Twins 7, Orioles 2: Twins stay hot behind Ryan, Bats

It's remarkable how Joe Ryan is barely perceived as a rookie anymore. This was his 10th MLB game and yet it feels like he has been in the league for years. 

The fact that he is de facto the Twins' ace, his stellar and consistent performances and just the way he carries himself on the mound all make it so easy to forget how little experience he still has. He goes 4 2/3 innings with 2 ER which is not stellar but still solid and everyone (myself included) goes like "Oh, he wasn't really sharp tonight". That's how far he has come.

He clearly battled a bit with his command, the inconsistent strike zone and some bad luck yesterday. That happens and it's the mark of a good pitcher to limit the damage on a night like this which Joe did. He will come back with another stellar performance, I bet.

In the meantime, this team is so much fun to watch. The way how every night someone else is stepping up honestly gives me some 2019 vibes. Not just Buck, Carlos and Polo but also some of the other players like Jeffers, Larnach, Celestino... (who has looked really good to me so far! One of the performances that has gotten lost in the shuffle with so much other stuff to talk about.)

12 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

That catch by Correa of the pop up was spectacular.  He is worth the $30M for his defense alone.  And now he is contributing on offense?  Yikes.

I texted my friends  that didn't see the same thing ,They missed a 30 million dollar catch ,,,

of course the can see it later in highlights ...

Excellent pitchers are allowed too have a subpar day. The Twins survived and he kept them in the game. I would rather a pitcher going 4 2/3 innings and the team win the game as to a pitcher going more innings and the team losing the game. Winning the game is the ultimate goal of the team. I’m proud that Ryan is a Twin and pitching well. I am proud of the 2022 Twins. I would enjoy watching Correa fulfill the 3 yr. contract and 3 more years. I also enjoy all the Twins players and the rookie comingup and contributing.

2 hours ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

 

I understood why they took him out and it worked, doesn't chance my opinion that his start wasn't impressive, that is my point. Until they change the rule on how starting pitchers get wins, anything less than qualifying for a win IMO (unless like I stated above it was predetermined the starter wasn't going to go 5 innings) isn't impressive.

Lol. Editors, please make a note to never call start "impressive" until the pitcher clicks from 4 2/3 innings to 5. 

TwinsDr you've made this bizarre point like 7 times in the thread now; it makes no sense, and no one cares. 

Ryan and Ober are some pretty darn good pitchers but they're young. On their previous outings they have been stretched to go beyond 5 innings, on their following outing they barely made 4. It's hard to find young pitchers that have that endurance out of the gate.

In the off season it was understood that we didn't have any work horses, when we got Gray there was hope that he'd be our work horse but now there's doubt about his condition. There was suggestions about adopting the piggy-back system, now I don't think that's really neccessary eccept short term with Archer. Nevertheless there is a great need to establish a strong long relieve corp to relieve the short RPs and SPs but right now we have no one. If not there'll be another meltdown with our short RPs due to over stretching, stretching the SPs hasn't been nor ever will be the answer, normally that produces burn out and injuries.

Smeltzer should be called up and stay even when Gray returns because of the need at long relief.

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

We've only got the extended bullpen for a few more weeks, so I'm guessing the thought process is: if you have them, use them. While it might not be as aesthetically pleasing baseball to not get your starter through 5 (first time that's happened to Ryan since opening day, btw), I don't mind Rocco deploying his bullpen to save his rookie starter (yes, he's still a rookie) in order to try and hold the line with runners on base when his pitcher is fighting his command a little bit and the umpire a lot.

You don't need to justify what Rocco did and the reasons behind it, I said it worked and probably was the right thing,

3 hours ago, Dman said:

Can anyone clarify how the double play ball from center didn't get overturned?  He looked safe on the small clip I saw. Was wondering if his hand came off the bag during the tag as that is the only way I could see that not being a safe call as the tag looked late to me.

It was crazy that with all the camera angles at stadiums these days, there didn't appear to be any that actually showed the tag vs. hand touching the bag.  Every angle seemed to be blocked by a body part.....the call on the field was out and there was nothing to overturn it.  He sure seemed safe to the naked eye.....

"This is off the wall so bare with me please. "

Pass

8 hours ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Yes (the manager thought he was so impressive that he didn't think he could get a left handed hitter out), yes.

I would have entertained the option, I wouldn't go so far to as to call a 5 inning game against the worst teams in baseball impressive.

So to answer your last question, NO the 1 pitch in your hypothetical doesn't up Ryan's start to impressive, it makes it better than a not so good of start to a decent start with a chance to get a win, but in your scenario he now sits at 82 pitches, so if he comes out with zeros in the 6th in a decent amount of pitches, now that is an impressive start, he went 6, worked though a jam or two, set himself and the team up for a win, all while not having his best stuff. That is impressive.

But if you and others think that 4 2/3 innings against Baltimore is impressive, great, I just don't.

I agree that I don't think Ryan was impressive last night. The kid did keep the squad in the game, but I'm hoping for more from him. Compared to a Berrios melt down, Joe does seem to hold it together and I think that bodes well for his future.