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bighat

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Everything posted by bighat

  1. bighat
    Thanks for the research. Regarding the above: 9th in BABIP doesn't count for much if you're 23rd in K% - the Twins aren't putting the ball in play enough for that BABIP ranking to make a difference. Am I correct in assuming that?
  2. bighat
    Can't hit with runners on base. Not only that, they can't even make contact. A leadoff double should come around to score. Get 'em over, get 'em in. That's how it's done in pro ball. The Twins are a bad team that doesn't create many opportunities - but even when they do, they can't capitalize. The players have given up, the manager is out of ideas, and the front office is hiding under their desks.
  3. bighat
    Yeah, it's too late. Division's way out of reach, too many teams (almost the entire league) ahead of them in the Wild Card. This team doesn't have to be great to make the playoffs this year - they have to be borderline perfect. It's possible they right the ship and play OK the remainder of the year, but that's not even close to what they need.
  4. bighat
    Not-so-bold prediction: Twins lose the rubber match, lose 3-of-4 in KC and lose 5-of-6 to the 'Stros & Yanks. I for one am really having trouble finding an excuse to watch this team. And that says a lot because I enjoy Twins baseball. Looking forward to the rebuild and the trade chips. Let's just hope someone catches fire. Starting pitching is always a big need at the deadline. If Pineda can at least stay healthy and have a couple more palatable starts he could fetch a prospect or two. It's a shame that the rest of our team has been playing so poorly. Dead horses like Cruz and Donladson aren't worth much.
  5. bighat
    Hey! Let's leave Rob Refsnyder out of this.
  6. bighat
    Great content, Tom! Glad you're providing that for us here. Regarding Simmons, it's amazing to see that in his 2nd month as a Twin, he's posting a career high in monthly strikeouts. What's this team doing to its hitters? I often joke that the hitting coaches just tell players "close your eyes and swing as hard as you can", but maybe that's true? If so, it's not funny. The Twins struck out 14 times again yesterday. That's more than 50% of their outs. And 12 the game before. They're not facing Max Scherzer, they're going against below average starters for the Royals and Orioles. It's almost unwatchable baseball. Not only are they bad, but there's very little action.
  7. bighat
    Not everyone writing these wrap ups has worked for years at a major media outlet. Twins Daily is exactly the type of place where lots of talented young sportswriters are getting their start. Kudos to the author for getting the recap out 10 minutes after the game ended -- on a national holiday no less. It's not easy writing positive summaries for this team. I think he did a fine job.
  8. bighat
    Next week the Yankees and Astros come to town for 6 games. Yikes. Twins will probably go 4-9 over the next 13 games (2 wins in Baltimore, a win in KC and one win against either the Yanks/Stros). Season's over. It's been over for a while now, but I think even those wearing the rosiest of colored glasses need to admit that 2021 is toast. Time for the narrative to shift to the trade deadline. Who stays? Who goes? What do we get in return? On the positive side, we can look forward to watching Kirilloff and hopefully Larnach develop. Can Kirilloff get hot and maybe win Rookie of the Year? When will we see Jhoan Duran? Royce Lewis picked a helluva year to slip on the ice. The guy would have come up with Larnach and there's a place for him to play every day in this lineup right now. Twins can't even use 2021 to develop their #1 prospect who is MLB ready. Just brutal.
  9. bighat
    Pretty obvious that KC is on a different level than the Twins. Twins pitching is bad - but the offense is really, really, really bad. Minnesota had the bases loaded TWICE with less than 2 outs against Keller. The first time was with 1 out in the 1st - they scored one run (walk). They also had the bases loaded in the 4th, this time with nobody out. They scored one run (GIDP). I'll watch a bad Twins team lose 10-9 and at least enjoy a few moments. But watching a team loaded with Donaldson, Cruz, and Sano scrap together 3 runs against a struggling Royals pitcher on a beautiful spring afternoon is a waste of time. This team doesn't feel "cursed" and none of this feels like "bad luck". It's just a bad team full of aging and regressing talent. There's a toxicity attached to it as well.
  10. bighat
    It's very obvious to me that Nelson has been really out of sync ever since he was hit by a pitch a couple weeks ago. He then sat on the bench for 5-6 games and that really threw his timing off. Cruz needs to play every day - he's getting fooled on almost every pitch and frankly the guy's been terrible since returning to the lineup. Thank The Flying Spaghetti Monster for Rob Refsnyder. Frankly the Twins should have Kirilloff, Refsnyder & Larnach batting 2-3-4 right now. Unreal.
  11. bighat
    Uff-da. Even the wins are ugly in this disappointing season. I've never seen a team do so little damage with multiple runners on base & nobody-out scenarios. The Twins recent "surge" (if you wanna call it that) is mostly due to mistakes by the other team. Today, the Twins won this game thanks to a gift wild pitch - a run that crossed the plate despite the Twins' failures to take advantage of a very favorable offensive scenario (bases loaded, nobody out in the 4th). Garver also scored on an error by Santana, another gift run that turned out to be needed. Bottom line: the Twins need a ton of outside help to compete. They got it today. Aside from a couple flashes, Kepler and Donaldson have been non-existent offensively for most of the year. I think I'm more disappointed in Donaldson but both have been head-shakingly bad. But hey! Twins win. It's Saturday, Memorial Day weekend, and we can all relax and enjoy the evening. Have a great one, folks!
  12. bighat
    Good observation and yes I think everyone should temper their expectations with the Royals this weekend. KC is not Baltimore. In fact, Kansas City has looked like a much better team than the Twins this season, top to bottom. I'd be thrilled if the Twins take 2-of-3 in this series. Unfortunately it could easily break the other way. Salvador Perez, Whit Merrifield and Jorge Soler take no prisoners and I wouldn't be surprised if they mash Twins pitching. The key to winning this series will be to put up big offensive numbers, I fear with scoring only 3 yesterday against the worst pitcher on the worst team, the Twins are still struggling mightily with the bats. Spells trouble.
  13. bighat
    Do you have any examples of that? What's the comedy routine, exactly? I have heard Hawkins discuss his career experiences quite a bit - sometimes it's a bit like "back in my day blah blah blah" but it's not overly annoying in my opinion. He's no Rex Hudler, to use an extreme example, which I'm thankful for. I'd say Hawkins is just about everything you look for in a color-commentator role. Meanwhile Justin Morneau sounds like he's talking to a bunch of 90 year-olds at a nursing home: "Gee whillikers granny, let me tell you about the time Torii Hunter gave me a knuckle sandwich!" - at least LaTroy sounds like he's talking to a group of fans as opposed to Morneau, who should be hosting bingo night at the VFW.
  14. bighat
    Robby Ref certainly providing spark to this lineup. Maybe he's waking some of the other guys up. Kirilloff is good. Guy is going to be hitting cleanup for this team for years. The Orioles are awful. This is what the worst team in baseball looks like. The Twins still aren't good but it's shameful that they are so close to this team in the AL standings. The birds are just giving games away. Might as well take them and the Twins should go hard for the sweep.
  15. bighat
    Hmm, 82 MPH from the middle man on a relay throw seems pretty fast. Back to the plate, catch, spin and throw...that's totally different than an outfielder who's getting a running start under a ball.
  16. bighat
    That 8th inning home run by Stewart was right out of central casting. It was so defeating. A shame for Shoemaker. Glad the Twins said "f this" for a change and got the run back and then some. The bottom of the 8th inning was really something to watch. Need to make hay this week, good way to start. Here's hoping the guys in the Twins locker room are starting to feel like they can win ballgames. We've got a real star in Kiriloff and Larnach's been showing some potential. Fun. I fear the Twins are still too much boom-or-bust offensively. Would love to see a game where they are consistently scoring in many innings, rather than just 1 or 2.
  17. bighat
    Found this dose of reality on another blog: To get to 96 wins (reasonable expectation for a division win), we'd need to play .681 baseball for the rest of the season. That's a 110 win pace in a full 162-game season. Basically, we'd need to be the best team in franchise history starting right now.
  18. bighat
    Tonight the Twins face John Means - he of the 4-0 record, 1.49 ERA and the recent no-hitter. Twins counter with Matt Shoemaker. Yeeeeesh. Nelson Cruz might still be out out, Polanco out, Kepler out. Lineup looks like it will almost certainly include Garlick, Refsnyder, Astudillo, Larnach, and Gordon tonight. I just can't get excited about this team, and a 4-4 week isn't going to change my mind. Twins will need to go 11-2 or 12-1 over their next patch of games to even possibly have a chance at getting back in this thing. I just don't see that without Buxton in the lineup, and the current pitching staff (no Pineda, no Maeda, who are they going to roll out there?) is just an absolute train wreck.
  19. bighat
    FWIW, Baltimore lost today, the Twins are now tied for the worst record in MLB.
  20. bighat
    Ozzie Guillen said it best. They're done.
  21. bighat
    Agreed. My only problem is that he missed.
  22. bighat
    Amazing to think at 4-0 that Sano would hit 3 HR and the Twins would win in the bottom of the 9th. Almost unfathomable. Great night for the Twins, and Sano. By the way, it's a shame to see a guy hit 3 HR and see the score is 4-4. Gimme a break, get some guys on base for crying out loud. But beggars can't be choosers. A win's a win. I think Duffey clearly tried to hit Mercedes, it's too bad he missed. If you're gonna throw at the guy's butt, at least make contact. Weird watching Rocco get thrown out, that's about as passionate as I've ever seen him and he still looked like he was having a hard time getting steamed up. But good for him for trying to fire up his guys. Not sure the enthusiasm can last with a Shoemaker vs. Giolitto tilt today. A loss would be devastating and that trip out to LA could be a disaster. But, that's why we play the games! You never know. Overshadowed in MLB with Spencer Turnbull throwing a no-hitter for Detroit against Seattle. It's the 2nd time the Mariners have been no-hit and they're hitting .199 as a team. Yikes. For the Tigers, with World Series winning manager AJ Hinch and a talented young group of players, it must feel good.
  23. bighat
    Any talk about the Twins being unlucky this year is just a coping mechanism to help fans deal with reality. It's like telling kids that their 12 year-old cocker spaniel didn't come home from their last visit to the vet because she "went to live on a farm". This is a bad ballclub that deserves to be ranked last in MLB. And that's right where they are. The sooner we all accept the likelyhood of a 107 loss season, the better we'll handle the rest of the season. I don't think kneeling and praying to the BABIP Gods is going to help anyone.
  24. bighat
    I can normally enjoy baseball for baseball's sake as well. A good example is indeed the 1990 Twins. They were just 3 years off a World Series victory and even when they finished in last, they won 74 games. Aguilera and Scott Erickson were emerging, Puckett was still a superstar and Shane Mack was making a name for himself in the OF. Unfortunately this Twins team was expected to contend for a World Series. The organization hasn't won a playoff game in 20 years. Finally, they are on pace for a 55-107 season. There are some really rotten apples on this squad too. Not fun to watch.
  25. bighat
    I don't see the Twins winning one game this week. They'll be 20 games under .500 by Sunday. Absolute embarrassment.
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