MIN 5, KC 4: Bats Rally, Bullpen Protects 1-Run Lead

Today is Saturday, June 15 and it was the 69th game of the year.  The Twins are now 43%  of the way through the season.  Out of 59 years, the current team ranks 28th on the all-time list of Twins' home runs in one season and are on a pace to hit 317 home runs this season.

"Odorizzi is Human
Jake Odorizzi gave up as many earned runs tonight, four, as he had in those previous eight outings. He looked a little more human tonight, though he did still provide the Twins with six innings."...

For all we know this could have been the best Odorizzi has thrown.   We forget that results are not dictated solely by the Twin's actions but by the other side as well.   My theory is that all the no hitters in history would not have happened if the pitcher was facing any other team that day.   There are no unhittable strikes.    Most of the times a pitch is called a mistake there were several other pitches in the same spot but that is the one the batter actually squared up.     Ok, off my soapbox.   Nice job Odorizzi for battling.   Good job offense for being relentless.   Nice job bullpen for going three scoreless despite two errors.    

The defense has been very spotty. Nice to come away with another win but kudos to the relief corps for working around the errors.

Watching Parker pitch is like playing golf with someone who takes a dozen practice swings, hovers over the ball for twenty seconds and then proceeds to hit the ball about 20 yards.  Just throw the damn ball over the plate and quit twitching and grimacing.  Geez!!!!!!!

I feel much better now, thanks.

Need to clean up the defense

Blake Parker continues to worry me. Good stuff, but his control is so erratic. At least Trevor May looked a little better than last time out, when he challenged Romero for wildest Twins pitcher of the year. 

Maybe May needs to learn Zen meditation. All his self-critical muttering and agitation can't be good for his control. Breathe through your eyeballs, Trevor!

Blake Parker continues to worry me. Good stuff, but his control is so erratic. At least Trevor May looked a little better than last time out, when he challenged Romero for wildest Twins pitcher of the year. 

 

Maybe May needs to learn Zen meditation. All his self-critical muttering and agitation can't be good for his control. Breathe through your eyeballs, Trevor!

Honestly his stuff isn't even all that great (7.3 K/9). The only thing that was making him somewhat decent for the first couple weeks was his command, but if that continues to be bad then he should be the first one to be kicked out of the BP if the Twins get an arm before the deadline.

We could add Odorizzi to the list of players no is really talking about, and Cron, and Garver, even Rosario and Buxton. I was reading suggested all stars by various sports gurus and the Twins players were conspicuously absent. Only one analyst had two Twins players on the list (Polanco and Rosario). Of all the others, only one Twin was even mentioned and that by only one guru (surprisingly that was Castro). In a sense, maybe that's the beauty of the Twins; there are different heroes depending on the game.

What percent of HR by German-born players does Koepka have now?

Underrated candidate - Buxton. 2nd highest WAR on the Twins. Not that it all boils down to WAR, but I saw this stat recently and was very surprised. Polanco is 1st, Kepler is 3rd. 

You could say the entire team is underrated. Take a look at the All-Star balloting and only Polanco is at the top of the list. Most of the squads #'s compare favorably to each of the vote leaders.

Speaking of Polanco, the campaign for him to be an All-Star is great but it shouldn't stop there. I realize it's not even the halfway point but he should be in the discussion for MVP.

Several takeaways for me, some already touched upon.

 

• Marwin is a butcher in RF and isn't getting better. Either give him intensive drills, or play him elsewhere. Nelson Cruz used to play RF, and I bet he still could give you better innings out there than Marwin has shown us. Our backup right fielder is in Rochester. When Buxton sits, either use Rosario in center and put Marwin in left (where he's said to be good, I can't remember), or else give Ehire a try out there. Remember JD Martinez playing RF in the last World Series? Yeah. We're potentially facing that embarrassment when the stage gets bigger and we're not playing the Royals.
• Cron, what the what? Shake it off and get 'em next game, I guess. I counted 3 plays that he would have made on a different day.
• Ehire has a major league glove at all the infield positions, but he ain't perfect, as we saw again yesterday.
• I trust four of our baserunners, Rosario and Kepler and Polanco and Buxton. If you're not in that list, don't go stretching a single into a double in a situation that would only work in a beer league. I'm looking at you, Jonathan Schoop; with two outs a double would be helpful, but it'll have to be the next guy, so be off at the crack of the bat and let him drive you around. It actually catches me by surprise that two capable middle-infielders on our roster, Schoop and Adrianza, are so plodding on the basepaths, but they are what they are. We're mostly a slow team.
• You can make this many mistakes against the Royals and still win. We used to be the Royals. Heck, we're not that far removed - they're running Lucas Duda out there, and we almost did.

I guess a few questions...

How many plays has Gonzalez missed this year that he should have made? I can recall a great catch he made against Chicago and his catch last night in the ninth kept an incredibly fast runner off the bases. Is that balanced with several balls he should have caught like the Maldonado ball? I don’t recall others and I don’t see any on inside edge fielding.

Didn’t Adrianza have a game earlier this week against the Mariners where he showed off some excellent base running skill? If I recall he was on second and took third on a ball in the dirt. His secondary lead allowed him that base. He then followed by scoring with the infield in due a nice secondary and great slide. Those don’t seem like the moves of a plodding base runner.

When they finally get around to instituting an automated balls and strike system, Angel Hernandez will be argument #1. Or #1A (Joe West.)

What percent of HR by German-born players does Koepka have now?

This seems like a trick question. I’m not sure how best to answer it, but by the end of today, he may have 100% of the last three US Opens (and, perhaps more appropriately, be 50% of the way towards a consecutive grand slam.)

When Trevor May is pitching, I get real nervous waiting for that next walk.  But I like what he can throw up there.  When Parker is pitching, I just get real nervous.  

I hope that first bullpen move is soon, very soon.

Thanks for the video. Kepler I've heard of but whose Mathis?

That's fair about the 9th inning catch. I was multi-tasking at the time and I didn't see it until now on a video site. I suspect most RFers make that play, as it didn't require many steps, but credit where credit is due.

https://cuts.diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2019/2019-06/15/f2c00e36-0a743b10-11995ccb-CSVM-DIAMONDTMP-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4

 

....I don't have any complaints about Ehire's work on the basepaths - he's just.... not.... you know, fast. If I'm third-base coach and faced with a close decision, I don't send Cron, I don't send Schoop, I don't send Adrianza. Nothing to do with yesterday's game, of course, just a side observation after Schoop was thrown out by a mile at second.

Didn't Adrianza literally three games ago score on a one hopper hit directly to the second baseman playing in?

He has perfectly adequate speed for a utility infielder. Comparing anyone to Buxton, Kepler and Rosario is silly, imo.

I've always been of the opinion to make guys throw you out. If its gonna be close, send em. If he makes a perfect throw and the catcher is able to make a perfect tag, I can live with it. What I can't live with is holding our utility infielder at third on a clean single and then having the next guy up strike out.

To me, it's pretty clear Baldelli favors aggressiveness. One result has been setting Major League offensive team records. Another byproduct is having a couple guys thrown out trying to take an extra base.

I'm perfectly fine with the tradeoff.

Most Underrated Twin for me has to be Gonzalez. His super utility-ness has provided the much needed rest that all the other players are getting and on top of that it's not really a drop off when he comes in, he frequently plays the hero offensively and defensively. I think he's one of the major reasons we are a good this year as we are

Mr. Cool? Yeah, he's underrated for sure.

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Several takeaways for me, some already touched upon.

• Marwin is a butcher in RF and isn't getting better. Either give him intensive drills, or play him elsewhere. Nelson Cruz used to play RF, and I bet he still could give you better innings out there than Marwin has shown us. Our backup right fielder is in Rochester. When Buxton sits, either use Rosario in center and put Marwin in left (where he's said to be good, I can't remember), or else give Ehire a try out there. Remember JD Martinez playing RF in the last World Series? Yeah. We're potentially facing that embarrassment when the stage gets bigger and we're not playing the Royals.
• Cron, what the what? Shake it off and get 'em next game, I guess. I counted 3 plays that he would have made on a different day.
• Ehire has a major league glove at all the infield positions, but he ain't perfect, as we saw again yesterday.
• I trust four of our baserunners, Rosario and Kepler and Polanco and Buxton. If you're not in that list, don't go stretching a single into a double in a situation that would only work in a beer league. I'm looking at you, Jonathan Schoop; with two outs a double would be helpful, but it'll have to be the next guy, so be off at the crack of the bat and let him drive you around. It actually catches me by surprise that two capable middle-infielders on our roster, Schoop and Adrianza, are so plodding on the basepaths, but they are what they are. We're mostly a slow team.
• You can make this many mistakes against the Royals and still win. We used to be the Royals. Heck, we're not that far removed - they're running Lucas Duda out there, and we almost did.

So which side of the bed do you normally climb out of Ash?