Article: Twins Game Recap (7/17): Mets Blow Out Twins, Complete Another Target Field Sweep

[theBOMisthebomb]

I so hate to see any professional team just give up at any point in any game. It happens way too often. No need to man/fansplain to me why they do it. I get it. I still hate it. People pay to see professionals give it their all, not throw in the towel.

 

Baldelli, or any manager, can't make plays for their players. These errors are truly a lack of concentration, and not a "rough patch". These guys have been playing baseball for most of their life. They need focus, not drills. The know what to do.

 

This a team that has lost more games than they have won since June 15. That is not a patch. That is a habit. A habit that needs changed to have the focus and spirit that got them 25 games above .500 by June.

I wanted to request a refund when Rosario didn't run out a ground ball an inning or two after dropping that routine fly ball.

[gil4]

 

he could have asked him on April not to hit dog every. Single. Catch.

Rosario styles everything, and it caught up to him.

I agree 100%. 

At work today I saw the score go across the bottom of the screen.  I also saw "Rosario 4-4, 3B, HR" and thought at least Eddie is recovered. Then I come here and see 0-4 plus a key error and got confused. I finally checked the box score and saw that Amed Rosario had himself a pretty nice game. 

[terrydactyls]

Yesterday was Wednesday, July 17, it was the 94th game of the year and the Twins hit 2 home runs. The Twins are now 58% of the way through the season. Out of 59 years, the current team ranks 9th on the all-time list of Twins' home runs in one season and are on a pace to hit 300 home runs this season. They are now 93 home runs behind the single season MLB record. The next Twins team to pass is the 1962 team that hit 185 home runs.

 

[curt1965]

he could have asked him on April not to hot dog every. Single. Catch.

Rosario styles everything, and it caught up to him.

I was at both games, and it was not pretty. Not because they lost-that happens. Lack of energy, effort, and enthusiasm is not acceptable! Tuesday night’s game was horrible except for Arraez’s amazing AB in the 9th.

Sano and Schoop made sloppy errors. But today’s game took the cake! May’s HR pitch happens- you’d think he’d learn, but maybe not. But Rosario’s hot dog effort on an easy fly ball was horrendous! This one is on Rocco. Chief is spot on!

[Dantes929]

 

I would argue Trevor May's beach ball curve changed the course of the game but YMMV. Do you think this pitching staff is ready for a playoff run as it stands today?

Scoring a couple runs off the other team's 4th and 5th starters.   I don't think the offense is ready for the playoff run as they played today and I don't think the defense is ready for a playoff run as they played today.    I think the starting rotation is capable as they have demonstrated most of the year.   I think the relief is capable as they have demonstrated the last 6 weeks and I think the offense is capable as they have demonstrated for the first couple months.    As it stands today I think they are capable and it is up to them to play to that.    I am guessing nearly every playoff team and nearly every playoff team that has had success in the playoffs has had stretches where the fan base has asked the questions you have asked.   I think they are capable.   I think they need to play better.

[Dantes929]

Listening to the Mets announcers and seeing the write up yesterday about the plays the Mets made on difficult balls in play and seeing the bad plays the Twins have made lately I would say the Twins just need to play better baseball.    Pitching, defense, baserunning, hitting.   All of it.  

[howeda7]

 

Time to DFA Magill. Bring up Stashak please.

Magill has options doesn't he? In any event, today makes DFA'ing a guy with an ERA in the 3's a bit more of a head scratcher. 

[howeda7]

My patience with Sano is nearly gone. Even as his bat is somewhat better, he has been awful in the field. If we can use him to get some pitching, by all means, trade him. 

[howeda7]

 

With all the errors it is blatantly clear that Rocco is a weak manager. What exactly has he brought to the table? The shift?

The Twins are quickly heading into the direction of being sellers. The babying the team is not working and it shows by their piss poor attempts at the fundamentals of baseball like catching, bunting, and base running.

He is not the answer and the Twins do not have a playoff contending team without substantial upgrades to the team.

So...you're advocating firing the manager in year 1, while 22 games over .500?

[David HK]

Calling an 0-2 curveball is not the problem. The problem is a pitcher who spins the damn thing over the heart of the plate, instead of burying it 6 feet deep. That's on Trevor may for not pitching like a major-leaguer.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Magill has options doesn't he?

Nope. Magill's 3 option years were burned in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

[Darius]

Complaining about pulling Perez is just silly. The guy is not a good pitcher, and an implosion is a matter of time. Everyone would be chastising Baldelli today for leaving him in if he would’ve done so, because Perez would’ve given it away eventually.

It seems like the new-age act from Baldelli is wearing thin. Everything looks great when you’re winning two out of every three.

It’s time to cope with reality. This team isn’t a great team. Certainly not the best team in the AL like we all started to believe. We’re not even the best team in the division. We won’t even be the best team getting a wildcard spot (if we even get one - a performance like this against Oakland and you can probably stick a fork in the season and start selling guys).

The FO should’ve struck while the iron was hot. They have massive culpability here for this thing going off the rails. What an incredible waste of a historic start. Mark my words today, this team will be on the outside looking in come playoff time. What an embarrassment (the defense, the awful pitch selection). Might be time to start thinking about halting production on that bronze statue of Wes Johnson. This pitching staff is as bad as we all thought it was when we were pulling our hair out about the lack of offseason activity.

Frankly, I’m getting kind of pissed off with Falvine and Baldelli at this point.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Carole Keller
name calling removed

[Darius]

Calling an 0-2 curveball is not the problem. The problem is a pitcher who spins the damn thing over the heart of the plate, instead of burying it 6 feet deep. That's on Trevor may for not pitching like a major-leaguer.

Disagree. He just got scorched by an 0-2 curveball a few days ago, when my 5 year-old kid could see that Santana wasn’t catching up to his fastball. It cost the Twins two games in the standings that day. One more yesterday.

 

He can’t locate the pitch. Don’t call it when other things are clearly working. A one run game in the 7th inning in the middle of a playoff race isn’t the time hope something to close your eyes and hope something works. A good catcher takes control of things there. You tell the pitcher what he’s throwing. Especially when it’s a guy like May who has no track record to support any credibility.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Darius

[the_brute_squad]

The pitching wouldn't be an issue of the defense played defense. The errors this team makes are lazy, fundamental errors. It's been a problem for over a month (19 fielding errors) and their record reflects it. Pitching and bombas mean nothing if you give the opposing team extra outs each game.

[Riverbrian]

In the year 2017 

 

Between August 26 and September 10th. The Los Angeles Dodgers produced one win while losing 16 games. 

 

Do some of our Twinsdaily members forget they have been on a roller coaster every single year with  every single team... every single time?

 

Or do some just like to remain unprepared for it and scream at the top of their lungs on every drop of the rollercoaster ride?  

 

 

 

 

[Darius]

The pitching wouldn't be an issue of the defense played defense. The errors this team makes are lazy, fundamental errors. It's been a problem for over a month (19 fielding errors) and their record reflects it. Pitching and bombas mean nothing if you give the opposing team extra outs each game.

The Yankees, Cubs, and most notably Dodgers all have more errors per game this year than the Twins. Errors happen. Sometimes pitchers have to pull a little extra weight and get a hitter out with runners on base.

 

Not excusing it, but the numbers show that other teams commit just as many/more errors and are pulling away from the Twins record-wise like they’re tied to a post. It’s more complicated than an outfielder dropping a fly ball.

[USAFChief]

 

In the year 2017 

 

Between August 26 and September 10th. The Los Angeles Dodgers produced one win while losing 16 games. 

 

Do some of our Twinsdaily members forget they have been on a roller coaster every single year with  every single team... every single time?

 

Or do some just like to remain unprepared for it and scream at the top of their lungs on every drop of the rollercoaster ride?  

True story.

 

Also true: in the years 1883-2016, and 2018, over one thousand teams* dropped 16 of 17 and went on to miss the postseason.

 

*number pulled completely out of my ***

 

 

[AceWrigley]

 

Coming from a pitching coach's perspective...sometimes you know if a curve is thrown in the dirt, strike 3 will happen. Unfortunately, sometimes pitchers throw said curveball NOT in dirt.

Yeah, Garver was clearly positioned for way low and away and May threw a hanger. Execution is key. 162 games is a long season and lackadaisical play is gonna pop up from time to time; its human nature. You just don't like seeing it in highly paid athletes. Hopefully the team finds its mojo again and goes on a romp. Go Twins!

[KFEY93]

 

Honestly, I worried about the team getting the big early lead and coasting through the later months of the year. I didn’t expect Cleveland to turn things around like this, and I thought if they did the twins would respond accordingly. Hasn’t happened so far. Been sort a sleep walk for a month and a half now and there’s a real danger they’ll fall out of first. I don’t think that’s just pessimistic at this point. It’s clearly possible. And I don’t believe the team can possibly sign/trade for as many parts as they need. None of the starters, while good at times, have been dominant recently, and we know what we have with the bullpen which is basically Rogers and maybe one other guy. No way can/will the ownership be able to get as much as they need. Conservatively, they need 2 relievers and a starter. But really like 3 relievers and 2 starters. It ain’t happening.

Thats not pessimistic at all. Its reality. People need to realize this team has major issues and has been playing mediocre ball since the beginning of June. The only reason we are still in first was because we built up such a large lead. Our horrible play has become more the norm than one of the best teams in baseball. Team will be lucky to grab a wild card if they keep playing like this. Sad. But most certainly true. 

[KFEY93]

 

Oh well. Rough patch.

Thats the attitude that takes a team from tops in the league to out of the play offs. Oh well, on to the next series. No. Thats not how winning teams work. 

[KFEY93]

 

Listening to the Mets announcers and seeing the write up yesterday about the plays the Mets made on difficult balls in play and seeing the bad plays the Twins have made lately I would say the Twins just need to play better baseball.    Pitching, defense, baserunning, hitting.   All of it.  

"Just play better"  Seems obvious and also easier said than done

[luckylager]

 

Thats the attitude that takes a team from tops in the league to out of the play offs. Oh well, on to the next series. No. Thats not how winning teams work. 

 

You're right! Losing one's mind on the Twins Daily game thread is how seasons get turned around! 

[bighat]

 

In the year 2017 

 

Between August 26 and September 10th. The Los Angeles Dodgers produced one win while losing 16 games. 

 

Do some of our Twinsdaily members forget they have been on a roller coaster every single year with  every single team... every single time?

 

Or do some just like to remain unprepared for it and scream at the top of their lungs on every drop of the rollercoaster ride?  

 

I know what you mean. Things like "season's over" and that kind of talk is a bit extreme in my opinion.

 

But, this is clearly the worst stretch of the year for this team. If we're on a roller coaster, we're on the way down and nobody knows where the bottom is. Criticism is warranted.Fans should be frustrated and I see no reason for Twins fans to bite their tongues with all that's happened (and more importantly, NOT happened) in the past few weeks.

 

I guess I'm just saying that while I agree we shouldn't jump ship, I do think there are plenty of reasons to be frustrated as a fan. Aside from Berrios, Odorizzi and Rogers, there's nobody on this staff that pitches well consistently. Some are OK part of the time, and others are downright terrible. Other teams are making trades and the Twins are picking up DFA'ed garbage scraps. We're losing. Indians aren't. Things are as bad as they've been all year. Sure, could be worse...but should we really be ecstatic that we're not 24 games out like we are 3/5ths of the time?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

Thats the attitude that takes a team from tops in the league to out of the play offs. Oh well, on to the next series. No. Thats not how winning teams work. 

Disagree completely. Every team goes through these funks. 

 

The regular season is six months long, they play nearly every day, plus add spring training and most of February. Keeping an even keel is essential to turning this back around (among other things, and yes they need to start playing better again too). 

[Freddie Knuckles]

Here are the losing streaks of past World Series winners:

 

'18 BOS: 3 games (4x)

'17 HOU: 5 games (11-17 Aug)

'16 CHI: 5 games (12-14 Jul)

'15 KC: 4 games (11-17 Sept)

'14 SF: 6 games (10-16 June)

'13 BOS: 3 games (15-15 May)

 

It's a long season and even the best teams have down turns. I do think a trade would help invigorate the team and get them back on track and finally getting healthy will pay dividends.

[Shaitan]

Fire sale and move the team to Montreal ASAP!

[TerwilligerBuntsOne]

As ugly as the last 3 innings were, it still only counts as 1 loss.  Get back at it today! Having said that, it seems that many of this team's below-the-surface problems all made an appearance this week: shaky defense, relief pitching at a AAAA level, lack of clutch hitting with RISP. The team just doesn't look as focused as it once did.

 

They do need to bring in some additional arm, no question.  However, is 1 relief pitcher enough to propel the squad into October? I doubt it. There are something like 68 games left.  If the Twins traded for a reliever today, how much will he actually pitch? Most relievers seem to pitch an inning or so at a time (at least on Rocco's team!).  If New Reliever Guy #1 pitches an inning in every other game, that means that he will contribute around 34 innings over the course of the season. The actual number would likely be lower than that, especially the longer we wait to acquire said pitcher. Very helpful (hopefully), but not necessarily the ultimate solution.

 

Of course, if you add New Starter Guy #1, and perhaps New Reliever Guy #2 to go along with New Reliever Guy #1....now we are talking.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Fire sale and move the team to Montreal ASAP!

We need that dome field advantage!

[Major League Ready]

 

I would argue Trevor May's beach ball curve changed the course of the game but YMMV. Do you think this pitching staff is ready for a playoff run as it stands today?

 

No, I don't think we have a pitching staff that will do well in the playoffs but the tone of previous posts failed to acknowledge the primary reason for recent losses has been very sloppy play.  We have one dominant RP and Harper has actually been pretty good too.  The rest are all just decent. Our SP also does not match-up with any of the top contenders and it's not all that close. We would need someone a step-up from Berrios. That's a tall order. The BP needs a lot of help too. Littell actually looks like the 2nd best RP to me at the moment.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Major League Ready

[Vanimal46]

No, I don't think we have a pitching staff that will do well in the playoffs but the tone of previous posts failed to acknowledge the primary reason for recent losses has been very sloppy play. We have one dominant RP and Harper has actually been pretty good too. The rest are all just decent. Our SP also does not match-up with any of the top contenders and it's not all that close. We would need someone a step-up from Berrios. That's a tall order. The BP needs a lot of help too. Littell actually looks like the 2nd best RP to me at the moment.

I agree the sloppy fundamentals are contributing to this slide. That should correct itself over time because the talent is there and they didn't just forget how to catch and throw a baseball.

 

My primary focus is supplementing the team for a playoff run, and the biggest weakness is the pitching staff. My first post about Falvey and Levine getting on the phone ASAP is related to that. We need to raise the floor in the bullpen so when a pitcher doesn't have it that day, there's another quality pitcher available to bring in. Right now they don't have that luxury. By default, May is the 2nd or 3rd best reliever. They need another reliever or 2 for the stretch run.