Front Page: Twins ALDS Game 2 Recap: Nothing Works, Twins Lose 12th Straight To Yankees

[twinsguy45]

These 2 losses have been painful, much more so than years past.

 

At least last decade, you expected it. .

 

I absolutely expected exactly this after the first third of Game 1. Different year, different players, different coaches, different FO....same old s*#$.

[Mr. Brooks]

“I don’t think of this game as any different than any game that we’ve played,” Baldelli said. “I don’t think, even in the five-game series, that there’s any added emphasis on today’s game. Every game is important. It doesn’t change the importance based on what happened in the previous game until you’re down to the last game and both teams know that they have to win that game, it’s not going to change the way that we’re really going to operate with our personnel.”

 

Absolute nonsense, IMO.

[D.C Twins]

Good thing that we saved Odo and Rodgers until the series was effectively over....

 

I think we can all agree that It is super important that they are really well rested for the games that will never be played!

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

No matter what happens the rest of this series, this Twins team was REALLY FUN TO WATCH THIS YEAR. My 12 year old got me into baseball again this year, and I haven't had this much fun watching baseball in a long time. FSN puts out a great broadcast, and the product is great in my opinion. Was able to take my son up to Target Field for a game this year, and this 2019 Twins Team has provided us with a lot of great times this season. Go Twins!

[jimbo92107]

 

Isn't Odorizzi still on this team?
Starting a guy who was driving an Uber last year, in a must win game in Yankee Stadium was preposterous.
Once again, saving players for situations that may never arise. I don't get it. Odorizzi doesn't even get a start until the series is, for all intents and purposes, over.

Totally agree. If Dobnak were a regular cabbie, that's one thing. But let's face it, Uber was concocted as a scam to avoid all the fees and regulations that come with driving a cab. Thinking that Uber would somehow help the Twins beat the Yankees was, frankly, ridiculous. 

[Danchat]

 

16 walks and two 6 run losses. We all expected Twins to be more competitive, I guess all we needed to do was look back at the 2019 trade deadline, the failure to add any quality starting pitching foretold the difficulty these playoffs would end up being.

I totally agree with you, but even if Mike Minor or Marcus Stroman start today's game, I think we still lose because the hitting was so poor. 

[Bandit34]

Judging from the reactions of Frank Thomas and John Smoltz, I get the real sense that a lot of the TV broadcasters are a bit frustrated, maybe disappointed, in the Twins for getting destroyed by the Yankees. I think the expectation for TV was that this would be a very exciting series. It has been, by far, the most dull series in the post-season. 

[Bandit34]

 

This Twins franchise is forever cooked in the postseason. When ownership' s only stated goal is to win division championships, and build for only that, this team will never advance. The poster that listed the names of the starters above proves this theory. May be different players and management but one thing never changes the ownership and their contentment with illusion of winning and only making the one and done playoffs. 16 walks to the Yankees, twins brought pencils for pitching to a sword fight. This one and done playoffs lays with ownership as much as the players. Content with jyst making the postseason, this one is cooked and over.

It is beginning to get very old now. I was actually really nervous in the first two innings of Game One because I really did think that we had a legitimate chance this year. By the end of the fifth inning of Game One, I totally lost all my nervousness because I realized this year would be no different. I am however, quite surprised with the lack of competitiveness of our club. I would have thought it would have been very competitive these last two games. That's what is surprising. We really have never been dominated like this in any kind of stretch in this entire year. 

[Bandit34]

 

Good thing that we saved Odo and Rodgers until the series was effectively over....

 

I think we can all agree that It is super important that they are really well rested for the games that will never be played!

It's difficult to sweep the White Sox. We're not taking 3 in a row against the Yankees. I would dearly love to send it back to New York but if I know the Yankees, they don't mess around. 

[Aggies7]

The twins won’t advance until they can avoid the Yankees. Period.

[Pius Jefferson]

They would have lost to Houston. 

[twinsnorth49]

Pitching and plate approach have been a hot mess two games in a row. The Yankees look far more prepared in both areas, it’s been impressive to watch them execute their game plan. The Twins are letting themselves down, do not seem focused at all.

 

Disappointing.

[Brian450]

No doubt, our 'backs are up against the wall' here.  But, but, but, WHEN we win game3 in Minnesota, we'll create just a little bit of doubt in the minds of our opponents.  I'll be watching "just in case" ;-).

[Aggies7]

Pitching and plate approach have been a hot mess two games in a row. The Yankees look far more prepared in both areas, it’s been impressive to watch them execute their game plan. The Twins are letting themselves down, do not seem focused at all.

Disappointing.

Confidence is a helluva drug

[Aggies7]

They would have lost to Houston.

 

Probably. But the Astros haven’t exactly crushed tampa pitching. 6-2 and currently 3-0. When the twins gave up a 7 run 3rd inning, that was it. I would like to see what the team could do when the game isn’t out of reach. But, pitching.

[mdonaghue]

Fire the manager until we get a playoff manager who actually reads scouting reports.  Baldelli, thus far, is as incompetent as Gardenhire was.  Solid in the regular season, then his brains turn into water for the playoffs.  How do you not play healthy guys, fail to scout the other team's pitching, fail to scout the other team's hitting, and fail to show up prepared to play?  In the civilian world Baldelli would be fired.

 

At least when Molitor and Kelly were around the teams showed up to play, regardless of the talent level.

 

12 in a row - why didn't we just forfeit as soon as we saw it was the Yankees?  

[RaoulDuke]

I turned it off after the grand slam.  This season was awesome to watch but every flaw has been hyper exposed in the last 2 games and it is super deflating. 

 

Its kind of hard to be mad because no one really expected them to be in this spot at the beginning of the year.  They planned and made moves according to the expectation they could be in the wild card mix 85-90 wins.  They built an offense to feast on the weak pitching in the central and a staff to minimize damage.

 

The division turned out way worse than anyone imagined and a bunch of stuff went right for the Twins. So many things went way better than expected and all the sudden they had the HR record and 101 wins. 

 

Then they had to face a real, experienced, deep, vet team in the playoffs and it disintegrated.  Hopefully this is a hard lesson taken to heart, the window is open but there is a lot of work to be done to be a real threat.  

 

The rotation needs an ace period.  Pay whatever it costs money or prospect wise if it doesn't hurt you haven't gone after a talented enough pitcher.

 

The pen needs 2 more setup+ level nasty guys, at least 1 needs to be a vet.  It also needs a nasty loogy.  The disparity vs the NY pen the last 2 playoff trips has been the biggest factor in getting dominated.

 

The offense feasted on weak teams and it showed a lack of discipline/ approach when really challenged.  Can't expect to win on a pitchers mistakes when you don't force them to make the mistakes.

 

I love Rocco as a manager and have faith he can be the guy but being down 0-2 and having not used one of your 2 best starters and 2 of your best relievers is pretty damning.  

 

[LaBombo]

In the 2-2-1 LDS playoff format era, when the road team starts the series 0-2 they've come back to win it in 10% of those series.

 

A 10 percent generic series win probability for this Twins team after these two particular losses seems to overestimate their chances by a factor of roughly infinity.

 

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration; there's always a chance of a flu outbreak or mass food poisoning up and down the Yankees roster.

 

It's been a fun, successful, memorable Twins season... and their failed postseason won't change that.

 

But it's hard to have a roster and manager be endlessly talked up as being unaffected by past Twins vs. Yanks futility and then watch them raise the bar for it.

 

And ownership needs to acknowledge the fact that they bear a large share of the responsibility for, among other things, a middling prospect with five major league starts totaling 19 innings being tasked with reversing a decade of playoff futility and another decade of just plain baseball futility.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by LaBombo

[launchingthrees]

 

Fire the manager until we get a playoff manager who actually reads scouting reports.  Baldelli, thus far, is as incompetent as Gardenhire was.  Solid in the regular season, then his brains turn into water for the playoffs.  How do you not play healthy guys, fail to scout the other team's pitching, fail to scout the other team's hitting, and fail to show up prepared to play?  In the civilian world Baldelli would be fired.

 

At least when Molitor and Kelly were around the teams showed up to play, regardless of the talent level.

 

12 in a row - why didn't we just forfeit as soon as we saw it was the Yankees?  

 

Well if we do this he'll have the job of his choice because he's a major asset.

[Taildragger8791]

The home runs and big offensive displays were fun this year, and the players are certainly likeable. But we all knew this pitching staff was threadbare and too much of the team got by and smoke and mirrors and matchups. Unfortunately those favorable matchups disappear in the playoffs and now it’s just an embarrassing massacre. They need to replace 2/3 of the pitching next year get an adequate backup for Buxton.

Edited October 6, 2019 by Taildragger8791

[ParisO]

Lying down in the playoffs embarrasses the team by proving they dont belong there and us as fans for ever thinking they did. Either the team is average at best or they quit. There is no third option. We all know the Yankees are not as good as the Twins have made them appear to be.

[MNT1996]

 

Lying down in the playoffs embarrasses the team by proving they dont belong there and us as fans for ever thinking they did. Either the team is average at best or they quit. There is no third option. We all know the Yankees are not as good as the Twins have made them appear to be.

 

If the Yankees aren't as good as the Twins have made them appear to be than what does that make the Twins? 

[Bomba2026]

I was listening to Baseball tonite after work and the Yankees can be so proud of their fans chanting Uber at Randy Dobnak. Kinda like someone still calling you Fat A$$ after you lost 100 lbs. This is why I want another team to get a chance to win. I hope everyone of those jerks lose their jobs.....

[Crackedfungo]

What still shocks me, is that they didn't play Kepler before the playoffs, they rolled the dice on Arraez ankle, they completely out-smarted themselves by saving their second best starter and 2 of 3 best relievers for elimination game. They also have had opportunities to pull pitchers before the 'wheels flew off', and waited one batter too long (Gibson, Duffey, Stashak). We should be disappointed with our hitters swinging at **** pitches on 3rd strike from Pax and Tanaka - Pax's bounced in front of the plate, but plate discipline has never been a strength (we should have scouted better and given all our K-victims take signals). Our ridiculous number of walks is mind-boggling against a team of free-swingers (which the Yankees are), and shows a gutless approach to challenging hitters. That is the game in a nutshell.

[MNT1996]

Dobnak and the rest of the guys can say that they didn't have nerves these last 2 games, but I don't believe them in the slightest. Especially the guys that haven't been in a postseason atmosphere before. I 100% believe this is psychological, and the Twins just don't have enough guys on their roster that are mentally tough enough to deal with the pressure right now in order to win. Twins NEED to bring in at least 1 starter and a couple more relievers in the offseason that have had big time postseason pressure put on them before. 

[JadenPoint]

The Yankees had very good advanced scouting and executed a plan accordingly for game 1. Twins coaching staff/hitters made no adjustments for game 2 and made it easy on their pitchers. Yankees approach seemed simple.. fastball up or off the plate, breaking ball over for strikes, and of course the slider/splitter in the dirt, which somehow the Twins are thinking is a hittable pitch this post season.

[ScrapTheNickname]

 

This is confirmed.  Yankee Stadium smells like the armpit of the older brother who never let you win.

Bravo!

[ScrapTheNickname]

 

Fire the manager until we get a playoff manager who actually reads scouting reports.  Baldelli, thus far, is as incompetent as Gardenhire was.  Solid in the regular season, then his brains turn into water for the playoffs.  How do you not play healthy guys, fail to scout the other team's pitching, fail to scout the other team's hitting, and fail to show up prepared to play?  In the civilian world Baldelli would be fired.

 

At least when Molitor and Kelly were around the teams showed up to play, regardless of the talent level.

 

12 in a row - why didn't we just forfeit as soon as we saw it was the Yankees?  

I guess you would rather have seen Lamonte Wade than Kepler. Sometimes the decisions you have to make aren't good ones.

[bighat]

 

Okay, let's start talking about 2020. Dobnak, Littell, Duffey and the boys should burn this drubbing into their memories. Don't forget the bitterness, the embarrassment, the humiliation, etc. Instead, use those awful feelings to bolster your resolve to become far tougher next year. It is time to murder, dismember and bury all the emotional vulnerabilities you brought to this humiliating mismatch. Time to get tougher than rawhide. Time to chew nails and spit out carpet tacks. 

 

I don't care if next year's team sets a record for home runs. What I don't want to see is a Twins squad that can't field their positions. I don't want to see Twins pitchers throwing meatballs down the middle, or issuing free passes to hitters. I also don't want to see enemy hitters leaning out over the plate without getting a 95 mph reminder why you don't do that to Twins pitchers. 

 

Enough Minnesota Nice. Time for the baseball world to find out what Minnesota Mean looks like. 

 

This is what we all said the last time the Twins got crushed by the Yankees in the playoffs. And the time before that also. If you haven't seen the movie before, here's what happens next: we miss the playoffs for 7-8 straight years and the nightmare repeats a generation later.

 

It's not about being nice or mean. None of these players are from Minnesota, it's not a cultural war between the Midwest and the East Coast.  It's simply one team having resources and spending money vs. another team that doesn't have as much resources and doesn't spend as much money. It's the Waldorf Astoria vs. Extended Stay America.

[bighat]

Serious question: have we all given up on this team already?

 

There's still hope the Twins can nab a game at home on Monday, you know.

 

Oh yeah, these first two games have been a gut punch. Couldn't have gone worse, really. Frustrating. But they just need to win 3 straight. One game at a time. If they can take a game on Monday, this series becomes interesting again.

 

But remember that double-header sweep in Cleveland? We need that mojo back. Is it too late?