bighat

The real Cole Sands appears to have shown up, finally. Yeesh.

Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds were the last pair of teammates to finish 1-2 in the MVP voting race. Will Buxton/Arraez be next? The Twins continue to eek out these close games and win ballgames they seemingly have no business winning. Example: Chi-Chi Gonzalez on the mound twice in the past week against the Jays & Rays respectively, won both games. Just crazy stuff. Look at this rotation! And the bullpen! How are the winning these games?!?! Cole Sands for 4 innings today, Duffey for 2? With Buxton and Correa back in the lineup, it could be a very high scoring game on both sides.

I keep hearing Dick say that "the power will come" when he's talking about Celestino, but we've been waiting quite a while for him to show even a hint of pop in his bat. Edit: ope, and he doubles.

Caleb Theilbar isn't very good. If this team even had an average pitching staff he'd be easily singled out as a weakness, but right now he's hiding behind guys like Duffey and Bundy.

This is a big inning, gonna go a long way towards figuring out the future of Chi Chi's career right here. Ope, looks like he got the hook. Likely the last time we see him in a Twins uniform eh?

The Twins return to Bally Sports North this afternoon looking for their second straight win against the Tampa Bay Rays. And while you don’t need to plunk down your credit card to watch the team play on TV today, Byron Buxton definitely has Twins ownership checking their wallets. Incentives in Buxton’s new $15M per year contract include at least a $3M bonus if the electric center fielder finishes in the top 10 in the AL MVP vote. With two more home runs last night, the molten-lava hot Buxton now has 17 on the year and it would be hard to imagine Byron finishing lower than 5th in that race. Furthermore, after playing in his 4th straight game last night, Bux is on pace for right around 500 ABs on the year. If he gets 502 at bats, that’s an extra cool half million in his checking account, courtesy of Pohlad Enterprises. The hottest player on the planet must be making it hard for management to stick to their plan of benching him twice a week, but that’s exactly what the Twins are doing today. Alas, a healthy Buxton in the middle of the hottest stretch of his career will indeed be riding the pine on schedule. Carlos Correa, who is 6-for-his-last-12 with 2 homers, will join Buxton on the bench. Today the Twins face Shane Baz (0-0, 0.00) who is making his season debut for the Rays today after having surgery to remove “loose bodies” from his elbow late in Spring Training. Chi Chi Gonzales (0-0, 9.00) will make his second appearance for the Twins. Gonzalez wasn’t too impressive against the Jays last week, going just 3 innings and allowing 3 runs on 4 hits. The Twins and Gonzalez are in a very strange position here, as Chi Chi has exercised an opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Twins. It's quite possible this will be his last appearance in the Minnesota organization, and for more details you can check out the great thread started by @Rostermanby clicking here. Play ball! Weather: Mid 70s F, scattered showers developing during the afternoon hours. Money line odds: TB -135, Twins +115 Lineups: Tampa Bay: 1. Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF 2. Manuel Margot (R) LF 3. Randy Arozarena (R) DH 4. Ji-Man Choi (L) 1B 5. Yandy Diaz (R) 3B 6. Taylor Walls (S) SS 7. Brett Phillips (L) RF 8. Rene Pinto (R) C 9. Vidal Brujan (S) 2B Minnesota: 1. Luis Arraez (L) 1B 2. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B 3. Jose Miranda (R) 3B 4. Max Kepler (L) RF 5. Gary Sanchez (R) DH 6. Trevor Larnach (L) LF 7. Gilberto Celestino (R) CF 8. Nick Gordon (L) SS 9. Ryan Jeffers (R) C

I think I knew this, but when you type it out like that it just makes the starting pitching situation look just horrendous. For those who think the Twins will be DFA'ing Bundy soon, think again. They literally don't have anyone else. I also read that Winder may be back mid-week thank god.

Other teams probably have the same opinion as you. Unfortunately his trade value has taken a huge hit and is probably at an all-time low right now. Twins won't trade him - they simply won't receive anything close in terms of value.

Unreal. Don't even have any memes or jokes, it's just plain brutal.

Saw this on Twitter:

The past two series have shown that the Twins are several pitchers away from being able to realistically hang with lineups like the Jays & Yanks. Duffey and Bundy should be shown the door, but will likely keep their jobs once they get a chance against SEA and ARI next week. Unfortunate. Twins are going to lose a boatload of prospects in July if they want to make a run at this thing. Get ready to say goodbye to many of your minor league favorites. Appears the new humidor balls are out and the corked balls are back in play. Was the umping bad on both sides or was it as lopsided as I feel it was? To lose a game like this, where the Twins came out with 3 straight STATEMENT homers against the AL's best pitcher is frankly unforgiveable. Twins made errors and baserunning mistakes, but ultimately this is all on the pitchers. Horrific effort, couldn't rise to the moment. If the Twins get anywhere near the Yankees in the playoffs it's gonna be another sweep and it'll be a bloodbath.

Of the 7 times in mlb history a team has started the game with 3 straight homers, I'm betting this Twins team is the only one that blew it and lost. This type of game is right out of Twins-Yankees central casting. Such a punch in the face for Twins fans.

Cotton absolutely robbed of strike 3 there. Then a HR. We have the technology, why are we refusing to use it? This kind of objective umpiring is absolutely ridiculous.

If your team scores 7 runs in the first four innings and you can't even keep the team in the game, you honestly don't belong in MLB. As many of us predicted, Bundy still will probably get 3-4 more starts before the Twins even consider cutting bait. Really a shame and a big waste.

ENOUGH of Bundy already. 7-4 is not a big enough lead to keep this guy in the ballgame.

Kep forgot to bring the mustard this series, very poor contact for Max.

@USAFChief @LVTwinsfanKind of a strange disagreement you guys are having, considering Gio didn't tag up OR go halfway, but rather screwed the pooch and ran the team out of an inning.

Rocco should have someone warming up if he's taking this seriously.

Meanwhile this game is by no means over and Twins fans should consider themselves lucky if Bundy gives up 3 runs or less in the next 2 innings.

2nd night in a row - bad baserunning mistake by Gio Urshela.

Rocco has to send Bundy back out there, right? He realistically doesn't have another option, does he?

Reminds me of the last time the Twins played them in NYC in the playoffs. Dozier hit a HR in the first inning and the Twins were up 3-0 and Santana gave it back immediately. 'Member that?

Bundy was 1 strike away from having a 1-2-3 inning and now we're tied. Absolutely unforgiveable effort from Bundy. Get him off this team ASAP.

Kep's looked bad this series.

The sad part of all this is that Bundy is going to come out for the 2nd. The only way for a pitcher to respond to this type of offensive outburst is to shut the opponent down the following inning. Giving back the lead after an inning like this is simply not an option.