2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game 168: Houston Astros at Minnesota Twins (and NLDS Games 3)

144 Comments

José Urquidy
vs
Joe Ryan
FS1 at 6:07 p.m. CDT

NLDS games:
TBD vs Aaron Nola, TBS at 4:07 p.m.

Lance Lynn vs Brandon Pfaady, TBS at 8:07 p.m.

Urquidy's strikeout rate is down compared to last year (6.4 K/9 compared to 7.3 K/9 last year), his walk rate is up (+1.5 BB/9) and his home run rate is steady yet high (1.6 HR/9). All of these things match up well with what Twins batters can feast on. The rest of the league already has with his 5.39 ERA this year in 61 innings. I doubt Houston will let him pitch deep so Twins need to get their scoring in early and often.

144 thoughts on “2023 Game 168: Houston Astros at Minnesota Twins (and NLDS Games 3)”

    2. I believe in Joe Ryan. I felt like they should have used him game 1. He's the guy they traded for and signed (before Lopez). So give him the faith.

        1. He's gonna be a low-BA, high-K, high ISO guy with a plus arm.

          I would like to see Miranda fix whatever was ailing him. DH/1b platoon with Kiriloff.

    1. Stewart and Thielbar are one inning guys. Paddack last pitched in Game 1 so he should be available for a couple of innings.

    1. We're far enough away from Kay and ARod that I'm willing to re-evaluate my opinion of these guys.

    2. I think it's a twist on, "You keep running out guys, one of them is going to have an off day." Which is pretty meaningless, and not statistically born out

      1. I mean, I think it’s true, but you have to weigh it against what you see from your starter. I don’t like going to the bullpen so early, but if I’m looking at the right numbers, it seems like Ryan’s FB velocity was below average for him with Urquidy’s being average to above-average.

        That combined with Joe allowing a .935 OPS against in the second half, maybe once through the order and a couple innings was all they expected from him in the first place.

    1. One of my favorite jokes on the Simpsons is when a guy is complaining about how a jazz violinist is playing.
      Lisa: "But you have to listen to the notes she's not playing."
      Guy: "Pfft. I could have done that at home."

      Sorry, randomly reminded, and for some levity in these trying times.

  23. Wild thought: they need to pinch hit Buxton next inning. Not sure for who, but they need a paradigm shift, something to change up the game. And there's no way they made that roster change today for nothing.

  26. I know batters almost never reach on dropped third strikes, but Twins players have had zero interest in even trying these playoffs.

    1. I noticed that walking by the bar in Denver airport. Looked like a bullshit call, live.

      Had Rocco already used his challenge?

    2. I love how the announcers don't mention those calls when they go against the Twins but will talk about it happening to the Astros for fifteen minutes.

    3. I don’t even know why the union would be against it at this point. It’s just embarrassing. Announcers called him one of the top umps with 95% accuracy? That sounds…really bad.

      2. The players are/were against it too. All of MiLB has it now so it's happening in MLB eventually.

      3. There is something about the fallibility of human judgement and the game that is appealing. I think that’s why people hate on the pitch clock so hard. Give nomar his time to adjust his Velcro! It’s poetry!

        That sense of human-ness is counter to fairness, of course. The fair comes in august, after all. Robot umps remove the beautiful game but brings fair outcomes which humans both desire and hate.

        2. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. MiLB is using the challenge system. Everything is still called by an umpire but the batter or pitcher can review a pitch.

  39. Good use of Duran against the top of the order. He should have some left in the tank for Alvarez, Tucker and Abreu.

        1. Yeah, the look on his face wasn’t pretty. He’s a great player with a lot of expectation on his shoulders. Hard to carry all that weight.

  62. It hurts, but it was a great season, and even a good playoff showing. I like this pain way more than not watching the playoffs. And way way more than losing to the Yankees in 3.

    1. This was a good, competitive game. Yesterday's was way more frustrating. A top-3 CYA starter and still blown out.

  64. Folks, it’s not great to lose, but losing with y’all has been great. I really, truly appreciate this slice of the intertubes.

  65. I approached this series with the thought "if we're going to be the best, we need to prove it by beating the best." Houston is undoubtedly the best team in the AL right now. Now 7 straight LCS appearances. They're the big dog and if any team is going to represent the AL, they fittingly should have to go through Houston.

    After watching this series, the Twins were clearly not the better team. They were good. They were better than I've seen them been in the other postseason series, but there's a lot of room for improvement.

    I think 5 of the Astros first 6 batters in their lineup all hit home runs this series. Alvarez was a MONSTER, and Abreu was just as ferocious.

    Meanwhile Lewis was really the brightest spot of our lineup. Julien I thought did great with his pitch selection, and kept us in this one late. Correa had a great game 2, but outside of that couldn't get it done. I will say though, we had a lot of hard shots hit right at their fielders, which they executed flawlessly, showing another facet of just how good the team is.

    We got home runs from Lewis, Polanco, Julien, and Farmer. Ironically, Farmer was only in the lineup for Game 2. I feel like it may have been better to play him more, though I don't know where we'd put him (first?)

    Pablo was amazing. He pitched a sweetheart of a gem that makes me feel better about our chances in the future. Sonny had a bad first inning, but his performance in the Wild Card game was just as sweet as Pablo's

    However, I was very disappointed with the performances of Kirilloff, Wallner, Solano, Taylor, Jeffers, and Castro. Often they reminded me of our other postseason teams that just looked lost. They were able to get a few walks, but otherwise I had really no expectation of anything spectacular when they were batting.

    But seriously, this team was a delight to watch again, and they have reignited my hope for their postseason success. I think we have some great building blocks, and seeing Lewis have so much success this early brings a lot of hope. I also hope that Wallner can improve and that we can make some good moves in the offseason to have another chance this year.

    Oh yeah, Paddock looked great tonight as well.

    Also, I feel sorry for Joe Ryan. If I were him, I would feel like my manager has NO confidence in me. Didn't start Game 1, pitched only 2 tonight. I hope he can work on some things in the offseason, but I feel kind of bad for him tonight.

    It was a great series, and though we didn't win, I feel that the better team did win. Houston was solid on so many fronts, and they have a good shot at another World Championship. I will not be cheering for them however, because I'd much rather see the Rangers win their first.

    Everyone here, it's been a blast hanging out with you. I'll still be around, but probably more scarce. It was great to finally experience postseason success with y'all (seriously, I'm pretty sure I started hanging around here during the 2006 run). Enjoy the rest of the postseason.

    Good night.

  67. I bet even statfreak, wherever he is, would be proud of this team. Nice to spend some time around you fellas again, been too long.

  68. I know the bats did well in the second half of the year, but I'd still like to see a change in approach for the offense. They need to be able to put the ball in play more often.

    1. I don’t know how much individual hitters can really change at this point in their career, but I wouldn’t hate some equivalent-value trades for some contact hitters.

      I guess I’m saying it’s more of a roster issue than an approach issue, but I could be wrong.

      1. You're probably right. That's why I'm not high on Wallner. I'd rather see Martin out there.

        1. Yeah, they probably could have used someone like Wallner back in the "piranha" days, but I tend to think you only need so many low-average, high-power, high-strikeout hitters in the lineup.

    1. I don't know about boosting the chances for big market teams, but I'm a bit surprised that the DS is not a best-of-7, since in general, I would think that a longer series would favor the higher seeds.

  70. At least the AL Central didn't embarrass themselves in the playoffs like the pathetic AL East.

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