Funny, but it feels to me that the Twins, for whatever reason,  just keep finding more ways to lose.  Not feeling good about the remaining season.  Pitching,  arrrgghhhh.  Usage???  I don't know.  But it just feels bad.

Bundy goes 4 innings is not the best start for any teams bullpen. The Twins have a very thin relief corps. Falvey watches the games as do opposing GMs, which might make it hard to trade. Who knows if other teams even see any value additions from the Twins system. The offense is going to be under pressure to perform and I'm hoping they can perform up to outsized expectations.

I just feel Rocco is especially bad at "managing" a BP.  Guys do not have clearly defined roles.  It appears to be a "make it up as we go along" type of approach.  In each season Rocco has managed, he's never had clearly defined roles in his BP.  

I agree that putting Duran in for the 8th was a head scratcher, but with Rocco being so inept at managing a bullpen it doesn't really surprise me. So if they would have put Duffy in for the 8th, he may have blown the deal in the 8th rather than the 9th, right? But if that was the case Duran wouldn't have pitched the 9th and he would be available the next game. Now as it stands, if the Twins need a reliever tonight in the 9th, they turn to who? If the FO doesn't get another reliever or 2 (hopefully 2) between Rocco's inability to mange the pen and the lack of quality relievers we have, the Twins may lose their lead in the Division.

Losing to any Wisconsin entity only infinitely increases the pain, so that added to my frustration. 

Using Duran in the 8th is especially hard to defend against the Brewers on the road because you knew they were going to bring Hader in for the 9th and we were extremely unlikely to take the lead. Therefore you were going to have to get an inning out of Duffy either way. Use him in the 8th and if he blows it, at least Duran is available today. If Duffy doesn't blow it, Duran can possibly pitch the 9th and 10th.

Twins just have to get more than 4 innings from their starters. It is getting ridiculous how the starters are going this season.

Duffy--he was terrible last night. The first role for anyone pitching late in the game MUST be throw strikes. Duran was lucky he got the call to end the 8th. Great framing by the catcher I feel saved his bacon. Duffy came in and was all over the place. If you're gonna lose, make the other guy hit the ball. But Duran was also very wild. Neither one last night exuded confidence in a tie game. I'm also not impressed with Pagan at all. He hasn't gotten any better as the season wears on.

I was hoping though that the game winning SF was going to go foul. In that case you would want the right fielder to let it drop, correct? Because once he catches it, game over. Do players think about that in the heat of the moment. Do the coaches scream, 'let it drop'..if they are pretty sure it will be foul. The pessimist  in me still thought, even if it was foul and left alone, Duffy would have walked in the winning run anyway.

Hader is not perfect, but more often than not, he comes in and quickly gets the job done by throwing strikes. Neither Duran nor Duffy did that last night so the end result was not surprising...just disappointing. I'd rather lose a game with a 400 ft HR than have walks in the 9th factor in the defeat.

45 minutes ago, insagt1 said:

Duffy--he was terrible last night. The first role for anyone pitching late in the game MUST be throw strikes.

Duffey's just one of those pitchers who achieves movement on the ball at the expense of command and having much of an idea where it's going to go.  He can fool AAA hitters some of the time with balls that arrive nowhere close to the strike zone, but real major league hitters are going to feast except the very occasional outings where he has real command.

C'mon, Bundy could've given us five.

Is there any reason Jax can't go two these days?

Sure, a hit and walk the bases loaded...with one out...he can get out of it. 

You are a starting pitcher and expected to be up to pitch EVERY 5th DAY But we have to send 4-5 guys out there every game because the starters can't do their job. If you want to be a major league starter, you get a rhythm, you excel as you get deeper into the game, you mix up your start. It would be different if the Twins rotation arms were hitting 100+ pitches, but they aren't. Season is more than half-done. Our starters have been given every opportunity to buildback, and most all of them can double their inning output for the remainer of the season.

Duffy looks and pitches scared in high leverage situations. Too much nibbling and not enough going after the batter. He needs to be a 6th inning guy no matter how good he pitches in those situations. How many more chances does he get in high leverage situations. How many more games is Rocco going to allow him to lose? We are trying to win our division I think.

1 hour ago, miller761 said:

Duffy looks and pitches scared in high leverage situations. Too much nibbling and not enough going after the batter. He needs to be a 6th inning guy no matter how good he pitches in those situations. How many more chances does he get in high leverage situations. How many more games is Rocco going to allow him to lose? We are trying to win our division I think.

Nibbling, versus lack of command? 

Won't, versus can't?

Yeah, if the latter, I'd pitch scared, too.

I'd say the reasoning might be: pitching Duran in the 8th gives you the best chance of there being a bottom of the 9th. With the bonus if he has a quick 8th you might also get him for the 9th. If you give up a run in the 8th,  there's a strong likelihood there ISN'T a bottom 9, and now you've lost a close game late and your best reliever spent the entire game sitting on his ***.

As an aside, Duffey HASNT been better lately. He's had some better results, but not due to better pitching, just better luck.

He fools virtually nobody. He gets virtually zero bad swings. Almost every swing against him is powerful and well timed. He's not reliable, no matter if he's had a couple scoreless innings recently. 

Agree with USAChief:  " Duffey HASNT been better lately. He's had some better results, but not due to better pitching, just better luck."  I think he has just gotten away with his regular pitching lately.  I knew he was gonna lose the game against the Brewers and felt sorry for Rocco having to go to him in the 9th.  Rocco (Falvey and Levine) are baseball people; they must also watch with a fatalistic attitude.  Must be incredibly hard to keep going back to a dried up well.