Doubleheader Recap: Hapless Twins Continue Woeful Streak; Swept by Athletics

[D.C Twins]

New hitting coach please

[cHawk]

 

I call it the Curse of Eddie Rosario....and how is his replacement doing? You break up a great clubhouse atmosphere and this is what you get as I don't see much of a "team" effort anymore. Hope Maeda has the A squad behind him today...

 

Rosario wasn't the clubhouse leader, or "a" clubhouse leader. If anything, he was a bad example for the younger players. 

[Doctor Gast]

It was tough to see Cruz, Donaldson and Buxton not capitalizing on LHP, let alone Sano. I wondering if Buxton is 100%. Again I think we really missed it not bringing Broxton up when we broke camp. It's hard to predict how well his bat would respond (it couldn't be any worse than Cave's) but one thing is for sure is that we could use his glove and speed. With him in CF we wouldn't need to rush Buxton in the lineup.

[Aggies7]

 

Seeing a lot of confirmation bias going on here.

 

Don't forget, the 1991 Twins started the season at 2-9 and later at 4-10. They were under .500 on June 1st.

 

With the unbalanced schedule, the Twins just need to win against teams in the division to make the playoffs. This will happen. This isn't the first Twins team to struggle against the AL East and AL West. 

 

In other words, breathe.

this group of twins has played a part in losing 18 straight playoff games. any analogy to the guys who won two rings is quite silly

[Aggies7]

 

For those of you complaining about Rocco’s “lack of fire” in the clubhouse:

 

You have not actually seen how he acts in the clubhouse, or really, in the dugout during the games. Yes, his decisions are questionable. We do see that. That being said, you cannot simply state that “Rocco is laid back, with no fire” without any actual evidence. Is he like that in the clubhouse? Who knows. None of us know how he actually acts so we can’t make these conclusions.

to be fair, we can deduce how he is in the clubhouse by his comments and how he hands out off days like candy. 

[Danchat]

I call it the Curse of Eddie Rosario....and how is his replacement doing? You break up a great clubhouse atmosphere and this is what you get as I don't see much of a "team" effort anymore. Hope Maeda has the A squad behind him today...

This lineup was hitting similarly in 2020 with Eddie here. He’s hitting .680 ops with Cleveland... he’d be an upgrade on Cave, no doubt, but he wouldn’t have helped much so far. Especially against lefties, which we’ve faced a ton of lately.

[chpettit19]

 

this group of twins has played a part in losing 18 straight playoff games. any analogy to the guys who won two rings is quite silly

If you're going to attach this group of Twins with the teams from nearly 20 years ago it's quite silly to say you can't speak to them in comparison to the teams 30 years ago. Unless 20 years is the cutoff for when one completely different combination of players can be compared to a current combination of players.

[chpettit19]

 

I call it the Curse of Eddie Rosario....and how is his replacement doing? You break up a great clubhouse atmosphere and this is what you get as I don't see much of a "team" effort anymore. Hope Maeda has the A squad behind him today...

Losing 1 player off the team drastically changed the clubhouse atmosphere? Feels like a drastic exaggeration of Rosario's impact on the clubhouse. Professional athletes are used to having teammates come and go. You think they all made it through the minors with the same teammates year to year? They barely had the same teammates from month to month or week to week in the minors. Cruz, Donaldson, Buxton, Sano, Arraez, Tortuga, etc. can't fill the void in the clubhouse that Eddie left? They're all just moping around the clubhouse cuz they don't have Eddie there to lead them and keep the atmosphere where it should be? Feels like a bad take to me.

[bighat]

Cruz was lifted for a pinch runner after getting hit by a pitch - you can bet we won't be seeing him today. Rocco's going to say DAY OFF!

[Dodecahedron]

 

this group of twins has played a part in losing 18 straight playoff games. any analogy to the guys who won two rings is quite silly

 

There may not be anyone in the dugout from the Tom Kelly/Andy MacPhail era anymore, but there also isn't anyone in the dugout from the Gardenhire era either.

Besides, the topic is the 6-10 start, not the playoffs.

 

I should have added a disclaimer to my comment, because I knew someone would respond with a quip about performance in the playoffs.

 

Anyway, I suppose we could start dismantling the team as many are suggesting, but I'm not sure how swapping out major league players with prospects improves the team's chances of turning things around. If "spring training stats don't mean anything" then one would think any early-season small sample size doesn't mean anything either.

[twinfan]

Like I said before, let's see where things are on Memorial Day. Trouble is, we may be paying tribute to the dead Twins chances. Every team is going to go through slumps and, for now, the COVID thing. However, right now it doesn't even look like we have anything on the farm that could help.

Too bad Lewis is gone for the year. Maybe he could help. Maybe we could trade for Baddoo except he is something like 2 for 30 after the hot start. If I were Baldelli, I would fine anyone who does not move a runner along and anyone who strikes out with men on base. Light a fire under some butts to get things going.

[Trov]

I am glad it is still early in the season.  We really need to stabilize things.  First we lost our 3b for a few games, then our CF, both are back thankfully.  But now our SS and many others are out due to COVID.  

 

I hope they can get settled in and come out of this funk they find themselves in. 

[Azviking101]

Diekman came in and just threw straight fastballs down the middle and cruised until Astudillos near hit

[ashbury]

Rocco and staff are paid to find answers, and this starts with the offense. Time to earn their pay.

[MMMordabito]

 

and wish one of our young bats would take RF away from Kepler. 

 

I would be OK with this, as long as said young bat can actually play RF.   Rooker looked like less than a polished turd out there in Game 2 and was definitely instrumental in the loss.  He also looked silly on Morelands first homer in Game 1.  "Oh, there's a wall there?"

[adjacent]

 

I would be OK with this, as long as said young bat can actually play RF.   Rooker looked like less than a polished turd out there in Game 2 and was definitely instrumental in the loss.  He also looked silly on Morelands first homer in Game 1.  "Oh, there's a wall there?"

Yeah! I saw why they said that Rooker defense is not so good. Not quite Delmon level or Doumit level, but getting there

[Vanimal46]

On April 21, 2016 the Twins were 5-11, and finished with 103 losses. Maybe looking at one data point in the past isn’t beneficial.

[howeda7]

 

They are taking on the personality of the manager. Too relaxed, no fight and too laid back. And too much analytics instead of emphasizing hustle and determination. They look disinterested and certainly out of baseball conditioning. Looks like a big country club atmosphere. Hard too watch...good thing for hockey tonight and golf on the weekends.

I'd take a little Gardy and Battling our Tail Off right now.

[Aggies7]

 

There may not be anyone in the dugout from the Tom Kelly/Andy MacPhail era anymore, but there also isn't anyone in the dugout from the Gardenhire era either.

Besides, the topic is the 6-10 start, not the playoffs.

 

I should have added a disclaimer to my comment, because I knew someone would respond with a quip about performance in the playoffs.

 

Anyway, I suppose we could start dismantling the team as many are suggesting, but I'm not sure how swapping out major league players with prospects improves the team's chances of turning things around. If "spring training stats don't mean anything" then one would think any early-season small sample size doesn't mean anything either.

a lot of these guys have been around for 6 of the 18 straight losses. far from blameless

[Dodecahedron]

 

a lot of these guys have been around for 6 of the 18 straight losses. far from blameless

 

OK, some of the players on this team have a 6-game playoff losing streak, or 2 years. Sounds fair, I can take your word on that.

[mikelink45]

This is the year I paid to have the MLB.com all access - and I try to watch every Twins game, but sometimes I have to go to the Dodgers for relief.  

 

I know it is just April, but if we want to be a 95 win team we now need to go 89 - 57 which is almost 61%.  I know you cannot win the pennant in April, but you can lose it. 

 

I do not know if Rocco is energetic in the club house or just a Bud Grant calm so I do not blame him for the record (just for the bad decisions) and I do want to see the call ups.  I know Rooker looks bad, but that does not mean that other Minor Leaguers will stink.  Cave looks terrible - he is not the answer.  Is Kiriloff and Larnach?  Should Balazovic and Duran come up like one of the commenters suggested?  I do not know.  

 

But things aren't working.  We need a winning streak to get enthusiasm on the field and in the stands.  How will we do it?

[TwinsFanSince86]

I have more confidence in Rocco holding a closed door team meeting to sing Kumbaya than I do his doing anything to push the right buttons or light a fire under the team. Rocco is who he is. 

[KirbyDome89]

 

Seeing a lot of confirmation bias going on here.

 

Don't forget, the 1991 Twins started the season at 2-9 and later at 4-10. They were under .500 on June 1st.

 

With the unbalanced schedule, the Twins just need to win against teams in the division to make the playoffs. This will happen. This isn't the first Twins team to struggle against the AL East and AL West. 

 

In other words, breathe.

Conversely, how many teams that got off to poor starts like you mentioned above didn't sniff the playoffs, let alone win the WS? 

 

I honestly don't understand this notion that the Twins can play sub .500 ball until June and then just flip the switch and play at a 100+ win pace for 4 straight months. 

[Dodecahedron]

We may want to note that the A's are on a 10-game winning streak and allowed 2 runs in the past 5 games with 4 shutouts.

 

Sometimes the story is not just about the Twins.

[Dodecahedron]

 

Conversely, how many teams that got off to poor starts like you mentioned above didn't sniff the playoffs, let alone win the WS? 

 

I honestly don't understand this notion that the Twins can play sub .500 ball until June and then just flip the switch and play at a 100+ win pace for 4 straight months. 

 

Here is my mouth, and here is you putting words in it. 

The point I was making was in my last sentence. 

[gunnarthor]

 

We may want to note that the A's are on a 10-game winning streak and allowed 2 runs in the past 5 games with 4 shutouts.

 

Sometimes the story is not just about the Twins.

That's a legit fair point. The A's are good and they are playing great. Sometimes you just get your ass kicked. 

[SkyBlueWaters]

 

 

... I think the Twins could use some Cannibal Corpse or Onyx or Mobb Deep right about now.

 

I like the sentiment. But I suppose it dates me that I don't recognize those names. Does it make that worse if I suggest some Clash or Dead Kennedys for the clubhouse playlist? 

 

Umm, Led Zeppelin?

 

C'mon, if they're getting too New Age, what could be more old school?

[USAFChief]

We may want to note that the A's are on a 10-game winning streak and allowed 2 runs in the past 5 games with 4 shutouts.

 

Sometimes the story is not just about the Twins.

Part of Boston, Seattle and now Oakland's success is that they got to play the Twins.

 

It goes both ways.

 

Beat the teams on your schedule. Anything else equates to losing, no matter how you try to excuse it.