Article: MIN 7, CHW 0: Twins, Fans Flex Their Muscles in Weekend Sweep

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Quick update from the BWCA...we just had a group of paddlers go by our camp. They asked if we had any beer to spare. I said, “not tonight, just bourbon”. They said thanks but “we’ll keep moving along”. Just as they passed by, the guy in the last canoe turned and hollered, “do you know how the Twins did today”? I yelled back, “hell yes!...They won again”! Quit asking stupid questions”!

Figures....beer drinkers versus bourbon drinkers. They let anyone into this place...Gotta go back to tending the fire now.

Cheers,
Twinssporto
CEO & Founder
Minnesota Twins 2019 World Series Champions Fan Club

 

So... not to change the subject, but what's your bourbon of choice?

[USAFChief]

36-16.

 

I cant even.

[Aerodeliria]

I knew Sunday's game was a matinee, and I had predicted the Twins would sweep before I hit the hay last night. People are going to say, "Yeah, but it was the White Sox, so really?" The White Sox are nearly as good as the Indians (IMHO), especially now that the Indians are dealing with their "hard-to-swallow" injuries.

 

The real tests are coming though; we start playing the beasts from the east this week. This will be a good test of the Twins' mettle.

 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

Side note, anyone know what was the deal with May's lip? looked like he got a bee sting or got in a fist fight or something.

Got hit in mouth with baseball pre-game.

[yarnivek1972]

There are no slouches in major league baseball. Every team is going to win 54 and every team is going to lose 54... The other 54 games will determine the order of the draft.

 

The Giants can beat the Dodgers on any given night.

 

THEY JUST CAN"T BEAT THE TWINS (HIGH FIVE).

I’m not sure the Orioles or Marlins are going to win 54 this year. However, both may have 54 losses by the AS Break.

[Vanimal46]

It's like I'm watching someone's MLB The Show franchise on easy settings... But this is real life! I've gotta say my friends that are Astros fans are worried about the Twins...

[MNT1996]

 

36-16.

I cant even.

 

You have two of them there. Tomorrow we'll have an odd. (37)

[terrydactyls]

I've never tracked it and I haven't looked it up... But I'm thinking that we've had quite a few years over the past couple of decades when the team home run total for the ENTIRE YEAR would be around the ball park of where we are on May 26th this year.

 

I posted these stats on another thread. But for a quick reference, the Twins have already passed five teams (not including the strike shortened 1981 season), are currently tied with two seasons, and have three more within two home runs. Fifteen more seasons are fifteen or less home runs ahead. This is season 58 (again not counting 1981) and the Twins are tied for 52nd place and could move to 32nd in the next couple weeks. And we aren't a third of the way through the season yet.

[Vanimal46]

Just over and over it is obvious that getting 6+ innings from the starters is so important. My favorite thing about this article ever game is looking at the bullpen usage. This bullpen is rested. May need it against Milwaukee and Tampa this week...

This can't be emphasized enough. A great starting rotation is the ultimate equalizer against anyone they play. I'm thrilled they developed STARTING pitching instead of the opener/primary pitcher set up.

[ChrisKnutson]

Before we get too excited, remember that Pineda’s pitching tomorrow...

[Danchat]

 

Before we get too excited, remember that Pineda’s pitching tomorrow...

Oh no, we'll probably get 6 innings with 2 to 3 solo HRs... we can overcome that!

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Before we get too excited, remember that Pineda’s pitching tomorrow...

 

I know he's been the worst of our starters, but his 0 WAR ranks him 82nd of all ML starting pitchers as of this post.

 

And he's been getting better as the season moved on. He's certainly on the bottom of the list of starters I want to see, but that effectively means he is (as of today) in the bottom of the #3s/top of the #4s in all of MLB. Most playoff teams don't have a 5th starter that good, and some don't have a 4th that good. He's probably an upgrade over one or two potential playoff contenders 3rd starters as of this moment. Think about that. 

 

I'm not losing too much sleep over him figuring it out. The way I see it, Falvine will be looking to get a 1/ace to augment the rotation come July. Pineda will likely go to the pen or flipped for prospects unless he or someone else is hurt. I'm fine with that. 

[Mike Amundsen]

Sitting at the cabin in the north woods, reading the hype about the team. YES!!! I’ve been waiting years for this. I’m an oddball in the twin cities that I place the Twins above the Vikings.

 

I only wish they were home for one more series. This quick five game homestand is too short. I doubt I’ll make it to a game. I haven’t been since MARCH!

 

Let’s go Twins!

[stringer bell]

Twins face Gio tomorrow, who has been effective so far for the Brewaahs. I wonder how they will fare.

[MNT1996]

Milwaukee has given up the 4th most home runs in the league. Perfect.

 

If the Twins do good over these next series (Brewers, Rays, Cleveland) the doubters will have little left to use to discount our team. Let's prove them wrong.

Edited May 27, 2019 by MNT1996

[Dantes929]

 

I don’t think calling the fans “front-runners” is really fair.

The taxpayers funded a stadium under the pretenses of being able to compete for championships. The front office proceeded the slash payroll a year in and fielded arguably the worst team in baseball for nearly a decade.

No fan base would continue to show up at the park. No fan base should. Putting that on the fans as “front-runners” isn’t really acknowledging the reality of the situation. It’s not like we were Yankees on a down year. From ‘92-‘18 this was one of the three worst clubs in Major League Baseball.

Combine those factors with it costing upwards of $200 to take a family of four to sit in the cheap seats and watch a terrible product....

I wouldn't call them frontrunners when they have nearly 2 mill in attendance in the years they lose over 90 games.     

[Seth Stohs]

 

Before we get too excited, remember that Pineda’s pitching tomorrow...

 

Is that the guy who has thrown three straight Quality Starts?

 

I kid... but even if he (or any of the other starters) have a clunker, the next guy seems to pick him up... and at some point, they'll have a three-game losing streak... 

[PDX Twin]

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

 

“Teams that we faced the last few weeks, teams like Boston and Houston and these guys, you’ve just got to execute everything pretty much,” Covey said.

 

“These are the clubs you look at ... obviously in our own division, that we have to learn about how they are going about doing their business,” manager Rick Renteria said, “how we have to do our business against teams like this. Ultimately we have to get better, period.

 

“Play better defense. Pitch better. Make adjustments, in game adjustments. I think they [players] know that. They understand that, and I think it’s not for lack of trying or not talking about or not working about. But you are looking at this team right now and I’m going, ‘They have gotten pretty good. Pretty good.’ ‘‘

 

How cool is it that other teams are starting to think they should emulate our Twins and putting them together with Boston and Houston?

[beetlebum71]

They have more HR's so far this year than they hit in all of 2011.

I've never tracked it and I haven't looked it up... But I'm thinking that we've had quite a few years over the past couple of decades when the team home run total for the ENTIRE YEAR would be around the ball park of where we are on May 26th this year. 

 

[segagenesisgenius]

 

I don’t think calling the fans “front-runners” is really fair.

The taxpayers funded a stadium under the pretenses of being able to compete for championships. The front office proceeded the slash payroll a year in and fielded arguably the worst team in baseball for nearly a decade.

No fan base would continue to show up at the park. No fan base should. Putting that on the fans as “front-runners” isn’t really acknowledging the reality of the situation. It’s not like we were Yankees on a down year. From ‘92-‘18 this was one of the three worst clubs in Major League Baseball.

Combine those factors with it costing upwards of $200 to take a family of four to sit in the cheap seats and watch a terrible product....

 

I also didn't like him calling the twins "frontrunners," but for me it was for a different reason.  Basically, I didn't think that twins fans WERE frontrunners.

 

To me, frontrunners are fans that don't go to the games and stop wearing gear and whatnot a year or maybe two after a good run.  I think of the Royals, who are ranked 13/15 in the AL for attendance, and that is two years after basically .500 baseball, and 4 years after a world series win.  Comparatively, it took six years of poor baseball in MN before we slipped out of the top 10 in the AL.  Similarly, I still saw MN Twins gear out around town all the time over the last decade.  Twins fans were discouraged, but they didn't disappear.  Basically, my thought is that I don't like twins fans being called frontrunners because, well, I don't think that they were.

 

Conversely, I don't necessarily disagree with your analysis, if you don't mind me saying so.  First of all, the twins didn't drop down their payroll 1 year into having their stadium.  First year they were 9th across MLB, second they were again 9th, and third year they were 13th.  It wasn't until their 4th year at the new stadium that they dropped down to 23rd. 

 

I am also confounded by your saying that "[f]rom ‘92-‘18 this was one of the three worst clubs."  The Twins have never been last in their division for more than 2 years in a row, and never had sub-.400 winning seasons more than 1 year in a row. Also, did you just completely tune out the seasons in the aughts?  Without really even thinking about it, I can tell you that the Royals, Tigers, Rays, Orioles had worse and longer losing streaks that the Twins had across that stretch, and that's just in the AL.  Getting 3 first place seasons in a division in a 9 year stretch is one of the three worst clubs in the majors?   None of those same teams (Royals, Tigers, Rays, Orioles) ever had a prolonged good stretch that good, either.  And it costs $200 to take a family of four to watch a game in the cheap seats? I mean, if you are going to go back to '92, cheap seats were $5 or less back at the dome.  Heck, last year I could find tickets to get inside for $15, if you didn't care where you sat.  As a kid I would have one dome dog and one pop for $15.  That's $120 for everyone for tickets and food.  If you want to add in two beers for both you and the missus, that would be $150.  How many beers were you buying for your kids?

 

I think I get what you are trying to say (Twins have had some really bad stretches, so it is entirely justifiable that lots of twins fans haven't been paying to go and watch them in person over the last few seasons, all of which I agree with entirely), but you basically tried to fight his poor hyperbole with your own poor hyperbole.  No reason to stretch the truth.  

[Old Twins Cap]

Pinch me.

 

Best record in MLB.

 

Most runs scored.

 

Biggest run differential.

 

Most HRs.

 

Most wins by starting pitchers.

 

Solid defense. Pretty good bullpen. Winning on the road as well as at home.

 

Everybody gets rest and time off and no one is stressed.

 

Like, did I die and go to heaven or what the hell is going on here?

[Doomtints]

This team is starting to look like the 2016 Cubs in terms of dominance.

Edited May 27, 2019 by Doomtints

[mikelink45]

 

Our starting pitchers have 30 of the 36 wins for the pitching staff. That's gotta lead the league by a wide margin I would think. 

It confirms my premise against the grain when I said wins do count.  I do not care about RP wins, but starting pitcher wins means length and quality of appearance and I still like them as an indicator of performance.

[jorgenswest]

It confirms my premise against the grain when I said wins do count.  I do not care about RP wins, but starting pitcher wins means length and quality of appearance and I still like them as an indicator of performance.

Scherzer is 2-5. Looking at his game log I think he would be 9-1 with the Twins.

[Otto von Ballpark]

To me, frontrunners are fans that don't go to the games and stop wearing gear and whatnot a year or maybe two after a good run. I think of the Royals, who are ranked 13/15 in the AL for attendance, and that is two years after basically .500 baseball, and 4 years after a world series win. Comparatively, it took six years of poor baseball in MN before we slipped out of the top 10 in the AL.

In context, I am not sure these numbers mean much. The KC metro is a million-plus less population than the Minneapolis metro, so we probably can't consider them on the same scale. Also, the 2011-2015 Twins attendance was almost certainly buoyed by the new ballpark, and the fact the team was consistently good for 10 years prior to that period (As opposed to the Royals, whose 1994-2012 era of suckiness is unmatched in Twins history.)

 

Examples of different contexts: with a new ballpark and good teams, the 1973-1989 Royals were consistently great in attendance. Meanwhile, the Twins twice dropped out of the top 10 in AL attendance just 3 years after winning World Series titles in the Dome around that same era.

 

Basically, I'd hesitate to pass judgment on any group of fans with this little data. (Except Yankees fans, of course -- no data required for that.)

Edited May 27, 2019 by spycake

[terrydactyls]

I posted these stats on another thread. But for a quick reference, the Twins have already passed five teams (not including the strike shortened 1981 season), are currently tied with two seasons, and have three more within two home runs. Fifteen more seasons are fifteen or less home runs ahead. This is season 58 (again not counting 1981) and the Twins are tied for 52nd place and could move to 32nd in the next couple weeks. And we aren't a third of the way through the season yet.

 

Here are more specific details. Twins are at 103 home runs after 52 games. Just ahead are:

 

Year HR Rank

1992 104 50

1968 105 48

1999 105 48

1974 111 46

2008 111 46

1979 112 45

1984 114 44

1998 115 43

1971 116 41

2000 116 41

1989 117 40

1996 118 38

2007 118 38

1973 120 36

1995 120 36

1975 121 34

1993 121 34

1977 123 33

[jmlease1]

I love seeing the Twins smash the White Sox. Going back many years, they are the division team I love seeing us beat down. We really haven't played the division much, so there's plenty of opportunity to pile up wins there, and they all count.

 

Odorizzi was excellent again. Maybe Duffey is the guy who can go 1-2 innings every few games? That would make it easier to get back down to a 7 man bullpen (I really dislike the 13 pitcher alignment; we are set up to handle it because Gonzalez, Astudillo, and Adrianza have good positional flexibility but it still limits you)

 

 

[stringer bell]

 

Here are more specific details. Twins are at 103 home runs after 52 games. Just ahead are: Year HR Rank 1992 104 50 1968 105 48 1999 105 48 1974 111 46 2008 111 46 1979 112 45 1984 114 44 1998 115 43 1971 116 41 2000 116 41 1989 117 40 1996 118 38 2007 118 38 1973 120 36 1995 120 36 1975 121 34 1993 121 34 1977 123 33

104 after yesterday's game.

[MMMordabito]

F Baldelli for pulling Odorizzi at 5.1 ... I would have won 13-1, instead of 12-1 in fantasy this week!!!

 

Just kidding,  I'm sure he wants to keep him fresh to go down and dominate his old mates.

 

It's so fun ramming the White Sox.  Anderson getting his bat-flipping hands knocked out of the series was icing on the cake!

[rdehring]

 

There are no slouches in major league baseball. Every team is going to win 54 and every team is going to lose 54... The other 54 games will determine the order of the draft. 

 

The Giants can beat the Dodgers on any given night. 

 

THEY JUST CAN"T BEAT THE TWINS (HIGH FIVE). 

Isn't it great to be rooting for a team that just might not lose 54?