BeantownTwinsFan

Seems like a low downside move for the short term, legit defense at least?

For all the hand-wringing about his usage Archer is 2nd on the team in innings pitched, maybe that’s a low bar on this team though.

Makes sense - was just thinking ‘this felt like a playoff game’ and I mean that in the worst way possible

Surely an investment of $5-7 million more could have stabilized the back end of the bullpen before the start of the season? LOL Alex Colome would beg to differ

Blowing games in the 9th is bad, but this team has only given up 6 runs in 2 games which is totally fine. Scoring 2 runs / game isn’t going to win many. This lineup needs Kiriloff to step up or it’s pretty top-heavy.

Awesome game! Thought it was interesting they left Astudillo in to play 2B - and he made a nice play - rather than swap in Adrianza to play SS and shift Arraez over. Makes me worried they aren’t expecting Marwin back and are seeing how far they can stretch Willians.

Everyone loves a dinger, and around these parts we've had plenty of them to admire this year. One thing that's pretty interesting is that the Twins are not only leading the league in home runs but also in runs scored per game (the bombas help, of course!). To better visualize how the Twins run scoring (and runs allowed stack up), this chart shows the per game averages for every team in the league. Any team above the dotted line has a positive run differential, every team below it is negative. In addition, each team's logo is also scaled by their winning percentage. Being in the top left of this chart is good - and no surprise the Dodgers and Astros are parked up there. Those teams have been elite both at scoring and preventing runs, hence their great records and status as World Series favorites. After that, its interesting to see how teams are grouped. The Twins and (gulp) Yankees look pretty similar by this measure - great hitting/mediocre pitching. Our next opponent in Boston also scores a ton, but their pitching has been worse by a good measure. On the flip side, you can see Cleveland and Tampa close together in the great pitching/mediocre hitting section. The A's are the only other team on the positive side of the ledger, somewhere in between those two poles. Feel free to take a look and see if anything jumps out (even on the negative side, some of those are scary). May also take a look at how the Twins have trended month-to-month in a future update. Data is through 9/1.

I hope the 70% of TD posters that spell his name ‘Duffy’ appreciate this write up as much as I do

Given the depth of discussion about the differences in remaining schedule between Cleveland and the Twins, thought a visual snapshot might help put things into focus. Through the games on 8/20, each team has 36 games left. This chart highlights how those games stack up by opponent while also showing how each team has performed so far. A few notes & takeaways: As this community is well aware, the teams have 6 games left head to head (the top row of the chart) Similarly, both have 7 left against the White Sox going into today's game The big advantage of course is the 17 games the Twins have vs. KC and Detroit, contrasted with just 9 for Cleveland Both teams have a 3-gamer against Washington left, in addition to similar-ish matchups in the AL East (Boston for the Twins, Rays for Cleveland) Cleveland makes up the 8 games the Twins have against the Central with the rest of their series with the Mets plus matchups with the Phillies and Angels The Twins still have to play well, of course, but its nice to have a leg up the rest of the way home.

What's the buzz on the starter vs. Detroit tonight? Sending down Smeltzer most likely...Pineda back?

The May/Hildy swap (for 1 batter) seemed a little over the top? Strange to get May warmed & in the game to not even let him start the 9th.