Hosken Bombo Disco

Fun fact: after the 1st inning, it was tied 1-1 after the 5th inning, it was tied 5-5 after the 8th inning, it was tied 8-8

MLB Gameday says 4 straight cookies … waste a pitch whydontcha?

hashtag #Math !

Well, yes and no…

The Twins are playing with a lot of daunt right now! ?

All this guy Arraez does is get hits

I have “double switch” in one of my corner squares, unfortunately. i guess they still have some old leftover National League bingo cards…

Good comment, hopeful, and no additional perspective to add. but in the spirit of the game thread and impending sweep of the Southsiders, I did make you this:

I also asked you not to quote me! ?

Nice win! This team can flat out hit. Baserunning for Dum Dums! Pinch runner comes in and completely loses his mind lol. I do agree that was definitely the difference in the game. Someone could go look at win expectancy and compare "tie game, top of eighth" to what it should have been, first and third one out, bottom of seventh. Another fun fact - Remember that so-called "4th out" play from last week between Pittsburgh and Washington? (link) Well two big IFs: I think IF there had been one out instead of zero outs, and IF Engel had for some reason kept running and crossed home, he would have gotten there before Urshela tagged the trail runner and the run would have counted - the same situation as that other play. I think. But don't quote me. Just a fun observation. Let's see how the White Sox respond and if the Twins can tease out a good plan for how to pitch to them tonight. The White Sox seem like a team that will hang their heads. Meanwhile, another strength for this Twins team is its rebounding and resilience. If the Twins had run into this triple play, I really think they would just put it behind them and move on.

LOL thanks for reeling me back in yeah, I would be happy to give up home runs on a league minimum salary, and fans can blame me all they want!

Fair enough, but the fact did not escape me. It’s only to say that those three are better than the options we are using in their absence.

great reference, @Riverbrian I noticed on the grid, that Tampa Bay is on one extreme end of the pitcher usage, but all the way on the other end is Atlanta and the Dodgers, also World Series teams. But it is certainly an interesting look. I have given this a lot of thought, and I think the front office just doesn’t have the talent to evaluate pitchers, or to listen to the subordinates who do. Their record with pitching is not good. They can sure put together a batting lineup but putting together a pitching staff is just one step forward, two steps back, and probably always will be. It seems futile (to me, anyway) to expect them to go out and find another Taylor Rogers after they just traded away Taylor Rogers. This, in year six of their regime. But not all hope is lost! I do like the suggestion of making Jax a multiple inning reliever in close games, going forward. Getting Maeda and Alcala and Ober back healthy will help as well. Otherwise, lets hope these other guys start overperforming and keep us in the race.

i mean, same old same old, but could you at least confer with the other writers and give us a current status update in your little article on Woods-Richardson he was on the active list for two weeks without making a start then place on IL last week @Ted Schwerzler @Seth Stohs

In a world where Rocco’s value is -44, then I think most managers would be in the negative, and some worse than -44 since April 2019, and there were be no balance point at zero. And that doesn’t bother me, since it’s the players who have the most influence on results. Not my stat, not my argument. but really? Pagan, again, tonight? i did like batting Buxton in the 9th with the knowledge that if he made an out, he would be the runner who started the 10th on second. Another thing: and this probably isn’t on Rocco, but first base isn’t necessarily a gimme position. It took Mauer a year and a half to master first. Miranda has not shown to be a deft athlete yet hasn’t played much first in the minors. Just a minor thing, but still a thing.

We’ve seen plenty of Baldelli in 3-plus years to know that for game situations, he’s going to be middle of the pack and make mistakes. i commented the other night about how Buxton was inserted in to a one-run game to pinch hit instead of pinch run after a sacrifice, and pretty much got jeered and dismissed. But, no one who replied to me or took the other side of the argument actually addressed the situation on its merits. Easier said than done when you’re not the one standing down in the dugout, sure. Sometimes teams win despite their managers, and sometimes managers pull all the right strings, and lose anyway. Baldelli was best with Shelton at his side, in my opinion.

Yeah he’s not going to be in the dugout tomorrow night

Yeah, not sure. my only guess at this point is that there is more prestige in a top college job like this than we would assume. is Wes Johnson from that area?

Excellent points, and maybe I need to do a better job keeping up with the game recaps. Haranguing the manager is a time-honored baseball tradition but yeah I can see how people take it way too far in this day and age.

I’m pretty sure I said the offense was to blame. These are scenarios that many of us fans play in our heads, in real time, as it’s happening. It is not ridiculous at all to question why the Twins didn’t bunt in that inning. I am not manufacturing anything. Why do you assume I am? Why do you assume we are?

A lot of posters are rallying to the defense of Rocco and rightly pointing out the lack of offense last night, but I gotta side with @Nashvilletwin and @Mark G and others this time, I think Rocco miscalculated on a chance to manufacture a run in the 8th after the Jeffers lead off walk. Dan Gladden pointed it out about the same time I started thinking it. In short, pinch run Buxton and ask Celestino to bunt. Or to take it one further— my preference— ask Celestino to bunt, and if the sacrifice is successful and Jeffers makes it to second with one out, then that’s when you insert Buxton as a pinch runner. If Buxton is healthy enough to pinch hit, and presumably leg out a double, then I assume he is healthy enough to run the bases for an inning or score from second on a single. I actually didn’t see the Arraez fly ball if it would have been deep enough to get Buxton to third with two outs. Rocco seemed better with Shelton as his wingman. It’s little opportunities like this that have been missed since then. I’m sure Rocco is doing fine and executing the plan in other ways besides game situations. And In no way was this the overriding reason the Twins lost last night.

Well he’s probably not unhappy anymore (performance notwithstanding), but after the trade, yeah, he was absolutely shattered. By the way, I’d guess he is tipping pitches, and he knows he is, but is having trouble getting his grips and deliveries straightened back out. In other words, probably just a really bad stretch for him. Thanks for your support!

Not to single out any particular Twins Daily writer, but there always feels to me to be a “finger to the wind” aspect to these articles. Since Berrios was my favorite player, I will pose these questions: Is it really worth wondering what happened to Berrios? Are we really not sure about him? Do we really not think he’ll be just fine and pitching in the postseason? Can we name the Twins top three pitchers for a postseason series? Maybe we should be asking what happened to the two we traded for? A position player starting to profile as a light-hitting corner outfielder, and a starting pitcher with promise but who vanishes for long periods? thanks for listening!