Game Recap: Tigers 7, Twins 3

[beckmt]

 

None of those things will fix the bullpen though.

If you average 6 runs a game, bullpen will not be a big issue (or as big).

[bighat]

Terrible lead-in for this article made it sound like Jose Berrios was at fault. This isn't fantasy baseball, it's real MLB baseball. Berrios gave up 2 runs and got his team to the start of the 7th inning.mJose did his job, period. I don't care if he didn't strike out anyone and his K/IP ratio dipped. He kept opponents from crossing home plate. Should have been good enough to get this team the win.

 

The blame rests on the offense and, as always, the bullpen. Our starters have been doing their job.

 

 

[LA VIkes Fan]

This team is hard to watch. Like many here, I do want to move things up and start over at least a little. The problem is who to add. Hopefully Arraez is back Tuesday, and Kirilloff by the end of next week. Move Shoemaker to the pen, bring up Dobnak. Rortvedt isn't ready, time for Jeffers to come back. Find Significant playing time for Larnach and Gordon. Keep Law in the bullpen for the next 10 days and see if he can pitch. Its hard to know what to do other than that. There just isn't much else out there. Its actually pretty depressing.

[peterb18]

 

Isn't it time for someone -- I nominate Rocco -- to go on an obscenity-laden rage and smash everything smashable in the clubhouse? Yesterday's game was an abomination. Where is the professional pride? Duffey needs to go to the far end of the bench with Colome, Law back to Neptune. Lewis Thorpe has to be better than Duffey. Can Nick Gordon play first base? Also, can anyone stand listening to the babblings of Justin Morneau?

Morneau is so dull and speaks in a monotone voice. I turn the sound down to where it is just a mumbling sound. Doesn’t matter now that I’m going to quit watching and just check the score once in a awhile. This team and management is so bad. The real reason they hired Johnson was so they could pick up reclamation projects and he can develop them. Save the Pohlads a lot of money. And what was the reason for not signing May? Can’t remember.

 

[peterb18]

 

This team is hard to watch. Like many here, I do want to move things up and start over at least a little. The problem is who to add. Hopefully Arraez is back Tuesday, and Kirilloff by the end of next week. Move Shoemaker to the pen, bring up Dobnak. Rortvedt isn't ready, time for Jeffers to come back. Find Significant playing time for Larnach and Gordon. Keep Law in the bullpen for the next 10 days and see if he can pitch. Its hard to know what to do other than that. There just isn't much else out there. Its actually pretty depressing.

Rortvedt will never be ready as a hitter. 

[rdehring]

I don't have access to the games, but from comments above sounds like Rortvedt and Berrios weren't on the same page. Considering he was about the #5 or #6 catcher in spring training, I suspect he hasn't had lots of time with most of these pitchers. The kids defense is first rate and I understand he handled pitchers well in the minors, pitchers he was familiar with. 

 

As for his hitting, he gets a pass from me. The last live games he played before joining the Twins were at AA Pensacola in late summer 2019. Yes, he hadn't faced live pitching in a real game in well over a year and a half...remember, he wasn't at the camp in St. Paul last summer. Add the move up from AA to the big leagues and you are getting what you see. Hopefully, whatever Falvey is doing will be over and he will get sent back to Wichita ASAP to finish his development as a hitter. And I don't know why Astudillo isn't catching any of these games, he is their second best catcher at the moment.

 

Just after the Twins give us all a bit of hope with a nice game Friday night, they go out and crap all over the ballpark Saturday...reminding us that there isn't a lot to like about this team. When I look forward, there aren't a lot of guys on this team today I want to see still with the Twins say in 2023! And I want to see a bigger change on the coaching staff, beginning with the head guy.

[wsnydes]

If you average 6 runs a game, bullpen will not be a big issue (or as big).

Don't really disagree with that, but it's the bullpen that will hold this team back. You can't slug your way through the playoffs.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

When we were winning Falvey was giving interviews constantly. Maybe he is in hiding now. Unless he gave one yesterday.

Levine did give an interview to Provus this morning on Inside Twins. He came over the radio as a little anxious about something, so I will give him a pass. Bottom line: Expect the good things that are happening to continue being good (for example, batted ball exit velocity), and the bad things to stop being bad (inherited runners scored).

[ashbury]

Expect the good things that are happening to continue being good, and the bad things to stop being bad.

 

 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

That was my take on it, anyway. I’d be glad to get someone else’s take and talk it over here if someone else was listening.

[adorduan]

 

The rebuild needs to start. The time for this wave is shot. Start by offloading Buxton, Sano and Berrios.

Well, you are going to have to accept a bag of balls for Sano.  He has no value.....

[insagt1]

Want to vent on this. And in NO WAY do I mean to impune any posters opinions because they all matter, whether they agree with mine or not. So here is mine:

Lately the 'new toy', the flavor du jour seems to be how hard balls are hit and exit velocity. Seemingly after every AB, you hear the talking heads go...and that ball was hammered, it was hit a a million miles an hour..it was really timed etc etc.

 

And honestly, does any of that really matter? Really matter? I am a 73 year old baseball fan who remembers watching Bob Gibson pitch for Rochester; Jim Frey win an I.L. batting title before becoming a successful major league manager. Watching the Brooklyn Dodgers on TV. Mickey Mantle slug mammoth HR's. Enjoy watching Cal and Wade play in baseballs longest game (Rochester vs Pawtucket 33 innings). Lou Brock, Tim Raines, Rickey H and Maury Wills steal bases at will. The grand old game was just plain fun, with runs, hits, errors and RBI.

 

Hitting a ball 'hard' doesn't materially mean 'better'. In fact some of the hardest hit ground balls are easy DP's...while the tappers and 3 hoppers sometimes keep innings going. A bloop in front of a charging outfielder playing too deep can bring home runners with 2 outs, while a hard hit fly ball to deep center field accomplishes nothing. Its not how hard you hit the ball, its where it goes. Twins stink at situational hitting because they are all swinging from their heels...resulting in a boatload of strikeouts and hard hit routine outs. Nellie Cruz can smoke a ball off the right field fence and only get a single. Twins can put a runner at 3rd with one out and Sano will strike out. then the next hitter pounds a hard hit but poorly placed fly ball to end the inning.

 

And so it goes. If you are a Yankee fan (blasphemy of course) you knew it only took a 296 ft fly ball down the right field line to circle the bases. Didn't have to be hit 500 mph to clear the fence. A bleeder thru the infield accomplishes in many cases more than a 110 mph ground shot right at someone..plus the hard hit grounder gives the fielder more time to get the out. What I guess I'm trying to say is I think its a superfluous stat that some may find interesting, but overall its no marker as to how good a team or player is. Twins may 'win' the hard hit ball contest, but they aren't winning games. Sano can mash...that is when he connects...which isn't very much. How valuable has he been?

Their k count this season, with runners on, is toxic.have they forgotten baseball fundamentals? Or have they not learned them at all?

I don't care how hard the ball is hit. just hit 'em where they ain't...as the saying goes. Personally, I wouldn't miss the expressions 'barreling up' exit velocity or launch angle if they quietly disappeared from the landscape.

 

but thats just me. Thanks for listening. If you disagree, I respect that, just as I hope you respect my thoughts as well.

(I also witnessed the first Montreal Expo game...and their first HR was hit by a pitcher!!) Ah memories. Keep the faith my friends...better days may be ahead.