Astros 5, Twins 3: Late Rally Falls Short Again, Twins Drop 5th Consecutive

Another disappointment. Scoring at the end of a game and falling short is getting boring. Tomorrow Houston gives us a chance. Can we take it?

Thanks to Smeltzer for giving us some innings.  

Arraez batting fifth..... the run of Beckham, Kepler, and Leon striking fear into the opposing pitchers with Cave and Sanchez lurking to strike as pinch hitters..... 

Well, it looks like we've almost reached terminal velocity and the parachute hasn't opened yet!!!!

"....our guys absolutely do things exactly the way I would want to see it done."

This just speaks for itself.... I just wanted everyone to appreciate it a second time (Spoiler alert, you may see it again from time to time over the next month)

Bundy's ERA is 8.53 TTO? Well, since he's only pitched 12.2 innings during TTO it's a pretty small sample. More interestingly, his FIP is 2.49 and xFIP is 2.96 on TTO this year. Tough to say what would have happened, all I know is Rocco pulled him early again and the bullpen, again, immediately gave up runs.

SSDD

Not sure if it's good or bad the White Sox beat Baltimore tonight. At least it keeps the Orioles from expanding their lead over the Twins in the Wildcard hunt, but the White Sox are now tied with the Twins in the standings. 4 games back in both the division and wildcard.

At least it seems like my concerns the White Sox would put it together this year are fading fast and the Guardians have a pretty tough schedule the next couple of weeks.

Of course, the Twins have 1 more game against the Astros before taking on the Giants and Red Sox, two teams with similar records to the Twins who play in much, much, much tougher divisions. I don't have much faith in Minnesota putting it together at this point.

To all you Rocco lovers out there... Can you tell me why he plays Beckham in the outfield or why he plays Beckham anywhere? The Alvarez single or double or whatever the official scorer wants to call it in the 6th inning was not a hit. It was a misplay (ERROR) by Beckham who misjudged the ball. Rocco has to be one of the worst Managers this team has ever had. Just because a guy hits right-handed doesn't mean he is your best option to play against a left-handed pitcher. Yet that is the only reason I can come up with why Rocco puts a guy who can't hit and can't play in the outfield, in the outfield. If your choice is Beckham or Cave, two guys who can't hit, at the very least play the guy who can play defense at the position your filling. 

5 hours ago, bean5302 said:

At least it seems like my concerns the White Sox would put it together this year are fading fast and the Guardians have a pretty tough schedule the next couple of weeks.

The problem with this statement is the Guardians seem to have starting pitching that doesn't care much who their opponents are and go out and pitch deep into games.

Where am I at now? telling somebody to turn off the lights on the way out, this party looks to be over, but I am just going around the corner for some food, in case the party starts back up, but not really expecting it to.

I know the Twins have been worse than dreadful in clutch hitting, but does anyone know if someone has been keeping track of the whiffs in those situations? It must also be a dreadful statistic (I'd really like to know...) I rather have the double play ground ball to be honest. At least the batter made contact. The whiff is so demoralizing.

Not much to say.  Twins are lifeless, and beaten up.  Rocco is clueless and has been for a couple of years now.  R.I.P. Twins 2022!

UGGGGGHHHHHH! 

Twins Geezer out!

Twins' bats innings 1-8

When the 9th inning rolls around after its too late

Rocco wants the team to give "zero f-cks" - how inspiring. The main problem with this is that's exactly how the team has been playing for two months already. Now that attitude is spreading to the fans.

Rocco is so clearly in over his head. I've doubted him before, but this season has revealed all of the qualities that make him unfit to manage a playoff-caliber MLB team. He cannot be allowed to manage the Twins in 2023. If I were Falvey/Levine, I would fire him this morning and make it clear that the organization cares more about winning than "playing hard" (that's to be expected from professionals, period).

I hope this is the last year we have to watch Kepler's ineptitude at the plate.  His defense does not make up for his lack of offense.  For the past few years, I keep expecting he will adjust his approach, but outside of brief stretches, he continues to hit ground balls for outs and double plays.  Rocco is Rocco.  He is not going to change his approach.  Going forward, if Rocco stays which I assume he will, the Twins better have a deep and quality bullpen because he is going to use it a lot.  I would like to think the Twins could bounce back and make a run, but with Buxton out and with the lineup they put out there, I just don't see that happening.  

In 2021 , in first half it seemed the twins didn't have any luck with the way the ball bounced ...

2022 it seemed like the twins were having luck with the way the ball bounced  .

, second half is alittle different  , new York overturns a call at the plate in Toronto  , Rocco's head and the coaches are not on the game as he sends pitching coach to talk to Sanchez  and it ends up being the second visit and pitcher removed  ( these are just a couple of recent  examples of what seems like our luck has run out ) there has been more in the second half than the first half ( first half we got the ball to bounce in our favor  ) ...

I don't care if Rocco was manager of the year, I don't care if the front office loves him and I don't even care if he is actually a good manager. In the history of baseball managers get changed to infuse energy into the team and change the pathway that the players are on. No matter whether you like Rocco or not, we need something to change. And we also need our front office to wake up and provide us with a better set of players to work with. I would rather have a struggling young player than see Beckham and cave struggling and taking up roster's space. 

I’m so frustrated with Rocco’s mishandling of his starting rotation. Bundy is solid for five innings with a low pitch count and the computer algorithm tells Rocco to take him out. Giving the starters a longer leash with the still leaky BP makes sense to any baseball fan except Baldelli. How can that be worse than what they are doing? Rocco has no intuition for baseball. 

3 minutes ago, Otaknam said:

I’m so frustrated with Rocco’s mishandling of his starting rotation. Bundy is solid for five innings with a low pitch count and the computer algorithm tells Rocco to take him out. Giving the starters a longer leash with the still leaky BP makes sense to any baseball fan except Baldelli. How can that be worse than what they are doing? Rocco has no intuition for baseball. 

Please, for the love of baseball, don't try to rely more heavily on the guy with the 88 MPH fastball.

2 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I don't care if Rocco was manager of the year, I don't care if the front office loves him and I don't even care if he is actually a good manager. In the history of baseball managers get changed to infuse energy into the team and change the pathway that the players are on. No matter whether you like Rocco or not, we need something to change. And we also need our front office to wake up and provide us with a better set of players to work with. I would rather have a struggling young player than see Beckham and cave struggling and taking up roster's space. 

Good point! Having to convert infielders to outfielders on the fly is an indictment of the FO. And having half your lineup be minor leaguers who can’t hit is a prescription for disaster. That’s on the FO. Then mix in Baldelli’s poor handling of the starters and the injury problems….

Says a lot when Twins pinch hit for a guy hitting .080 with a guy hitting around .140 (and who had just fanned 4 times in 4 AB's the night before) Twins cupboard is sure bare. Neither catcher can hit a lick. They got Sanchez for his bat. Where is it?

The usual cast of suspects failed again. budding rally snuffed quickly with a killer DP and then the final out. You are not going to beat Houston in the 9th trailing by 4 every night.  Even Arraez (.154 last 7 games) and Miranda (.214 last 7 games) are slumping again. Guardians meanwhile are building up a lead the Twins won't be able to catch anymore.

Its over.

8 hours ago, RJA said:

I hope this is the last year we have to watch Kepler's ineptitude at the plate.  His defense does not make up for his lack of offense.  For the past few years, I keep expecting he will adjust his approach, but outside of brief stretches, he continues to hit ground balls for outs and double plays.  Rocco is Rocco.  He is not going to change his approach.  Going forward, if Rocco stays which I assume he will, the Twins better have a deep and quality bullpen because he is going to use it a lot.  I would like to think the Twins could bounce back and make a run, but with Buxton out and with the lineup they put out there, I just don't see that happening.  

Besides Kepler having IMO another bad year.  He is non-existent to the fans.  He doesn't seem to do interviews where he admits he is disappointed in his play.   He could be a clubhouse leader but it doesn't seem like it.  Hard to say what they should do.  I would say bench him for the rest of the year and let some of the kids in the minors get a chance.  Can he be dropped from the 40 man?  How was Tim Beckham a #1 draft pick? How terribly sad!   I saw a line-up this week with him DH'ing and batting 8th.  To me that was a sign we are at the bottom of barrel.  Is there anyone in AAA that should get a chance in place of Kepler or Beckham?

The Vikings give a reward to the person responsible for selling the most game tickets. This month's winner? Max Kepler.

wow I'm lucky that I have not been able to watch the last 5 games due to blackout restrictions (I live in Texas). Can this team put it together for the stretch run? We've been waiting for a while now...

I just can't understand why Pagan, Cave and Beckham are on the Twins roster.

How about a wake up call DFA Sanchez or Kepler. I know this sounds crazy but sometimes you need to make a statement. I said years ago Rocco is not manager material and everyone said I didn't know what I was talking about. He won Manager of the Year with Paul Molitor's team. He has been a bust since then. This team is now unwatchable and as a fan of the Twins and baseball this is hard to say.

31 minutes ago, David Maro said:

How about a wake up call DFA Sanchez or Kepler. I know this sounds crazy but sometimes you need to make a statement. I said years ago Rocco is not manager material and everyone said I didn't know what I was talking about. He won Manager of the Year with Paul Molitor's team. He has been a bust since then. This team is now unwatchable and as a fan of the Twins and baseball this is hard to say.

 

A statement like returning to 100 losses level, brilliant.

1 hour ago, MABB1959 said:

Is there anyone in AAA that should be a chance in place of Kepler or Beckham?

Kyle Garlick