Twins 8, Blue Jays 6: Twins Win A Rubber Match Nail-Biter in Toronto

[wabene]

2 hours ago, Squirrel said:

That’s not what he said. They are going to use Duran in high leverage situations, where you should be using your best BP pitcher. They are going to look at possible matchups and plan accordingly. If it’s the 9th, it’s the 9th. If it’s the 7th, it’s the 7th. If it’s one inning or two. The idea of a traditional closer, who only comes in to pitch the 9th is no longer a strict thing in baseball today. This isn’t a Baldelli thing or even a Twins thing, it’s a baseball thing. If Duran hadn’t been hit by a line drive yesterday, he would have been back out for the 9th. But, even so, when your team is ahead by 5 runs, you should be able to call on one of your ‘lesser’ pitchers to finish the job. Sheesh, we won. We won against a good team on a winning streak and took the wind out of their sails. We took 2 of 3 from them. We beat a pitcher yesterday who has been very good. And we did it with a decimated roster. That’s team effort from the players, managers and coaches. Well done!

Huzzah huzzah! 

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

I didn’t say he “never” lets starters go deeper but his bias is towards pulling early. If the organizational philosophy is to pull guys early, then it must be a pretty loose mandate because he’s gone against the grain before. A new manager wouldn’t have to be “drastically” different. We’re talking letting guys go another inning or two here, not trying for complete games

Yes, his bias is towards pulling pitchers before they see a good lineup a 3rd time through. That is the organizational philosophy and will not change with a new manager. 3rd time through the order is when the decisions start being made. It's not a set in stone, nobody ever sees a lineup 3 times situation. Each lineup is created different and each pitcher matches up differently against those lineups. The FO and manager gather data on the lineups and pitchers and come up with a general plan before the game starts. Then the manager decides exactly when to pull the plug in the game. There are 100% times when Rocco does something the FO would've done different, but overall they have a plan and Rocco follows it while deciding on precise moves in game based on the parameters set by the FO. There is nothing to debate here. If the FO didn't like how Rocco was doing things they'd fire him. Since they've done nothing but praise him for 3+ years and haven't fired him the only logical conclusion is that he manages the games the way the FO wants him to manage the games.

[Mike Sixel]

They did win, and win the series, right? Some people.

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Except of course what catapulted Duffey to prominence in our bullpen in the first place was his ability to strand runners. So which is the fluke: Duffey then or Duffey now when it comes to runners on base? (or more likely: he was never as good as he seemed before, nor is he as bad as he seems now with runners on base, but small sample sizes are a bitch with relievers...)

No, what catapulted Duffey to prominence was his K rate jumping astronomically in 2019 (and 2020). 

 

That Duffey wasn't around in 2021, and isn't in 2022.

 

Duffey isn't the same guy. Personally, I wonder about grip enhancers, but that's just speculation. Whatever the reason, he's pretty hitable.