53 thoughts on “April 19, 2018: Sixteen Innings”

  2. I'm glad that a great game like last night wasn't decided in the tenth inning by the Manfred Rule.

    2. As much as I dislike the specifics of the Manfred rule, I think there are options that could also provide exciting finishes (even more so than "runner on 2nd, nobody out." (which, by the way, happened 3 times in extras for Cleveland last night)). And I'd also observe that settling for ties would deprive of us last night's walk-off just like (indeed, more so) any other "solution".

      But more than anything, I think last night was evidence of "if its not broke, don't fix it." That was fun. If it happened constantly, it wouldn't be fun. But that rare game... that's part of what makes baseball awesome.

    3. Me too. I noticed Busenitz got his second appearance of the year.

      I wonder if the Manfred rule was put in place if teams would carry an extra hitter, not feeling like they needed to save arms for extra innings. Ha ha ha who am I kidding. If rosters were expanded to 50 they would just carry 25 extra relievers.

  3. I wish I had watched this game. I didn't realize it was on ESPN until it was way late in the game (it wasn't on Fox Sports so I assumed it was an MLB.tv game). By that time, I needed sleep.

    1. On a similar note, I am super glad I made the decision to just not watch the Wolves last night. Thibs gotta go.

      1. I watched the first and most of the second quarter then lost interest and watched about 7 innings of twins baseball.

          1. Next year's gonna be great when Rose gets a multi-year deal and I can just go figure out which other team would be more fun to follow.

              1. That's most likely. There's also Milwaukee because Giannis and geographical location.

            2. I grew up a Pacers fan, so it is nice that there is a little resurgence going on there as well. A much more likable resurgence led by Oladipo.

  4. This morning im seeing a lot of "The Twins bats are cold", but could it be that Cleveland has a really really good pitching staff?

    1. If only we could put together the kind of leadership that assembled such an outfit...

  5. I see the Reds sacked Bryan Price, about 2 years too late imo. They dont have the pitching to compete this year, but its a real shame that Joey Votto's prime years have been playing for a constant 65-70 win team.

    1. Joey Votto is 34 years old. While he's been great, his stereotypical prime years he was playing for a perennial playoff contender.

  6. The jalapeno's class has been writing poetry at school this month. I thought y'all might enjoy his onomatopoeia poem.

  7. This is a pretty cool shirt:

    That’s a lot of dots! Saw this spray chart from @darenw after Mauer’s 2K hit last week and thought it would be a sweet shirt design. Taking preorders now, ready to ship the first week of May. Show the birthday boy some love! Here it is 👉 https://t.co/xS8DrCjQh8 pic.twitter.com/NAGpQqcYlq— Pick & Shovel Wear (@pickandshovelMN) April 19, 2018

    There was supposed to be a photo too... https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1724/7941/products/mauer_1024x1024.png?v=1524104985

  9. Closer music:

    Appel did not invent the closer entrance song -- organists had played music when relief pitchers came into games. The corniest of these: In 1963, the Twins purchased 28-year-old pitcher Bill Dailey, who had been kicking around baseball for a decade, mostly in the Minors. Dailey was a fatalist. He told friends this was his last shot and he was going to throw every pitch he could with everything he had until his arm blew out. Then he would work in construction.

    Well, he got off to a kind of rough start, but the Twins stuck with him in the bullpen. And something kicked in. For two months, from May 6 to July 7 -- he pitched 48 innings and allowed three runs, for an 0.56 ERA. The league hit .171 against him. Dailey was a bonafide phenom and Twins manager Sam Mele just kept putting Dailey into games when the Twins needed him.

    And when he entered the organist began playing -- it hurts even now to write this -- "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey."

    (To finish the story: Dailey had a fantastic 1963 season with six wins, 21 saves and a 1.99 ERA. He even got an MVP vote. But he was right about blowing out his arm; he pitched just 15 innings the next year, couldn't get anybody out and got that job in construction).

      1. Wow, I had no idea that there was that much adult interest (passionate interest) in the comic strips. I think I finally understand the raised eye brow my wife displays every time I log into this site.

    2. I don't know if Nancy was previously funny or not, but those new strips are pretty good.

      Speaking as someone whose children have picked up tons of Garfield and Peanuts collections from the library.
      Garfield is almost always awful.

    1. I wish they would have had that stat around for the Paul Konerko years.
      Maybe he wasn't as slow as I remember, my main recollection (and this is mostly the last 5 years of his career) is that he was "surprisingly slow".
      Like he looked like he was running a lot faster than he actually was.

    1. Yup. Also, those Rose gifs are bad basketball art. My favorite is the turnaround jump shot that gets blocked, and, after recovering it, he waves KAT away.

      1. also, WTF is KAT doing? He seems clueless on offense.

        TNT last night during the halftime show (postgame? I don't remember) had a series of clips of him making terrible decision after terrible decision. He would have an opportunity for deep post-up position in the lane, and just give it up for no reason and run to the corner to shoot a contested three, or shoot a terrible, fading turnaround from 18-feet. And at least one time in the pick-and-roll where he rolled the wrong way and never turned his head to look for the damn ball.

        Please, please, please bring McHale or Hakeem or someone in to tutor him on some low post moves and feetwork this summer.

        1. I have a theory on why he's been pretty bad offensively. First, I think he's feeling a lot of pressure to perform since its the first time in 13 years for the Wolves, so basically: He's young. Second, I lean towards saying that him running out to take a three or other bad shots when he does get the ball is frustration from not getting the ball from turds like Crawford and Rose clouding his judgment. I mean, that first gif in that article shows what looks like KAT and Butler getting set for screens for Crawford to choose from only to see him inexplicably fire a pass to Rose. If my co-workers sucked that bad, I'd have a hard time finding motivation to do well. Finally, I think a lot of his wandering around the 3 pt line and not posting up are part of the plays Thibs is wanting to run.

          KAT is one of the most gifted offensive big men we've ever seen, so I don't think his footwork is the problem.

          Moral of the story: Thibs got to go.

        2. From The Athletic before Game 2:

          Towns also made it clear that him flaring to the corner was part of the game plan. His three-point shooting prowess makes that an understandable element given how prolific the Rockets are at shooting threes. Simply put, if Towns isn’t making threes, there are few other players on the roster that the Wolves can depend on to make many of them to try to keep pace.

          “Whatever our game plan before the game is, I try to go out there and execute it as best as possible,” Towns said on Tuesday. “Whatever the game plan is, whether it’s to shoot 30 shots or shoot five shots, whatever the game plan is, I’m going to stick to it as much as possible and follow it to a T.”

          1. I haven't watched the games, but I've watched some of the highlights. From that, I'm not sure it matters what Towns does, because nobody seems to be looking to try to get him the ball anyway.

          2. “What it really shows me, Ernie, is the limitations of his game,” Barkley says. “He got a long way to go offensively. I mean those shots he’s getting, those aren’t big man shots. Those are like a 7-footer shooting fadeaways against little guys. He’s got to get in the gym. First of all, I like him a lot as a person and like him a lot as a player, but he is so limited offensively. He’s got to get in the gym and work on his game this summer.”

            despite what the guy at Uproxx says, Chuckster ain't exactly wrong about KAT's performance last night. Kenny highlighted some atrocious, fading turnarounds from like 15-18 feet, where he could very well have used a McHale move or two to get an actual good shot instead.

            So, sure, the guy has a point that you shouldn't really make blanket judgments based on one or two bad games vs a season's worth of evidence. But as a critique of this series, the TNT guys are pretty much on point. KAT's not getting good shots, either by (turrble) coaching design or bad decisions or bad point guard play. Or all of the above.

            1. That's what is so weird about these two games. I mean, he does have moves like McHale, he showed that during the regular season. All this stuff that everyone's saying he should do, he did for 82 games. That's what leads me to bad gameplan and bad pg play throwing him out of rhythm, then he presses.

            2. I think it’s all of the above. But what’s the main cause for it? I’m firmly on the coaching side for the majority of the blame, but he is making some rough decisions out there.

              But I’d probably resort to chucking up 18 footers if the alternative was more Rose and Crawford shots. Or if my role is to go stand in the corner if I pass.

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