monsterpile wrote:2 in a row!!!!! The legend of Rob Refsnyder is growing. Dobnak had a nice outing today. Alex K is back in the lineup.
Feels good to win 2 in a row, and yeah, I'm enjoying 30-year-old Kim Jung-Tae. He's never hit in the majors, but he was considered a pretty good prospect coming out of Arizona State.
So many things wrong with this club though, as so many guys are underachieving. We were supposed to have the best defensive left side of the infield in the major leagues, but Donaldson and Simmons lead the team with 9 errors between them despite both missing many games. Shoemaker, Duffey, Happ, Maeda and Colome have all been much worse than their average seasons, and Berrios has been meh. And we have 7 guys with more than 25 ABs hitting less than .205, including guys we expected to be big contributors like Sano, Kepler and Garver. Sano and Kepler have shown signs of figuring things out recently, but neither can be trusted right now.
The season is young though, and our division lacks a true super team, so anything can still happen. But they need to start putting it together soon to have any hope of salvaging this season.
The Athletic had an article about how the Twins were right about all the players they let go except May who is doing well. The problem is many of the players they added have been a flop too. I beieve Happ will bounce back and be solid and the other good news is other than Cruz and Simmons who have been good everyone else was signed for little money and were signed to 1 year deals. That also means if they continue to suck they would have some guys they could move in deals. Simmons would likely be a player teams would he interested in. I wonder if they would be willing to deal Cruz...that might depend on how some of these younger players hit the next few weeks/months.
Overall I'm finding enough things to keep me interested enough to watch the lengthy extended highlights.
Big win today in extra innings. Happ wasn't amazing but he got through 6 innings and gave them a chance. Sano was playing 3rd today which is an interesting development. It makes sense but it's interesting. Garlick which a huge HR hitting for Kepler who I guess is pretty banged up. Refsnyder had a key hit and nice catch on CF. I kept thinking at some point Cave would heat up t the plate but instead we got Refsnyder. I thought he was a converted infielder but the other day I was reading and basically it was the other way around. He was mostly an OF in college and he was converted to play 2b which it sounds like he really never took to. I'm just going to enjoy the ride however long it lasts.
They really needed this win, monster...it's exactly the kind of game they have regularly lost this season, so it gives me some hope of a turnaround.
It all worked out, but the decision by Rocco not to bunt in the 10th inning with runners at second and third and no outs was interesting...certainly not by the book. I suppose it was greatly influenced by the tendency of the guy in the on deck circle to strike out. Sano has the best OPS on the team this month, I believe, but his strike outs force the manager into some decisions contrary to basic baseball strategy.
Another win with a lot of guys chipping in including a strong relay throw from Nick Gordon to get a runner out at the plate. Ultimately I think the turn around has to be based on whether or not the Pitcing turns around. Shoemaker had another quality start today. Maeda went to the DL so maybe when he gets back he will be able to be on track. Some of the starters don't even have to be amazing just really solid and it will be a retry big improvement. Hopefully Pineda can come back healthy and continue to pitch well.
Some of the young guys have hit and guys like Garlick and Refsnyder have contributed.
That was a huge win yesterday against Baltimore's only good starter. I don't know if you saw Larnach's HR, monster, but it's not often that someone puts the ball upstairs in center field...it was a blast! We've now won 4 out of 5, and the next 12 games are against a very bad Orioles team and an ordinary KC team...we have a good chance of getting back into this race if we can string together some more wins over the next 2 weeks.
But we simply have to get Buxton back. Before the recent good flurry of wins, we had lost 9 out of 11 games since Byron went on the DL. He changes the nature of the game in so many ways. Plus, kek needs him to come back if he's going to have any chance of winning his MVP bet! It sounds like he is a week away, and it will be nice to see him back in the lineup. Can he stay healthy though is the question. If he can, this season is far from over.
Another win for the suddenly hot Twins led by Kim Jung-Tai. I'm not suggesting that he is Lou Gehrig and Buxton is Wally Pipp, but he was a good prospect coming out of college and hit .315 with 10 HRs in AAA in 2019, so his hitting is not completely unexpected. Keep it up, Kim!
On the flip side though is the sorry performance from the left side of the Twins infield. Donaldson/Simmons was expected to be the best left side in baseball, but neither is hitting and they are co-leaders on the team for most errors. Another costly error by Simmons last night cost Berrios 2 unearned runs and extended hos second inning by about 25 pitches, leading to his early exit. And bad Sano returned last night with 4 K's in 4 ABs. These guys need to be better if we're going to get back in the race.
FNG wrote:Another win for the suddenly hot Twins led by Kim Jung-Tai. I'm not suggesting that he is Lou Gehrig and Buxton is Wally Pipp, but he was a good prospect coming out of college and hit .315 with 10 HRs in AAA in 2019, so his hitting is not completely unexpected. Keep it up, Kim!
On the flip side though is the sorry performance from the left side of the Twins infield. Donaldson/Simmons was expected to be the best left side in baseball, but neither is hitting and they are co-leaders on the team for most errors. Another costly error by Simmons last night cost Berrios 2 unearned runs and extended hos second inning by about 25 pitches, leading to his early exit. And bad Sano returned last night with 4 K's in 4 ABs. These guys need to be better if we're going to get back in the race.
I would say Simmons is hitting just fine for a SS. Donaldson could be hitting better though. Meanwhile Simmons also protected the bag with his foot on that pickoff throw from Berrios for an out.
Refsnyder...I'm just enjoying it as long as it lasts. He is pretty athletic and one thing I think could also help is he is no longer trying to be an infielder and is able to just play outfield. What he has done though is pretty impressive in a short time and his swings look pretty legit. I'm expecting he eventually falls off but even if he falls of to being a replacement level player the rest of this year that may be pretty good.
FNG wrote:Another win for the suddenly hot Twins led by Kim Jung-Tai. I'm not suggesting that he is Lou Gehrig and Buxton is Wally Pipp, but he was a good prospect coming out of college and hit .315 with 10 HRs in AAA in 2019, so his hitting is not completely unexpected. Keep it up, Kim!
On the flip side though is the sorry performance from the left side of the Twins infield. Donaldson/Simmons was expected to be the best left side in baseball, but neither is hitting and they are co-leaders on the team for most errors. Another costly error by Simmons last night cost Berrios 2 unearned runs and extended hos second inning by about 25 pitches, leading to his early exit. And bad Sano returned last night with 4 K's in 4 ABs. These guys need to be better if we're going to get back in the race.
.....aaaaand with one swing of the bat, he wins the game today.
FNG wrote:Another win for the suddenly hot Twins led by Kim Jung-Tai. I'm not suggesting that he is Lou Gehrig and Buxton is Wally Pipp, but he was a good prospect coming out of college and hit .315 with 10 HRs in AAA in 2019, so his hitting is not completely unexpected. Keep it up, Kim!
On the flip side though is the sorry performance from the left side of the Twins infield. Donaldson/Simmons was expected to be the best left side in baseball, but neither is hitting and they are co-leaders on the team for most errors. Another costly error by Simmons last night cost Berrios 2 unearned runs and extended hos second inning by about 25 pitches, leading to his early exit. And bad Sano returned last night with 4 K's in 4 ABs. These guys need to be better if we're going to get back in the race.
.....aaaaand with one swing of the bat, he wins the game today.
His value also jumps if he is able to stay healthy and play some solid 3rd base at times. It does seem he is above average at 1B.
Pineda collected himself and had a nice outing. It's a big deal if he is back and rolling. That strike out throw out in the first was a pretty nice play and likely saved a run.
Larnach with another bomb that got out pretty quick but it took a little longer than the last one. The Twins had a solid bounce back win after a sort of ugly loss the first game against the Royals.
