This last has been rough, folks.
This series is huge, but it might not mean anything if the lineup can't get healthy. And after last night, the umpires saw fit to waste a start by one of the few starters who's been doing ANYTHING lately.
It's not ideal.
There's (maybe rightfully) a certain sense of dread hanging over this series. Cleveland's got some deadly pitchers on the hill, and we've got....openers. you know what would cure that? A double header sweep!
Get it done, Smeltzer/Thorpe/Dobnak/etc!
Just who the Twins need, the pitcher with a 7.98 ERA versus Cleveland starting today. He probably was pitching today anyway though.
Yeah, that worked out terribly!
He was due for a good three innings!
Deja vu!
Cory mentioned that about half the runs the Twins have given up in September have come with two outs. I wonder how that compares to average. It seems like you'd normally score more runs with two outs, just because you've had more chances to get runners on base.
OPS trends down slightly with two outs, but not by much. 25% of runs score with zero outs, 38% with one out, and 37% with two outs.
Just your standard scoreless inning by Smeltzer.
I couldn’t even look. I followed along on Gameday. Now I’ll look for a while again.
I know that he didn't reach this time, but it's crazy how much just having Kepler back makes this offense look better.
Sure could use this first game...
I have no problem with using Duffey for a second inning, but since he's not used to doing it, I'd have him on a pretty short leash.
Baldelli agrees with you
Nice of the teams to play the game quickly given how nervous I am about it.
Who's nervous?
A little more nervous for game two with Rogers getting five outs. I wonder if Rogers won't pitch the ninth now since it will be the middle-bottom of the order.
Let's score 5 in the 9th to ensure it
"Don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it might rain." - Leo Durocher
Or you might be losing by 10
Exactly. Win the game in front of you.
Have Romo play first for a batter.
I doubt he would have pitched both ends of a DH anyways. Romo might since he only got 2 outs. More concerned about Rogers' availability tomorrow.
He last pitched on September 7. It was a long appearance but he's well rested.
Garver really pumped from the strikeout.
Robot umps now
Horrific non-call on the fourth pitch.
It somehow looks even worse on Gameday
It was pretty bad.
Amazing. Biggest win of the season.
Huge.
Hooray, bullpen!
UNTIL GAME 2!!!111ONE111!!!
In fairness, I still think game one was bigger. Beating their "ace", who hadn't lost a home game OR a intra-division get all season was huge. To beat them by dominating their lineup with a bullpen game is just...I don't know if there will be a bigger win this regular season.
Whaddya know? I survived the game! Let's play two!
90 wins, now tied for 13th in team history with the '92 and '03 teams. They should be able to finish in top five in team history easily.
Isn't baseball something? Nobody would've predicted the Twins to win this game. Not that it was impossible, but Cleveland was clearly the favorite. And if they did win, you'd have thought it was because Clevenger didn't have it, or got hurt, and the Twins were able to win 8-6 or something. A 2-0 shutout win is about the last thing anyone would've expected.
Cleveland started the game with a 60.9% win expectancy. That' s pretty big for two closely matched teams, but today's SP and home field account for it.
Going into this series, I really felt like the Twins needed to win at least one of the three. Not that they couldn't still have won the division if they'd gotten swept, but to have the lead down to a half game would not have been a good thing. Now, I really feel like Cleveland needs to win the last two to stay in it. So let's get that knockout punch!
If Cleveland takes the next two then they'll be 2.5 back. If the Twins go 6-7 afterwards against the dregs, then Cleveland will have to go 8-4 just to tie (half their games are also against the dregs, but the other half are with teams in the NL Wild Card chase).
Crushing loss for the Indians. Clevinger vs. Smeltzer is a must-win game. Now they have a bullpen game tonight and they really have to win the series. Twins need to get greedy and wake up the bats tonight. Bieber tomorrow, so best chance to win tonight.
Clevinger had been 4-0 with a 0.57 ERA in 5 previous day game starts this year.
Is there a separate log for these game 2 bombas?
Eddie!
The games log.
Mmmmhmmm. Can it handle that many puppies?
Handled.
First inning runs are tasty
Lot of home runs by that other team today.
Two runs? That should do it.
Thorpe not inspiring confidence.
Get somebody warmed up.
Umm, 2 IS a crooked number.
Thorpe escapes with only the give-backs but ugh.
Thorpe is...animated.
Maybe watch where you are tossing the batflip, dude.
Indians getting testy.
Twins really need to beat these assholes down.
Game is on MLB channel, btw
Ass-bats. ☹️
Thorpe with 6 Ks now. Hard to believe he's gonna get through 4 after that start.
I spoke too soon.
Almost a spectacular play by Sano.
Gaaah. Too many True Outcomes, Lewis.
That was a meatball, and crushed accordingly.
Very long leash for Thorpe tonight.
Too long, as it turned out. He dominated the bottom of the order but got pummeled by the top
That was not a strike to Arraez.
I concur with the assessment I read from Arraez’ lips.
How about some boomsticks, boys?
I had bought General Admission tickets for Sheenie and me to see Janet Jackson tonight off StubHub. Thanks to the seller never delivering ther tickets, StubHub gave us a huge upgrade because it was ther cheapest set of two adjacent tickets available. Accidental winning!
Cruz!
Finally more than two runs!
Very tall zone tonight. Called a strike several inches low to Sano and strike 3 to Arraez earlier was several inches high.
Per Gameday, Graterol just winged one up there at 101.9 mph
That might be the fastest Twins pitch since Big Train.
Yeah, I think high octane gas works for him.
Put this guy on the postseason roster!
Come on Eddie
Let’s go, Rosario!
Uh oh. Bases loaded strategy
M-V-P
Time for some regression!
Can has salami?
CAN!
DFA THE BUM!!!!
Wooooooo0000000000ooooooo0000000ooooo000000
Ho ho ho!!!
Well, Clevinger will have all October to think up a snappy comeback for the next time someone asks him about Polanco.
Tee hee
Must’ve missed whatever this refers to. If it’s something worth grinning at, fill in the blanks for me.
Stepped away for a few minutes; I'll take partial credit
And here comes Janet. Bring it home, boys
#nasty
Oh, sure, the ONE time I have mid-evening obligations they come back.
Better than the alternative, of course.
It is a rare occurrence. The biggest deficit the Twins have overcome is 3 runs and that's been only a few times.
To overcome and win, I should say.
It's fun to know that this is because we're down by 3 runs less often than almost ever.
That was the 6th HR this year by Sano in the 7th inning or later that either tied game or put the Twins ahead. Amazing.
1) Yanks with a crapton of HRs today; 2) I worked with someone in the RR named Waguespack, too
Now Franmil can throw his bat.
Some great bullpen work by the Twins today.
7 pitchers, 11.1 innings, no runs, no walks, 5 hits.
Only Romo didn't go more than a full inning.
I was really, really dreading this day of baseball. I honestly thought that it was going to end with our team up by a game and a half.
It seems as if this day might have been disastrous for the Spiders.
Soooooo, now Dyson could possibly be done for the season??
Sucks for him.
Shhhhh, don't kill the vibe.
holy crap, the tigers are 46.5 games back.
Could be worse, they could be 49 games back like Baltimore.
Only 39.5 and 43 games back in the Wild Card race, though. Hope springs eternal!
28 points for Rowsdower today!
So, so close.
What a day by Polanco. Homered to drive in only runs of Game 1 plus the diving catch to end the only real threat by the Indians in the third, then 3 hits, including the game tying double in the eighth inning of Game 2.
Isn't baseball something?