one_eyed_jack

On the final pitch: 1. It was a strike Be honest, Duran throws that pitch in that situation and doesn’t get the call, you’re demanding the ump’s head on a platter 2. I can see why Max thought it wasn’t given how he was rung up on a pitch inside in his previous AB 3. But with the season on the line, you can’t stand there with the bat on your shoulder and hope for the benefit of the doubt on a close pitch. Protect the plate for God’s sake

I would highly recommend caring about the Wolves. Anthony Edwards will make it worth it.

Sigh. Feels like so many of the postseason losses to the Yankees. A good team coming up short against a powerhouse. Only behind by a run or two, but it felt insurmountable. One big hit was all the Twins needed, but you knew it wasn’t coming. There will be the condescending pats on the head with talk of how hard the Twins fought and what a bright future lies ahead of them. I had more than enough of being the Little Team that Could during the Gardenhire years. I want a deep playoff run. Hopefully this was a step to something better

This ump should be fired after this game.

It took some gall to throw a tantrum about that call after the gift third strike against Julien.

One of those rare games where the Twins have the lead after 8 and I am comfortable bringing in Pagan to pitch the ninth.

This is agonizing

This is great but I will not be comfortable heading to the bottom of the 10th unless the Twins score at least 2 more.

Good take, Royce.

It’s hard to be as ugly as these uniforms. Not sure who thought “obscure, illegible MS Word font meets 80’s track pants” was a good look.

That Pagan inning was as ugly as these Ranger uniforms.

Feels like a similar case for Jason Kendall. When you look closely, his case is stronger than you would have expected, but still well short of any reasonable Cooperstown standard. And probably the same result as Kendall, one-and-done. I lean more “big hall” but I am not interested in lowering the bar to the point where every above-average player who hung around for a while gets in.

I think it also came from the fact that the Twins would get hits but end up stranding a lot of guys on base. Their opponents who had power hitters didn't have that problem. Take for example the 2009 ALDS. The Twins outhit the Yankees 29-23 in that series but were outscored by the Yankees 15-6 thanks largely to the fact that the Yankees outhomered the Twins 6-0. So it was all "you can't beat the Yankees with small ball, you need to have guys who can hit the ball over the fence to match their power." Which wasn't wrong, but it's odd to see the "you can't rely on home run hitters to score runs in postseason" takes being advanced by the same people now. But in any case, like you said, it's been the same basic story of the Twins unable to score runs both now and then. Although I find these last 2 years, particularly this year, infinitely more frustrating due to the degree that the lineup underperformed. Just a lot of really, really bad at-bats from guys who can and should do better. I think Twins hitters not named Nelson Cruz were 5-for-53 this series? That's just wretched.

One thing I've found mildly amusing in the aftermath of this latest playoff debacle is the local media folks and their "you can't win with Bomba-ball in the postseason, you need to be able to scratch out runs" hot takes. Same people who 10-15 years ago were writing "you can't win with Piranha-ball in the postseason, you need power hitters who can hit the long ball".

Maddening. Excruciating. Soul crushing. I am running out of adjectives to describe what it’s like to watch this team excel in the regular season then defecate all over themselves in the postseason. I don’t know what the answer is. Horrible at-bats by quality hitters. Bad base running. Untimely errors. Dubious managerial moves. Just a complete meltdown.