Astros 4, Twins 2: Verlander Perfect, Twins Offense Arrives Late in Houston

'cause we're FREE.... FREE Faaaaalllllin' 

Loved the rally, late though it was.  The rest?  Meh...

It's not Jake Cave's fault the lineup is so hurt we can't find an outfielder with a better plate approach (where's Rob Refsnyder when you need him?). The dogs in the street know he's not The Guy, and he probably also understands his career ends at AAA, but we still find ourselves silently pleading that he'll realize he needs to make fundamental changes against big league pitching. The whole of Twins Territory cringed after Urshela walked.

What odds could you get in Vegas tonight that the Twins will score four or more tomorrow...?
 

"I really didn't like the lack of communication on a really unusual play."

(Because it most it was most certainly NOT on my spreadsheet... and I Iet the umpire know that in no uncertain terms ?)

Just alittle to late and just alittle short on runs,  at least we avoided a shutout  with runs in the ninth ...

A big blunder again for the second year in arow from the entire coaching staff for not having their heads in the game  on the mound visits  , as odd as it was it was still a blunder ...

if the coaches don't have their heads on the game , how do you expect the players to ...

I rest my case  ...

Realistically, Verlander is who he is for a reason; I don't think any of us were expecting to beat him.  And as much as I hate talking about moral victories, we can say we got 2 runs and 6 hits in only 3 innings against a better than fair Houston bullpen, so we may do better going forward.  

It was a weird game, but we did hold them within reason and put up a fight once Cy was out of the game, so I have higher hopes for the rest of the week.  Higher than what is open to debate, however.    

So not only are we slumping offensively, but Rocco now apparently can’t count to two, and the highlight was not getting no-hit.  Staying the obvious but we are trending in the absolute wrong direction. 

No comment.

Verlander demonstrated what a great pitcher does. Put Celestino in center give the team it's best defense.

What has happened to Sanchez. He began the season with promise and now he's showing why the Yankees were ready to dump him.

Note to Rocco. There are better ways to fire up your team. 

when the roster is full of DFA candidates, you can't expect performances from them.

please DFA Pagan,Sanchez,Cave,Beckham, put Buxton and Polanco on 60D IL

call up Palacios,Helman,Wallner,Chris Williams, Let the rookies play in September.

15 minutes ago, TWTwinsFan said:

when the roster is full of DFA candidates, you can't expect performances from them.

please DFA Pagan,Sanchez,Cave,Beckham, put Buxton and Polanco on 60D IL

call up Palacios,Helman,Wallner,Chris Williams, Let the rookies play in September.

Alittle extreme but I agree with the concept  , the only performers on the team are the younger players Arraez  , Miranda and Gordon because they want to stay in the major leagues  and have something to prove  , arraez has been in the league and has proved he should get a contract extension  ,

So bringing up some prospects for a taste of the big is a good idea at this point  ,,,.

Something to get excited about to finish the season ...

I think Rocco's reaction indicates that he is feeling the pressure as he watches his team's chances dwindle by the day. The injury bug has certainly hit the Twins hard, but even before Buxton went on the IL, he, Correa, and Polanco, who should be the heart of the order, were not doing much at all.   Plus, having Duran, Jax, and Lopez in the bullpen doesn't do much good when you are constantly behind. If things don't take a significant turn in the next week, I fear it is lights out for the season.  At this point, I don't think they have the horses to make a stretch run.  I hope I am wrong and a phoenix rises out of the ashes, but I don't expect it.

There is no moral victory here.  Except for the ninth inning the game played out in typical Twins fashion.  I find it strange that both the Twins tv announcers and radio announcers immediately picked up that the twins were charged a mound visit during the little fracas.  Yet with all the coaches in the dugout no one saw the clear notice made by the home plate umpire.  Obviously that had nothing to do with losing the game as some would try to make you believe.  Twins pitching, minus megill was very good.  The bats are still in hibernation

Listless performance again offensively. It's a broken record. Does Rocco know what constitutes a mound visit? It's only the umpires responsibility to signal when you made one, they did. Pay attention Rocco. Even if you Rocco missed it, you should have known you made a visit when you stepped on the mound. 

Isn't there anyone in the minors that is better than Jake Cave? If not, this organization is in serious trouble tong-term.

While I do not disagree with any of the posters, I would point out that it is the obligation of the umpires to remain in control of the game entrusted to them at all times. When you saw the umpire trying to intercept Pete Maki to warn him he'd have to remove his pitcher, you saw an umpire who realized the umps had not fulfilled their obligation to communicate clearly and distinctly. Twins management is not absolved of their responsibility to have their head in the game, but with the hit batter and the confusion on the field, we need to expect more professionalism from our umpires as well. 

4 minutes ago, rv78 said:

Listless performance again offensively. It's a broken record. Does Rocco know what constitutes a mound visit? It's only the umpires responsibility to signal when you made one, they did. Pay attention Rocco. Even if you Rocco missed it, you should have known you made a visit when you stepped on the mound. 

This is something I was wondering about after I heard it happened (I didn’t see it live). Who’s responsibility is it to make sure the indication is received?  Basic communications 101 tells me that both the sender and receiver need to be involved for proper communications. If the ump indicated there was a mound visit but didn’t get an acknowledgement in return, shouldn’t that mean the ump needs to send the message again?

The Twins are the 2021 Padres. The Jayce Tingler effect is real. And Rocco looks like a buffoon in that clip - this has to also be his last year with the Twins.

31 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

There is no moral victory here.  Except for the ninth inning the game played out in typical Twins fashion.  I find it strange that both the Twins tv announcers and radio announcers immediately picked up that the twins were charged a mound visit during the little fracas.  Yet with all the coaches in the dugout no one saw the clear notice made by the home plate umpire.  Obviously that had nothing to do with losing the game as some would try to make you believe.  Twins pitching, minus megill was very good.  The bats are still in hibernation

Watched the game on MLB TV and the Houston Broadcasters were siding with the Rocco on how absurd the ejection was.  They didn't know he was charged with a mound visit till after the commercial break the next half inning to be shown the replay.  Only reason they gave was that he walked onto the mound versus staying in the grass infield part.  

Right, wrong on indifferent, coaches, players, someone should have seen the gesture of the home plate umpire.  

Don't even get me started on such a cry baby Altuve was mouthing off on a cut fastball just off the plate.  

38 minutes ago, HokieRif said:

This is something I was wondering about after I heard it happened (I didn’t see it live). Who’s responsibility is it to make sure the indication is received?  Basic communications 101 tells me that both the sender and receiver need to be involved for proper communications. If the ump indicated there was a mound visit but didn’t get an acknowledgement in return, shouldn’t that mean the ump needs to send the message again?

My wife can be looking right at me when I say something, and respond with, "what"?

2 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

The Twins are the 2021 Padres. The Jayce Tingler effect is real. And Rocco looks like a buffoon in that clip - this has to also be his last year with the Twins.

Yep the Twins would be in first place without Tingler, got it.  The Twins have players they were counting on who are injured and unavailable.  Many of the veteran players that are available are dinged up and or underperforming. That is why we are where we are.  This has nothing to do with some spread sheet.  If you want to win your players must take you there. How long have players like Polanco, Correa and Kepler been playing ball? Can you really believe they are not performing the way you want because of coaching this year? 

I'll use Kepler as an example. Early this season it appeared he was going to the opposite field, finally.  Had he turned a corner?  It did not last.  I cannot explain why someone like him who has played this game his whole life can't make that adjustment. It's this Popkins' fault? Hardly. How many coaches has Max had? Is James Rowson the missing piece? At some point the players either make the play or they don't.  

Even the "bench clearing brawl" lacked any emotion from the Twins.  It appeared that they were thinking that the "unwritten" rules of baseball demanded that they go out to show support for their pitcher and so they lackadaisically meandered out and wandered around the infield.  Whoop-de-do

I thought A. Sanchez & Sands were fine, they gave us a chance to win against an high octane team. Only Verlander unsurprisingly shut down the Twins offense.

Not surprised that they put Buxton on the IL but was surprised they called up Hamilton. Palacio has shown they he has mastered AAA and his glove will be a big plus on the main club. Correa has helped Miranda imensely and he can help Palacios even more. Polanco could use the additional rest and an occasional  rest for Correa could prove benificial (I wouldn't trust anyone else except Palacios now to do it). Beckman should be sent down because he is useless and remove any temptation to put him in DH.

I'm glad we have Gordon & Celestino to continue to fill that big hole in CF especially now that Buxton is down. I'm not a big fan to bring up Wallner up (because of his glove) but because of the present condition of the OF and Kepler's broken toe, it wouldn't hurt to get his feet wet until Larnack returns. I'd send Cave down because his bat has turned dead & to remove any temptation to put him in CF.

I was encouraged to see Twins batters that belong in the major leagues hit well against the Astros bullpen.

3 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Alittle extreme but I agree with the concept  , the only performers on the team are the younger players Arraez  , Miranda and Gordon because they want to stay in the major leagues  and have something to prove  , arraez has been in the league and has proved he should get a contract extension  ,

So bringing up some prospects for a taste of the big is a good idea at this point  ,,,.

Something to get excited about to finish the season ...

I don't think it is extreme at all. None of the four mentioned to be DFA'd will probably be on the team next year.  And (unlike last year), bringing up some younger players can't hurt.

26 minutes ago, wabene said:

It's this Popkins' fault? Hardly. How many coaches has Max had? Is James Rowson the missing piece?

Its really, really hard to just say that the performance of these veteran players hasn't been impacted at all by the coaches.  Is it THE ONLY problem?  I doubt it.  Is it a major contributing factor? Absolutely.

It’s really too bad that the whole mess started with Altuve being such a baby. He barely got hit and there is no way Sanchez is trying to hit him. And Megill doesn’t disappoint giving up the long ball. He is not good but flies under the radar. 

Yes, the season is teetering now given the lack of offense the past few weeks. But the team shouldn't cash it in - they remain within striking distance of the post season despite their obvious struggles. 

Let the season play out, let's see if the Twins can put up a fight in tough, but doable circumstances. There are a good number of young and/or future core players who could use the experience of being in contention. (MIranda, Arraez, Gordon, Duran, Ryan, Lopez etc.) 

There remains those games in September vs Cleveland too...

1 hour ago, umterp23 said:

Watched the game on MLB TV and the Houston Broadcasters were siding with the Rocco on how absurd the ejection was.  They didn't know he was charged with a mound visit till after the commercial break the next half inning to be shown the replay.  Only reason they gave was that he walked onto the mound versus staying in the grass infield part.  

Right, wrong on indifferent, coaches, players, someone should have seen the gesture of the home plate umpire.  

Don't even get me started on such a cry baby Altuve was mouthing off on a cut fastball just off the plate.  

I'd say the ejection happened partly because once Rocco knew they were sticking with the "2nd mound visit" decision, he needed to buy time for Sands to warm up...and did exactly that. Sand probably got 10-12 extra pitches while Rocco wasted time and had his say during and post ejection. He wouldn't have been able to buy that time without getting himself tossed, so he did it. 

I'll happily get started on Altuve.

Clearly, what we don't understand is the Sainted Jose of Altuve is not to be thrown a pitch that He does not approve of. Any pitch thrown by a lesser being, such as an opposing pitcher, is to be thrown only in the Approved Places, and never shall it be thrown near the body of the Great Altuve. If one should be so foolish as to actually throw near the body of the Sainted One, then not only shall the Great Altuve be awarded the Base of First, but the Offending Thrower shall then immediately prostrate thy self in front of the Sainted One, and beg His merciful forgiveness (which he is not required to give, but only if he feels the offender is sorrowful enough in his apologia). If the Offending Thrower does not immediately throw himself upon the mercy of the Anointed One, the Great Altuve shall then be permitted to say whatever he wants to the Offending Thrower, with no care to how offensive it may or may not be. Said Offending Thrower may not respond to the Great One's commentary, unless it to be to beg for mercy in offending the Great Altuve. (The is taken directly from the Gospels of Altuve, Book 3, Chapter 2, verse 6-8, printed in the new form by the Houston Astros press) I mean, we really should have known better.

Seriously, what a damn baby. The game was 2-0, he was the leadoff batter. No one is throwing at you, the guy just missed his spot inside, you were hanging your ass out over the plate, and it brushed your leg. hells bells, he barely got hit.

Somehow be within 4 games of Cleveland on Sept 1.....

Cave and Beckham have reached a point of no return. They performed at AAA and received the call, but while capable in the field they  not able to fill in at all at the plate. They are who they are at this point and it is not really a good decision to have them hit in the major leagues. I want both of them to get a broken bat hit or at least make some contact but is is sad to watch them flail away on three pitches. Give someone else an opportunity. The next guy might fail badly too but repeating this same behavior with Cave and Beckham .... you know the saying. Three catchers is defensible if one can mash as a pinch hitter. Why did Sanchez bat in the eighth inning? Injuries have decimated the team but there are still bodies to try from the farm. You can't just give up.