In case you missed it, benches cleared during the Minnesota Twins vs Cleveland Indians game on Friday night. Francisco Lindor just missed on a pitch he should have hit out of the ballpark and smiled at the ball in frustration. Sergio Romo took offense to that smile and justifiably retaliated. See how it all unfolded here.

How did Romo address Lindor’s ultimate disrespect? He stared REALLY hard at Lindor and followed him on his trot to first base (before eventually being thrown into the dugout by Miguel Sano). I’m not sure how, but Romo’s death stare didn’t lead to any physical or emotional injuries for anyone involved…

…unless they work in the disciplinary sector of the MLB offices. Because everyone knows that staring isn’t allowed in baseball.

Romo will not appeal. He will serve the one-game suspension tonight, per Derek Falvey.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) September 12, 2020

Remember the good old days, back when pro athletes actually had to do or say something harmful to get suspended? Guys used to throw bases around the infield, throw fists at each other and even…. spit on umps. People get arrested for that shit in 2020.

For the good of baseball and all of humanity, the MLBPA and Sergio Romo should have fought this suspension at all costs. We can’t make staring at people the next thing that we lose to coronavirus or the PC culture…. but it might be too late

I won’t be able to bring my kids into public places pretty soon. They stare at everyone.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

All Sergio Romo has done since arriving in Minnesota and putting on a Twins uniform, is run his mouth constantly and mow down hitters whenever he takes the mound. He both pitches and talks at a professional level. The heavily bearded Romo took the mound tonight, to close out the Kansas City Royals in game 3 of a 4-game set, and looked dominant per usual..

After he struck out the side and secured a 4-2 victory, Sergio did his usual pointing and screaming to the sky, in celebration. At this point in his career, most around the MLB are used to the way Romo celebrates and expresses emotion.

There was a little extra to this one, though… if you watch (or listen) closely.

#TwinsWin#TwinsWin#TwinsWin pic.twitter.com/IqTkoBMMi9

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) August 16, 2020

Can anybody confirm what I thought I heard Sergio Romo say after that final strikeout? #MNTwins

— Derek Wetmore (@DerekWetmore) August 16, 2020

That's what I thought he said,based on the TV broadcast. Interesting! https://t.co/0omNGBLLc3

— Derek Wetmore (@DerekWetmore) August 16, 2020

Can we pause for a moment and bow our heads in respect and admiration toward Sergio Romo? This man deserves our absolute respect. I can’t believe we landed such a treasure. He walks the walk and talks the talk.

WTF Actually Happened?

According to Royals manager, Mike Matheny, the away bench was chirping to the umpire about low strike calls. They didn’t mean to direct those complaints toward Romo but, without fans in the stands, they don’t fall on deaf ears on the mound.

Tensions rose after the final pitch of the Twins-Royals game.

Managers Rocco Baldelli and Mike Matheny discuss what happened. pic.twitter.com/ey55jH2WYx

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) August 16, 2020

For anyone who still plays a sport at any competitive level, this will sound familiar. Whenever an ump or referee is being chirped by the other team for a call that benefited you, there is a natural urge to defend them, especially if you think their call was correct.

Matheny seems to think Romo was mistaking their chirping for something that was directed at him. In reality, he probably knew what was happening but didn’t care. ‘Stop begging and swing the bat’ (is what I would have been thinking).

No matter Romo’s understanding of the situation or what the outcome was, a Minnesota Twins hitter will pay for this with a fastball to the ribcage tomorrow. The questions after that: Who will it be? Will we see any benches clear? If benches do clear, will we see bullpen pitchers sprint toward the infield for the greatest 100-yd dash in sports?

Above all, would the bench-clearing altercation include social distancing?

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Twins have started the shortened MLB season 8-2. While the offense has started slowly, the pitching staff has absolutely dominated under the watchful eye of pitching coach Wes Johnson. The starting rotation is still working on stretching out, which means the bullpen has been shouldering a larger load. No problem.

What should be the nickname for the @Twins stellar bullpen?

Reliever Believers? Pen Pals?

Let’s hear your thoughts ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/D9Z72PVm1W

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) August 4, 2020

One of the biggest keys to creating this absolute monster bullpen has been pitching coach Wes Johnson. Johnson has taken this unit and transformed it from a liability a few years ago to a total lockdown unit in 2020. So what sort of changes has Johnson implemented and what is leading to so much success from? Let’s find out.

THE JOHNSON FACTOR

Johnson had his work cut out for him when he was named pitching coach in 2018. The Twins went 78-84 that season, and had a team ERA of 4.50. Johnson was able to trim that to 4.18 in his first season as pitching coach. So far this year? The Twins boast a 2.70 ERA as a staff (through Monday night’s game), which is 4th best in all of Major League Baseball.

Johnson came to the Twins with a goal of trying to embrace analytics. Wes has long been revered for his ability to help pitchers add to their velocity. On top of that, Johnson has the Twins pitchers focusing on their secondary stuff, and throwing fewer fastballs.

Is this type of success sustainable? The answer is a resounding yes. But how are the top Twins bullpen arms so dominant? The answer is in a variety of ways.

TYLER CLIPPARD

Clippard, who the Twins signed in the offseason, has brought experience and versatility to the Twins bullpen. He has experience as an opener, and a closer, and has thrown almost every inning in between. At 35, he may not possess what he once did in terms of stuff, but Clippard has excelled so far this year with his offspeed stuff. He seemingly generates weak popups with every out he records.

Tyler Clippard since his last Save on July 22, 2018:

80 Games
87.1 IP
3.09 ERA
0.973 WHIP
9.9 K/9
2.2 WPA

— Jim Passon ?? (@PassonJim) August 2, 2020

TYLER DUFFEY

Wes Johnson has turned Tyler Duffey into one of the most dominant relievers in baseball in just over 2 years. As a converted starter, Duffey came to the bullpen with a full arsenal of pitches. After removing a few from his repertoire, Duffey has relied on his fastball and lethal slider. He has become adept at missing bats, I mean good luck trying to hit that slider.

since august of last year tyler duffey’s 43% miss rate is the highest among all relievers with 20 or more appearances.

that breaking ball is FILTHY. #mntwins pic.twitter.com/TDU2DIbtkV

— parker hageman (@HagemanParker) August 1, 2020

TREVOR MAY

Trevor is another converted starter, but just seems much better suited for a late inning role. May has benefited from an uptick in velocity since joining the bullpen, and has the bulldog mentality required to handle high stress innings. May has dominated hitters with his explosive fastball and can lean on his offspeed pitches when necessary. But my favorite part about what he brings to this bullpen is the hunger to keep trying new things.

What is the next thing for Trevor May? How can he take another step forward in his career? https://t.co/55w35V1rMQ

— Twins Daily (@twinsdaily) August 1, 2020

CODY STASHAK

Stashak is the youngest member of this core Twins bullpen group. But make no mistake, Stashak definitely deserves the innings he’s getting. After setting a Major League Record most strikeouts before his second career walk, Stashak is fearless. If you step into the box with Stashak on the mound, be ready. He is going to come right after you.

Yep, that was Cody Stashak pitching as the #MNTwins setup man in the 8th inning of a close game on Saturday night. He made some history, too.https://t.co/CnkwHmuwdi

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) August 2, 2020

SERGIO ROMO

With so many options in the Twins bullpen that feature serious fastballs, it makes sense that there would be one or two options to slow things down. Romo has been around forever, and like Clippard, has a ton of valuable experience in many roles. An at-bat against Romo is going to feature nasty sliders and a frustrating lack of speed. Romo doesn’t need a blazing fastball to get you out. He can do that with movement and location.

Killer changeup for the K from #MNTwins Sergio Romo #BombaSquad pic.twitter.com/eUL1NEqUmS

— Michael Augustine (@AugustineMLB) August 3, 2020

TAYLOR ROGERS

All of these bullpen arms give way to the guy who finishes off most Twins wins. Rodgers has become one of the best closers in baseball. His explosive fastball is accented perfectly by his devastating slider. As previous Twins closers like to make the ninth inning eventful, Rogers usually wastes no time shutting the door. He has no fear and is the perfect leader for this group.

Taylor Rogers slider #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/qwacTZKspG

— Tom Froemming (@TFTwins) July 30, 2020

All of this has led to the best and deepest bullpen in Major League Baseball. Some of the adjustments made by this group have been mechanical, but others have been mentality changes. And all of them have turned this group into an absolute monster. We owe all of the success to Wes Johnson. Now hopefully Wes can fix the starting rotation.

Seth Toupal | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Bomba Squad is back! After a week of training, the Minnesota Twins are set to play live action baseball tonight, for our viewing pleasure. Remember, the 60-game regular season sprint doesn’t start until July 24.

The inter-squad scrimmage will be streamed Thursday evening from Target Field. The team is expected to stream the game on their social media platforms and their website. Aaron Gleeman hinted at it last night and I found a report from FOX 9, that even has expected pitchers.

Goodnight. Sleep tight. There will be a game Twins fans can watch via stream tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/hm3JQ2uwrt

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 9, 2020

It will start to feel even more real for the Twins with another intra squad game on Thursday night. The team plans to stream it online, so fans can tune in and get their first look. Jake Odorizzi and Lewis Thorpe will each pitch three innings, with Taylor Rogers and Sergio Romo also getting one inning. The game will feature public address announcements, walk-up music and other game elements.

Jeff Wald – FOX 9

Ok…live action baseball may be a bit misleading. This isn’t your normal exhibition game, televised every year during spring trainings, nationwide. Instead, this training (dubbed ‘Summer Camp’) and any subsequent “games” that take place, will be Minnesota Twins players facing off against other Minnesota Twins players.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

It is still a step towards Major League Baseball’s season beginning and some sense of normalcy! The game will even include PA announcements, walk-up music and more. As reported by FOX 9, Jake Odorizzi and Lewis Thorpe will get some innings in, before closer Taylor Rogers and middle reliever Sergio Romo, get work in too.

Outside of that, it is unclear what the game will completely look like. I expect to see it be as close to the real deal as it can get, when playing against your own guys. We could also see instructional breaks and situational moving of runners, etc… I guess we’ll find out.

Thursday evening’s game comes off the heels of a pseudo-scrimmage that took place on Wednesday. Opening Day starter, Jose Berrios, threw four shutout innings and struck out the same amount of hitters. Rookie starter (and Uber driver extraordinaire), Randy Dobnak, also pitched four scoreless.

Nelson Cruz breaks up the no-hitter with the Twins’ first (sort of) hit of the season.

(I promise I’ll stop tweeting updates of an intrasquad scrimmage now. We’re all just really excited to be watching something resembling actual baseball again.) pic.twitter.com/ICrRs7fvhi

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 8, 2020

While we are still a few weeks off from the Twins officially taking the field against the White Sox in Chicago to open 2020, this will be a breath of fresh air for those of us itching for baseball. Let’s just hope the weather holds off…

Jack Kewitsch | Minnesota Sports Fan

Source: Reliever Sergio Romo is close to finalizing a one-year deal with an option with the #Twins. The deal is pending a physical. pic.twitter.com/z1JZd45uEh

— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) December 16, 2019

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In an offseason where I’ve mostly bitched about the lack of aggressiveness shown (again) from our Minnesota Twins, tonight is a different story. There was one move the Twins needed to make in their bullpen and it involved signing Sergio Romo OR bringing in someone else to help at the back-end of the bullpen. It seems the Twins and Sergio Romo are agreeing to the former.

I like this option best of the two. We’ve seen Romo pitch and we’ve seen what he can do for this clubhouse. In this situation, our best option was already in-house… or at least was for part of last season. Kudos to the Twins’ front office on making this happen. They’ve now retained the services of Jake Odorizzi and Sergio Romo. Those are two big time moves, and ones that were far from guaranteed entering this offseason. They’ve also sured up the depth at Catcher with Alex Avila.

We are now

1. one bona fide #1 starting pitcher away from an (A-) offseason
2. (Option 1) + a big time 1B away from an (A) offseason
3. and (Option 1 + Option 2) + a 2nd big time starter away from an (A+) offseason

Only time will tell where we land…. but F is still on the table too. If the Twins don’t get at-least one starting pitcher that is widely considered better than Jose Berrios, this offseason is an F. That’s the one need we absolutely cannot leave unfilled. There are no D’s, C’s, or B’s on the grade sheet for the Twins’ offseason anymore.

It’s pass/fail now.

• Get a #1 SP: PASS
• Don’t get #1 SP: FAIL

Now go earn that passing report card so I can stop bitching about you. I want to be friends…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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Shoutout to the 'pen tonight!

Dyson@TheDoof13 @SergioRomo54 @trogers34

4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 Ks. #TwinsWin | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/Xu6e82cmAM

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 28, 2019

Trevor May struck out the side in B7. #MNTwins lead 5-2.

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) August 29, 2019

Cody Stashak throws 2 scoreless and the #MNTwins win 8-2 to remain 3 1/2 in front of Cleveland. The Twins are 81-51 and 30 games over .500 for the 1st time since 9/25/10.
Jake Odorizzi improved to 14-6 w/ 8 Ks over 6 IP, 2 ER.

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) August 29, 2019

Michael Pineda had another solid START to his outing on Tuesday but was the latest Twins starter to be pulled before the end of the 6th inning, with or without a bunch of runs already on the board. He threw just 89 pitches but 27 of them were in the 5th, his last inning. Jake Odorizzi had his best outing of late on Wednesday, going 6 innings, giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 BB, and 8 K. He threw 98 pitches.

The media this morning is trying to tout the Twins’ recent success on the mound as the turning of a corner, but I’m definitely not willing to go near there yet. The bullpen is VASTLY improved and the minimum amount they did at the trade deadline, nabbing Romo and Dyson, seems to be all of the push the team needed.

I don’t know if the starting staff has been THAT improved or if the Twins coaching staff is just asking them to do that much LESS…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately, about the best way for the Twins to line up their pitching staff for the playoffs, and one theme remains constant in my search. Our starters (outside of a GOOD Jose Berrios) can usually hold down the fort for 5 decent innings and I’d imagine they’d be even better if they knew 5 innings were all the coaching staff wanted out of them..

Is there a successful formula that has the likes of — Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Sergio Romo, Cody Stashak, Tyler Duffey, Jose Alcala, Brusdar Graterol, and anyone else that proves effective out of the bullpen — taking over almost every playoff game by the 5th or 6th inning?

There could be.

Right now, the Twins are playing a game nearly every day, and when starters don’t take games into the later innings, your bullpen can get taxed quickly. However, in the playoffs, you will only get two games in a row, maximum, before getting a night off AND your rosters are expanded, so you have more options if those options can be successful.

I think this is what the Twins coaching staff is starting to look at, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more short starts from most of the staff, as we move toward the end of September. Can the bullpen continue to be this good, though? 

That’s the World Series question…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Yesterday was quite the letdown. The Twins played on YouTube for the entire internet world to see and things were going REALLY well… until the 8th inning when Sergio Romo entered the game. A Polanco error and a dribbler-hit later led to this… and the end of my optimism for the night.

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Trent GrisHAMMERED. #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/pLRhnabdCZ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 15, 2019

Another #MNTwins game, another blown lead by the bullpen. ?

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) August 14, 2019

*bullpen gives up 3 run HR and the lead in the 8th inning

Absolutely nobody:#MNTwins fans: “it’s not the bullpen’s fault this time” https://t.co/Kl1YrYhzdX

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) August 14, 2019

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But I awoke this morning in a better mood, especially when I peeped the Twins’ schedule through the rest of August… because the Twins are nearing 13 straight games vs the Tigers and the White Sox, starting Monday. News Alert: Those two teams are bad.

But first, we are on our way to Arlington, Texas to play the baseball team version of the Texas Rangers (luckily… playing the real version would have been dangerous). The baseball team has lost 6 of their last 8, including losing 2 out of 3 to the terrible Blue Jays this week. They did win the getaway game yesterday afternoon, though.

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Mashara. pic.twitter.com/0MYGkNKYNz

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 14, 2019

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If the Rangers would have lost yesterday, they’d be under .500 and the Twins would be preparing for 17 straight games vs. sub-.500 teams. That’s just for novelty though because the Rangers have been playing like a bad team for over a week now and the Twins should be able to take advantage.

We need to dominate the next 3 weeks and these 3 shitty opponents. The White Sox and Tigers combined for a 90-146 record this season and the Rangers might be playing even worse than those two. We’ve been talking about the Twins schedule turning to crap for a long time now, as Cleveland’s been coming up on our ass faster than Vin Diesel in a Fast and Furious movie, and that part of the schedule is finally here.

We need to do as my dad said back in the day and “make hay while the sun is shining”. While we play the Rangers and White Sox for the next week, Cleveland will play both New York teams, who happen to be two of the hottest teams in baseball. This is an opportunity to gain 3-6 games in one week’s time, before the teams on the Indians’ schedule start to look shittier than ours (Detroit/KC).

The Twins will also get Nelson Cruz back early next week.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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