down everyone’s podcasts.

I have 100% observed the same thing, for a long time. It is called Access Journalism and it is alive and well in this town. You have to wait on the occasional commentary from someone like Reusse, Rand or Scoggins, or catch Barreiro on the radio or maybe the Skor North guys podcasts, don't know if they are coming around or not all the way, because I don't catch them much. Game threads have also been a good place for honest conversation lately. 🙂

Sometime between 2022 and 2023, Lewis went from franchise cornerstone to utility infielder. The team has treated him as such, and it has been evident in his comments to the media and play on the field. He is playing exactly to expectations. I’m sure there is data that will either confirm or deny that. I think Lewis comes up big at least one more time in 2024. At some point, wouldn’t we want to see the team take a chance on one of their young guys and lock them up like KC did with Witt? Maybe Jenkins will be that guy once they have flexibility for that sort of thing again. I would have rolled the dice on Lewis.

It’s always the offense’s fault. A late two-run lead is a two-run lead, regardless if the score is 3-1 or 7-5. I guess that applies more to the last Cleveland series than the Boston series. On the radio, Molitor mentioned the top of the sixth inning, when the score was 3-2. The Twins batters needed to work some counts there and not give Boston a quick inning to get back to the bat rack right away. Instead, the Twins did not take any strikes and saw a total of five pitches. A couple of hard hit balls that went for outs but that’s how it goes. More important is you need to make Bostons guys stand out in the field a bit and cool them off. “But that’s old fashioned thinking nowadays”, Molitor said.

The Detroit Tigers story still feels too Cinderella-y yet they keep winning

I guess this could be another thing that is directed from the executive suite. Either way, yuck.