Twins-Astros Game 1: Perpetual Laughingstocks

Astros 4

Twins 1

The Minnesota Twins are a laughingstock of a professional sports franchise.

They are a disgrace. Never more so than now, as they lost their SEVENTEENTH straight playoff game. 

This wasn't the Yankees. This wasn't even Oakland. This was a sub-.500 Astros club, with the worst road record in baseball, against the Twins with the best home record in baseball. The Twins had their ace on the mound, and didn't have to face Verlander. They got Buxton back healthy. They led deep into the ballgame. Hell, even Taylor Rogers had a good outing. 

Nope. Didn't matter. It never matters. It never will matter. 

Because the Minnesota Twins are a laughingstock, a franchise that will always shit the bed in the playoffs, regardless of circumstance or opponent or venue. They are a disgrace to those players who won championships in 87 and 91. 

The Bomba Squad is now 4 for 4 in complete postseason no shows. That 1st inning today was all we needed to see to know what this game would be. Zack Greinke is laboring. The Twins get a Buxton single and a pair of walks to load the bases with 1 out. Then Rosario hits a line drive right to the first baseman, and Sano hits a slow chopper and is thrown out at 1st by a half step. If you wanna chalk that up to bad luck, fine. You don't get to 17 straight losses without bad luck mixed in. 

But the lineup never got it going. In the 3rd they scored when Cruz hit a ball to the wall to score Kepler. But even that 1 measely run doesn't happen if the rightfielder doesn't kind of half ass it on retrieving the ball.

The only other scoring chance that mattered came in the 5th, where Gonzalez and Arraez walks were followed up by 3 pitiful at bats by Buxton, Kepler and Cruz.

Kenta Maeda was great. He got in a couple jams but escaped. I will never understand why Rocco took him out after 5, when, if Maeda even would pitch again it wouldn't be til next week. 

I hate the idea of purposely increasing the number of pitchers you use in a game like this, cause all it takes is one of them having an off day and you lose.

Trevor May had a great, quick inning, but he too got a fast hook. But Tyler Duffey wasn't sharp enough. He gave up 3 straight hits with 2 out and the game was tied. 

The biggest surprise of the game was that Taylor Rogers had a terrific outing after replacing Duffey.

But then the 9th came, and that was where this game was firmly cemented into Twins failure lore.

The badly slumping Sergio Romo came in, and immediately gave up 2 bloops. Romo rebounded to get the next 2 guys, then induced a grounder for the third out....that didn't happen because Jorge Polanco inexplicably botched the routine throw to 2nd. There was the obligatory huge fielding error that has dotted many of these 17 games. 

Instead of inning over, still tied, it was bases loaded. And naturally, instead of bouncing back and getting the next guy like you expect your veteran reliever with big game experience to do, Romo walked Jose Altuve to force in the go ahead run. 

Rocco put in Thielbar and immediately he gave up the always obligatory insurance runs. 4-1. Game over.

The Twins pretended to mount a 9th inning rally with a pair of singles, but a pinch hitting Astudillo (why?) slapped the first pitch into a game ending double play.

The game was lost late by the bullpen and the fielding, but come on this loss, like all 3 last year (and frankly most of these 17) is on the lineup. 

What's the excuse going to be this time? Not having Josh Donaldson? That doesn't excuse Buxton's embarrassing swings, Cruz completely showing his age,  Polanco being useless, that hideous pinch hit by Garver, or any of the day's other failures.

I mean, you can't say this was totally unexpected. This lineup has stunk more often than not in 2020. Bats go missing for long stretches all the time. Scoring chances evaporate due to pathetic situational hitting. This lineup can be had so easily. And now in the 4 biggest games they have been in, they have produced a total of 8 runs. 

Not good enough. Never going to be good enough.

So now the season rides on that same sorry lineup supporting Jose Berrios, who we all know is not going to pitch well because it is a game that has real pressure.

This failure, once concluded, is really the point of no return for me as a Twins fan. It is clear this playoff hex is grander than any of us can possibly comprehend. You couldn't have had the path cleared out better to not only end this preposterous streak but make a real run. And the Twins franchise can't do it. Ever. 

How does one even get into a season anymore? It's horrifying to think that the Twins are set up to have very good regular seasons for years to come. Which means more playoff appearances. And more playoff losses, with no promise of ever winning another game.