The Minnesota Twins lost 4 out of 5 games on their 5-game road trip and now trail the Cleveland Guardians by 2.5 games in the American League Central Division and are 2 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the final Wild Card spot with 48 games to go in the regular season. They are also tied (in winning %) with the Chicago White Sox but they have played 2 fewer games than them.
They play 24 of those games at home including 12 of their next 15 (KC(3), TEX(3), at HOU(3), SF(3) & BOS(3)) before they go on a 7-game road trip for 3 in Chicago & 4 in New York. They also play Cleveland 8 times & Chicago 9 times so there should be plenty of chances to get those 2.5 games back.
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Coming off a sweep at the hands of the dominant Los Angeles Dodgers in 10-3 & 8-5 losses and they were eerily similar to Twins games against the New York Yankees where the Twins showed a glimmer of hope by taking a 3-2 lead with a Jorge Polanco 3-run Home Run then added to it with a Gary Sánchez dinger but the Dodgers tied it up right away in the next half inning but another glimmer… Jose Miranda made a great defensive play at 3rd base to end the inning with the game still tied. In the 6th, 7th & 8th innings, the Twins had one base runner when Miranda reached on an error. The Dodgers took the lead back with a Chris Taylor HR on an 0-2 pitch that was left up in the 6th:
Then added 3 more runs on a Joey Gallo* HR in the 7th for an 8-4 lead. The Twins had two 2-out hits in the top of the 9th and scored another run on a wild pitch but that was it. On to Anaheim to face the Los Angeles Angels for 3 games.
*The same Joey Gallo who was hitting .159/.282/.339 (Average / On-Base% / Slugging%) in 82 games with those Yankees and the Twins walked Will Smith to get to Gallo.
The Minnesota Twins had not lost 4 games in a row all season long and avoiding long losing streaks is part of having a good season but they have to put a winning streak together at some point, too. This was a good chance to start something against the Los Angeles Angels who have been struggling with injuries and are not having the kind of season they envisioned for 2022.
The Twins seemed ready to take advantage of it as they had a great game all around in a 4-0 shutout in Game 1:
They looked like they had Game 2 in hand and had it taken away from them despite one of the greatest defensive plays you might ever see from Minnesota Twins CF Byron Buxton in the bottom of the 10th for the very rare 8-3 inning-ending double play:
It probably shouldn’t have gotten to extra innings and should’ve ended as a 3-1 win for the Twins if a strike is called a strike:
There’s a great Twitter account called UmpScorecards that scores how home plate umpires do calling balls & strikes each game. They even list the 3 most impactful calls and, for some reason, that missed strike wasn’t number 1, 2 or 3 which is amazing since it would’ve ended the game.
Ump Scorecard for August 13th, 2022 – MIN at LAA
But it didn’t so that at-bat turned into a walk and the next batter tripled to tie the game but was thrown out at home to send the game to extra innings…
… and the Twins lost in the 11th on a 2-run HR. That’s a tough, bad 5-3 loss.
On to Game 3 as the Twins looked to redeem themselves and Byron Buxton gave them a 2-0 lead with his 28th HR of the season.
The Angels tied it on a 2-run double to left field in the 3rd inning and took a 3-2 lead on a sacrifice fly in the 4th. The Twins had a few chances but just couldn’t get the big hit and they ended up losing 4-2.
The Minnesota Twins were 2-for-24 with Runners In Scoring Position in the series and 6-for-35 on the 5-game road trip as they were 4-for-11 in the 2 games vs the Dodgers. That’s not good enough. They need to be better and the players know it and feel it more than anyone else, even the most passionate of fans.
Series Notes
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“Passion” & the Minnesota Twins Should Be a Good Thing
There are a lot of passionate Minnesota Twins but it really seems the most passionate fans are also the most negative fans. A bad loss means the season is over or someone should be fired or released or at least benched. I would assume most of the time they don’t really mean the things they say because it’s usually a reaction to a negative outcome for their team and immediately responding when your emotions are high isn’t usually a good way to go.
Usually an immediate response comes with profanity and/or the intelligent phrase, “They suck.” It’s understandable to be upset about your team losing or playing badly but that feeling really shouldn’t last long because it is just a game for fans.
We all want our teams to win as much as possible but it’s also getting more difficult to win. There are now more playoff spots so it’s easier to get into the playoffs but harder to win* because now a team has to win at least 11 games (3-4-4) and at most 13 games (2-3-4-4) with the top 2 seeds from each league getting byes in the 1st round.
*Easier to get in, harder to win!
Sports should not get a fan upset for more than a few minutes even if fan is short for fanatic.
Doesn’t every team go through a slump or two during a 162-game season? The New York Yankees are 3-9 in August and 8-15 since the All-Star break. The Twins are 5-7 in August and 8-11 since the All-Star break.
All they can do now is learn from it and quickly move on as they start a 3-game series against Kansas City tonight so there’s no time to feel bad for themselves. They have to get to work to win these games against teams they should beat.
They still have the talent to win and get in then it’s let’s see what happens in The Dance. Hopefully, they still have all of their fans with them but, hey, every fan has a choice to keep supporting their team. It’s not difficult. We’ve heard fans say it’s difficult to be a fan of “insert team here” but is it? No. It isn’t difficult to be a fan, especially if they are your favorite team.
It’s really simple. Support your team. Cheer for them in victory and defeat.
I truly believe every employee of every professional organization wants their team to win and are doing what they think is best to get them to the ultimate end goal of winning a championship. Sometimes that means rebuilding or selling instead of buying at the deadline because the team hasn’t shown an ability to get over a hump. It is a process and it takes time for players and teams to learn how to win.
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How do you Correct Mistake Pitches?
The bad pitch on an 0-2 count from Michael Fulmer is a mistake pitch and they’ve happened way too often for the Twins this season. Why?
Is it lack of execution? Control? Command? Mechanics? Grip? Pitching has so many variables but we also live in a time where there are a lot of tools to evaluate a pitch and the pitcher.
Is there a stat for mistake pitches? I couldn’t find one but I found probably too many articles on & around the subject of pitching command, pitching control and pitch location so we’ll have to get back to you on this subject.
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1 and 4 to Won in 4?
Could this be a turning point to the Minnesota Twins 2022 season?
Sooner or later, there comes a time where the players and the team have to figure out what they want to be and just bear down and get to it because there’s not a lot of time to do it anymore. Does it take a players only meeting? Those seem overrated but there’s something to them or else they wouldn’t happen at all.
The coaches and managers can only do so much. They can’t go out on the field and do it for them. They can only try to put the team and each player in the best position to have success and then let them go do it.
We’ll see what happens next.
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