Twins 9, Blue Jays 3: Short-Handed Twins Power Past Blue Jays

Dang it! Under the Roman system, it looks like we lost this one, Seth.

Thank god Canada's vaccine requirements prevented Rocco from bringing Pagán in to build up his confidence.

IDK if it was a typo but Cotton came in and faced the top 3 hitters and didn't give up a run.  Defiantly my player of the game.  Hopefully he gets rewarded with a longer look with the Twins.  Buxton and Miranda breaking out would be huge for this extended tour against the best of the AL east.  Should be interesting  to see how the Bundy vs Berrios matchup goes tomorrow.

Such a fun game tonight! And your recap captured a lot of that; baseball is the goofiest and Greatest game!

This run just solidified it for me, La Troy is the way. 

Cotton's changeup was sub-orbital, did a nice job.

1 hour ago, Seth Stohs said:

This point can not be forgotten and should not be minimized...

 

I get that the point is to say that they are missing a lot of firepower, but it’s not really accurate to say “18 of their 40-man roster are unavailable.” Sano and five of the pitchers are not actually on the 40-man roster because they are on the 60-day IL. Guys like Coulombe and Megill are only on the 40-man roster because Maeda, Dobnak, et. al, are not. Saying that 18 of their 40-man roster are unavailable implies they are playing with a 22-man roster, which isn’t the case. 

1 hour ago, Seth Stohs said:

I know... I know... I caught that one on my sixth or seventh edit. UGGH!  And, this is the first time I thought of the Roman Numeral factor. HA! 

Not to worry at all. I've been helping my daughter with algebra, and thought maybe you were going to have us solve for x. Thankfully, x < 9. Good for the Twins. Great win to start the series.

Fun win.  I wonder if any of it can be attributed to playing better competition?  And playing up to try to match them?  It’s got to get repetitive and boring to play the Royals and Tigers for like half a month straight.  

1 hour ago, MadHits said:

Cotton came in and faced the top 3 hitters and didn't give up a run.  Defiantly my player of the game.  Hopefully he gets rewarded with a longer look with the Twins. 

Ditto that. He's had positive production in spots, deserves a longer look.

NG stealing 3rd was great fun....more of that please!

Completed a third of the season today. 93-win team at this pace.  Do they get better from here?

Anyone know the news on Urshela?  I briefly saw a bit of the game, and saw him get picked off and he appeared hurt.  But he appeared to be staying in the game, and I missed the rest.  

7 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

This point can not be forgotten and should not be minimized...

 

Wow. The Twins depth was evident last night in an important bounce back win on the road against a red hot AL East team.  Adversity can build character or send a group into a downward spiral. The Twins players who played last night deserve applause, a salute, a shout out, respect and cheers.

Palacios has not had many tough plays but you can still see the great footwork and arm.  He is definitely a SS.

Many pronounced doom on the Twins for the rest of the season. The odds of Twins (who got slaughtered by the lowly Tigers & Royals) to win against the hottest team in baseball, must have been astronomical. Baseball is a crazy sport, the Pirates swept the Dodgers, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. 

I tuned in late with the Twins and was so happy that we were leading and was able to cheer them onto a win. I'm so glad that this team did not give up. Can we sweep the Blue Jays? Maybe.

Cotton's changeup was dancing last night.  He's now looking pretty good on the season in a not insignificant sample. I wonder if he can stick around to try to prove it this time. There will be a big roster shuffle and I can't even remember who is actually on the 40 man and who is only there because of the COVID breakout/restricted list.  I think he could replace Megill after this weekend, but I'm not sure Megill even has a 40-man spot once Correa, Ryan, and Celestino start coming back.

Moran has also been pretty good in his infrequent appearances, though walks continue to be his enemy.

Seems to be a bit of a trend forming in the last two years. They always seem to have the makings of a good bullpen, but between the young guys being a bit unproven and the veterans being shaky at times, you're never sure who they ought to be trusting in the high leverage spots.

A nice change of pace- fun game, maybe they found the Canadian Air to be refreshing and invigorating after Detroit.  I hope it is the beginning of a Bryon streak.  And who is Garlick?  He really seems to be locked in.  Miranda is about to pay back the team for sticking with him and if Urshela is hurt he's got 3B with Arraez back at 1B.

Go Twins, eh!

Theilbar dancing on the  head of a pin.  If he falls off he never sees the majors again.  And he stays at home instead of getting vaccinated.  There's a story in there.

The best news out of this game is that Buxton had three hits and a homerun.  If Buck gets back on track it will be a huge plus.  The second best news is Miranda getting two homeruns.  Like with Buxton, if he gets untracked and more comfortable in the bigs, it will be a second huge plus.

1 hour ago, beterday said:

Theilbar dancing on the  head of a pin.  If he falls off he never sees the majors again.  And he stays at home instead of getting vaccinated.  There's a story in there.

 

When I read the article about this in today's Strib, Thielbar does have a reason for not getting the shot.  Turns out he has had bad reactions to previous 'flu' shots.  [Not defending it or making any kind of statement, just relating what the Strib said his reason was]

Missed the first few innings, but was really impressed by Moran...and Cotton.  Hopefully, Moran will get more chances over the coming weeks to prove he belongs.  Could be solid part of a good bullpen.  

Great game.  But let's not get carried away.  Like many of you constantly remind us when twins lose a one sided game that's only one game.  Don't get me wrong it was a very good and very surprising win.  I hope it continues.  I would imagine that since Buxton had a great game with 3 hits including a homer, and Miranda and kerlick each had two home runs, that our illustrious manager will find a way to not have them in the starting lineup.  He will be the biggest deterrent to the team making the playoffs.  

Not a great time to be missing guys for vaccine "hesitancy". Pagan seemed to realize it, at least, but I'm tired of the rationales being based on the quackery that runs rampant in the "wellness" industry and on the internet from people with no real expertise. (This is also one of the ways that guys keep getting busted for PEDs, taking supplements that aren't vetted or pushed by some guru)

Garlick keeps doing what he's supposed to: make lefties cry. What a great platoon player! (his splits this year are hilarious in how extreme they are)

Jose Miranda looks like he might be settling in a bit at the plate: he's been swinging the bat well lately and it's great to see his skill taking over. He's been doing a nice job over the last couple of weeks and looks like he can be a contributor. If Urshela needs a week off to rest that ankle, we're going to need him.

Moran is a pitcher I like, but his control is going to keep him more high leverage situations: he'll K the side for you with that wicked changeup, and then walk 2 guys because he can't locate his fastball. But he'll be able to work around walks with his ability to hunt Ks. Just prepare yourself for the ride, because it might be bumpy.

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Many pronounced doom on the Twins for the rest of the season. The odds of Twins (who got slaughtered by the lowly Tigers & Royals) to win against the hottest team in baseball, must have been astronomical. Baseball is a crazy sport, the Pirates swept the Dodgers, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. 

I tuned in late with the Twins and was so happy that we were leading and was able to cheer them onto a win. I'm so glad that this team did not give up. Can we sweep the Blue Jays? Maybe.

Let's just beat Berrios today.

whacky to see Dylan Bundy with better numbers in every category than Jose Berrios.

10 hours ago, blindeke said:

whacky to see Dylan Bundy with better numbers in every category than Jose Berrios.

Not after today's game.