October 06, 2004

Game 2 Ruminations

Pre Game: More of the same tonight. I'm gonna be logging in periodically to check the game and comment. No watching the game, though! Sigh! The Twins got a great win last night. I would have liked to have seen it, but c'est la vie. What I liked about last night was that Our Guy Johan Santana wasn't perfect, he struggled, and the Twins still won. They didn't have to be perfect to win, and that's good. I expect that the Twins will win tonight, too. Here's why. Their starting pitcher, My Personal Hero Brad Radke, has been great this year and he has pitched well in the past. I think the Twins will score more off of Jon Lieber tonight, and I think all the pressure is on the Yankees. How important has Radke been to the Twins resurgence over the last four years? In my mind, he's been the most important piece of the puzzle. Consider this. The Twins were down and out for the umpteenth year in a row. Radke was able to leave as a free agent and he signed a long term (and rich) contract with the Twins. It was his signing that signaled a return from despair for the Twins. Over the last nine seasons, he's been a workhorse for the Twins, starting 32 or more games and pitching more than 210 innings in eight of them. Over the last four seasons, the longest run of winning seasons in club history, Radke is 49-34 with a 4.08 ERA. He's 1.20 and a K/BB of 4.62. Obviously, he's not Roger Clemens, but he's been pretty darned reliable. Lost in the brilliance of Our Guy, Radke has had the best season of his career in 2004. True, his record is just 11-8, but that doesn't begin to tell the story. His 3.48 ERA is third in the league. He was fifth in innings pitched (218), second in Quality Starts (24, to Our Guy's 25), third in K/BB (5.50) and third in WHIP (1.16). He's arguably been the 3rd or 4th best pitcher in the American League. In short, he's been consistent, and he's been consistently good. In addition, he has been a very good post-season pitcher. In four starts, he's posted a 2-2 record with a 2.19 ERA. Talk about no run support! In 24 2/3 innings, hes allowed 24 hits while walking 4 and striking out 16. That translates to a WHIP of 1.13 and a K/BB of 3.75. Three of his four starts have been quality starts, including both of his losses. The only non-quality start included a memorable first inning in which the Twins defense played keystone cops allowing a popup to drop for a hit in front of the pitcher's mound and four unearned runs in the first two innings. This was the first Twins playoff game in eleven years, and the jitters were evident. Radke came back and won the decisive fifth game. This is why I like the Twins. They've got their battle tested pitcher out there. They're coming off a nice win. And the Yankees are not throwing a stopper like they did last year in game 2 (Andy Pettitte). The bookmakers have made the Yankees a 175/-185 favorite. After favoring the Twins last night, apparently bettors are not impressed with Radke and are betting the Yanks. Perhaps they don't read Stick and Ball Guy! 6:30 PM Good Grief. The Captain homered for the Yankees to lead off the game and My Personal Hero walked a batter in the first inning. That is not good. Jon Lieber throws six pitches in the first inning? The Twins scored a run, but wow, six pitches. 7:00 PM Well Radke can't complain about run support, at least not so far. The problem is he's giving up runs. Number 25's best friend, Gary Sheffield hit a two run dinger and with one out in the third, Radke's given up 3 runs and 5 hits. It's a tie game, but I don't like it. I'm pretty sure the Twins don't want to get in a slugfest with the Yanks. Just I am ready to post, our old friend the double play comes. Through three innings, Radke's thrown 46 pitches. At that rate, he'll not make it past six innings. Of course, if he continues to give up a run an inning, his night will be shorter -- and the Twins' night will be longer. 7:30 PM Michael Cuddyer is 4-5 with a run and an RBI so far in the two games and he was the pivot in three double plays last night. I can't imagine any reason why the Twins would offer Luis Rivas arbitration and pay him a bunch of money next year. If anyone has any good reasons to do so, please let me know, 'cause I can't think of one. A-Rod homered in the fifth putting the Yanks ahead 4-3. The Yankees are flexing their muscle tonight. There goes the Quality Start for Radke. Radke gave up 23 homers in 34 starts and 219 2/3 innings during the regular season. Tonight? Three. Actually Radke gave up 3 home runs in a game 4 times this season, including 3 times in four starts from June 30 to July 16. 8:00 PM The Twins are still in this thing, despite a relatively poor outing so far by Radke, but they better score soon, as time is getting short. But, instead the Yanks score again, and A-Rod is the run producer. Sigh. 8:30 PM I'm tired, the game is getting late and Our Favorite Nine are down 5-3. Eighth inning. Mariano Rivera can come in at any time. I wonder if the Twins would start a rally here with no outs if Joe Torre would bring him in to get six outs. Well, not six, but how about five? Jacque Jones strikes out but reaches and Torii Hunter singles. Two on, one out. Up comes Li'l Harmon. The Yankees have to go to the bullpen, don't they? Who else would you rather have up in this situation? I mean, one swing of the bat and we are right there. C'mon Li'l Harmon! Rivera is in. Five outs, including a pressure situation. The best post-season reliever ever. The kid who has the potential to be one of the Twins' all-time great sluggers. And he delivers a run scoring single on the first pitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take that, Doug Mientkiewicz! Oh! My! God! We've gotten to Rivera! Corey Koskie doubles home a run! It's 5-5 and Rivera has blown the save! Now, it's Kubel! If only, if only! Imagine Kubel and Morneau, two (essentially) rookies touching up Rivera! The possibilites are making me giddy! Shoot. He struck out. And now Cristian Guzman grounds to Rivera and the inning is over. Wow. We have a chance here! I suppose Rivera will pitch the ninth, but I'll bet Torre is kicking himself for pitching Rivera last night. 9:00 PM Not knowing how this is going to turn out tonight, you have got to hand it to the Twins. They have battled back, and they did it against the great Rivera. One question, though, and I'll bet my friend Moss has the same question. Why pinch run for Li'l Harmon? Now you've got Rivas hitting in his spot in an extra inning game. I think that this was a mistake, unless he is hurt or something. There sits Rivas due up third in the tenth (if we get there). 9:09 PM I just had a horrible thought. What if The Captain hits a walk off home run? Nah, that's not going to happen... Is it? Juan Rincon is tiring. He's run the string out to Miguel Cairo. The Captain is up next. C'mon Juan! Yes! He got him! Rincon's line: 2 IP 0H 0R 0BB 4K. At 33 pitches, and having pitched last night, he's done. We go to the tenth. How about another "vulture" win for Juan! Top of the Tenth Now's the time to do it. Tanyon Sturtze is pitching and next inning it's the top of the Yankee lineup. But, Jones and Hunter go quietly, and now it's up to Li'l Harmon Luis Rivas Matt Lecroy. And he walked! But Koskie struck out. Sigh. Bottom of the Tenth It's Joe Nathan's turn. I would imagine that Nathan can be good for two innings here. But first, he's gotta get through the three guys that have homered tonight. Hey, Joe, that's why you get the big bucks!! Nathan made $440,000 this year. That's probably more than anyone who's actually reading my blog, in fact, I almost guarantee it. If you are reading this and are making more than $440,000 in 2004, drop me a line. Oh, by the way, The Captain, A-Rod, and Sheffield made a combined $52,356,012. Go get 'em Joe! Top of the Eleventh After that bruising lineup (down 1-2-3), the Twins counter with Kubel, Guzman, & Cuddyer. A-Rod has 381 career home runs. These three guys have a combined 1,036 hits. I mean, if you think about it, Our Favorite Nine has no business slugging it out with these guys. And yet, here we are. That's why it's so exciting to root for David. Goliath has every advantage. When Goliath wins, how can you really be excited? Bottom of the Eleventh This is gonna get tough. What do the Twins do after Nathan? J.C. Romero? Shudder! Of course, Nathan has to get through Godzilla, Bernie Williams, and Jorge Posada. Total Salary of these folks? Just $28,357,143. Not even worth mentioning. If I was making money in that kind of range, I'd want to have an annual salary that is a prime number. I don't want $10,000,000. How boring! I want $9,999,937, which is a prime number. Is this too much to ask? I don't think so! If you think this is a ridiculous thought, think for a second how ridiculous it is that the top six guys in the Yankee lineup tonight are making $80,713,155. Top of the Twelfth The thing about post season baseball is that when the game is close, the tension is incredible, even for the fans. If you are watching a game at the Metrodome in July and it goes into extra innings, you are either gonna take off, or you are going to stay. Either way, there comes a point when you no longer care who wins, just get the game over already. Of course, it just isn't that way in the postseason. If the Twins win this game tonight, they can deliver a crushing blow to the Yanks. And so you want it to be over, but this may be the defining game of the season. And you know it. And you can't take it. And then, Torii Hunter hits a two out home run, in say, the top of the twelfth inning and you want to scream from the roof tops. But you know that the Yanks have another shot at it. And anything can happen. And I'm glad that Tanyon Sturtze, he of the what, minimum salary(?), is out there pitching his third inning of relief. And the empire is crumbling and they've got some journeyman on the mound. And, please God, let it end this way tonight. Did I mention that the tension is incredible? Bottom of the Twelfth You really wish Radke could have pitched one more inning. But here we are. And Nathan's out there for his third inning. He's not pitched this much in one outing all year. The most pitches he's thrown all year is 33, and that was in one of those rare, he doesn't have it tonight outings. And he's facing John Olerud, whose grandparents live less than 20 miles from my home town, and that's in the part of the world where everybody knows everyone else. And I knew Olerud's first cousin, who always went to the Metrodome to cheer John on, even though he was a big Twins fan. And Nathan puts Olerud down tonight. Good. But he walks Cairo. And here comes The Captain. And I hate The Captain. And I fear The Captain. Because he's overrated and he's still damn good, respectively. And Joe's thrown five wide one in a row. And six. Damn. And he's up to 44 pitches. Seven in a row. Eight. And the tying run is in scoring position. And it's A-Rod with his 381 career home runs. Nine. Finally, a strike. I'm wondering if we have any of those double plays left. Much has been made about A-Rod "earning his pinstripes." Three hits including a home run. But the Yankees want a game winner here and now, and A-Rod delivers a double. And there's a pit in your stomach. Tie game, second and third, one out. Man, Nathan was over-extended. This is the problem when Romero can't get through an inning without giving up a run. Gardy goes with Nathan too long. He's up to fifty pitches. He won't be available on Friday. What about Saturday? Sheffield intentionally walked to fill the bases. Now, it's Godzilla's turn. But first, it's J.C. Romero. Romero throws one pitch. Godzilla hits a sacrifice fly, The Captain scores and the Twins let one get away. Wow, what a tough loss. The worst part is that we have to hear about "The Ghosts" of Yankee Stadium. What happened tonight was that Nathan was over-extended. That's all.

5 comments:

  1. what also happened is that Jones made an idiot decision to throw to first with Jeter, the no. one Yankee and most spirited player in baseball, obviously going to try for home.

    throw home, he's out. new game. top 13th.

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  2. I didn't see it. Was it clear that he was throwing at the cutoff guy or did he merely throw it short like he tends to do?

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  3. As you know, I didn't see the play. Did Jones throw it to the cutoff guy on purpose or did he just throw it too low, like he as a tendancy to do? If he deliberately threw to the cutoff guy, I can't explain that thinking. He had to throw home there.

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  4. Jones most definitely did not throw to first. There is no possible way he would do that, as every outfielder from little league on up knows that you have to throw home. Jones was playing in (like he was supposed to) and Matsui's fly ball was more of a line drive. Jones wasn't able to get any forward momentum going, and as a result he wasn't able to get as much distance on his throw as he would have liked. The throw was up the line and LeCroy HAD to cut it off. It just wasn't a great throw, that's all. Not an inexplicable throw to first.

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  5. Thanks for the feedback, Ryan.

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