Choose your own ALDS Opponent
ByIn a few minutes, the Royals and Twins will start their game. Zack Greinke goes for his 17th win as Nick Blackburn, on three days’ rest, looks to keep the surging Twins putting pressure on the Tigers. Right now, I’m just rooting for a one-game AL Central playoff on Tuesday.
But beyond that playoff, the Yankees will have to play someone on Wednesday in their hunt for an ALCS berth. Both the Twins and Tigers have their strengths and weaknesses. While the AL Central will be the worst, record-wise, of all AL playoff teams, we can’t count either out in a very short series.
So as the games begin and we await the time until the Yanks and Rays play game 161 tonight, let’s open this one up to a poll and a discussion. We’ll be back with the game thread in a few hours.
RAB Note: Feel free to use this thread to discuss the FOX game as long as it’s the Royals vs. the Twins. We’d like to keep this one somewhat on topic.
My stupid affiliate is showing the marlins and philles. I’d prefer the twins since they don’t have a dominant #1, but I won’t be too devastated if we have to face Detroit after using Verlander tomorrow and winning a 1 game playoff either.
Rather play the Twinkies….only so the Yanks don’t have to face a certified ace in Justin Verlander possibly 2 times…you get into a short series, with a guy like Verlander and anything can happen…however, I dont wan’t a repeat of 2007 when the Yanks swept the season series against the Indians then lost in 4 in the playoffs (7-0 I believe against the Twins this year).
I voted for Detroit. If the Twins win it they will be pumped and they are hot right now. At the way Detroit is going they will be beaten bloody and battered if they don’t clinch this weekend.
I know we were 7-0 against the Twins, but this does include three walk offs and a shitload of one run games.
Law of averages, much?
well this would be a piss poor time for the law of averages to rear its ugly head
Tigers it is, then?
Can you add a “Let’s-not-play-the-choose-our-opponent-game-that-worked-really-well-in-2006″ option?
Yeah. We were all pretty pumped up about facing a Tigers team, (and an Indians team in 2007) that looked liked they were cooked. Didn’t work out so well if I recall correctly.
How about we just chill and root our guys to crush anyone that stands in their way, mmkay?
How hard do you think the Royals will push Grienke today, given it is his last start of the season?
No more than usual. Don’t want to risk an injury under any circumstance when you’re just playing out the string.
The unwritten rules of baseball – if you’re out of it, and you’re playing a team with something at stake, you go with your “A” lineup and pitching and play the game the way you would have in June or July.
You don’t expose guys to injury, but you don’t pitch Greinke 60 pitches and hand the ball to some scrub.
I hadn’t been following the Twins much lately – there’s a ton of injuries to their rotation, and Liriano has been pretty awful this year. Gardenhire had no choice but to send Blackburn out there on short rest. Will be interesting if he sends Duensing out there tomorrow or if he goes with the American Idle.
You also wonder how a guy like Blackburn will respond in a playoff game after pitching on short rest the start before.
The ideal scenario may be – Verlander forced to pitch on Sunday, and Pavano forced to go on short rest as well. Then whoever wins may have some burned-out pitchers in their rotation
all we need is a Twins win or Tigers to lose today and that forces Verlander to start sunday.
making its only one start for him in the 1st round and only round for the tigers.
does it really matter? i mean jose molina is going to be catching.
(still pissed about molina starting a postseason game)
Happy Birthday, Dave Winfield.
(He played for the Twins, so not off topic. FTW!!)
Yankees Batters (including opponent pitcher ERA and WHIP):
Against Twins: 5.43 ERA 1.635 WHIP .870 OPS 108 tOPS+ 129 sOPS+
Against Tigers: 4.76 ERA 1.569 WHIP .811 OPS 93 tOPS+ 113 sOPS+
Yankees Pitchers:
Against Twins: 3.27 ERA 1.439 WHIP .719 OPS 97 tOPS+ 88 sOPS+
Against Tigers: 2.55 ERA 1.057 WHIP .636 OPS 74 tOPS+ 72 sOPS+
My analysis: The Yankees offense is above league splits against both the Tigers and the Twins, but are subpar for their own batters against the Tigers (which is still above league splits). Both the Twins and Tigers offenses are worse opposing the Yankees then other teams. The Tigers appear to struggle with our power pitchers.
In addition, I have a feeling that the Tiger offense could move more towards their offensive averages against the Yankees. Maybe not, but I don’t want to risk it. Don’t forget that Morneau is out injured, so the Twins offense will not even be as good as as it has been during the year. I’m also hoping for a one game playoff.
My choice would have to be a series against the Twins.
Could you please recalculate those stats without Morneau? I can’t fathom an accurate opionion without it.
kthanxbye.
fathomformand of course I meant opinionm not an opionion……whatever just totally disregard my lame attempt at humor.
I’m just going to disregard you altogether.
kthxbai.
Going against conventional wisdom and saying Tigers. They don’t scare me
It doesn’t matter. We have an advantage in both hitting and pitching. Even with Verlander, I’d say our top four pitchers have a better chance. Verlander may have a slight edge on CC (and that’s very much up for debate), but I think Pettite and Burnett match up better than Jackson and Porcello. Jackson’s sruggles since the ASB have been well-documented. Advantage Burnett. Porcello has actually put together a solid season. The main problem? He can’t go deep into games. Take a look. The bullpen of the Tigers is terrible. Absolutely terrible. Their lineup is Miguel Cabrera and…yeah, that’s about it. They don’t scare me, even if Verlander is rested.
Against the Twins, well, it’s obvious. Our #3 starter is probably as good or better than their “ace”. Hitting is an absolute advantage for us and our bullpen is also better. Their hitting has been pretty solid of late, but are they really that scary without Morneau? I’m not sure they’re that scary with him. I think they’ve really overachieved. Mauer we know is great. Cuddyer and Span are solid players. Kubel can’t hit lefties and we’re then left with Crede (washed up), Young and Gomez can’t get on base (OBP around .300) and have little power, Nick Punto, who is terrible, and Brendan Harris, who is average, at best.
So, batters to worry about: Mauer, Span, Cuddyer, Kubel (but only righties). Everyone else ranges from meh to haha.
We should defeat whoever is in front of us. I’d rather face the Tigers simply because the Twins have been hot lately (but I still think we’d cream them).
HTML fail. Also, regarding Porcello: It’s not that he can’t go deep into games, it’s that he hasn’t done it with much consistency. He’s usually between 5-6 innings, and has hit 6 or more in all but one start for the month of September. He’s been their second best pitcher for a while, though his whip isn’t great and his k-rate isn’t great either. His OBP against is around .380 in the 6th and 7th innings. That, with the bullpen, gives us an advantage.
http://www.baseball-reference......;year=2009
I vote for the Twins…for entirely selfish reasons (I moved to the Midwest this summer and now live about 2 1/2 hours from Minneapolis.)
I mean, how else will I be able to see how much better Molina is than Posada but WITH MY OWN EYES!!!!
/Lucky’d
Having lived in Wisconsin, I can say the Midwest is lame. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I think I’d rather live in the Middle East.
That’s just because you didn’t live in Chicago. Saying the Midwest sucks because you lived in Wisconsin is like saying New York sucks because you spent some time in Utica.
True. I recant my statement. Wisconsin sucks.
Blackburn got out of a jam. This is turning into an awesome pitcher’s duel.
I’m really annoyed at my dumbass fox affiliate.
where do you live?
It’s only one of the most important games of the year. Why show it?
Because the Marlins v. Phillies game is…
That’s all I got.
Joe Mauer is a man.
A man. Not the man?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoMmbUmKN0E
ICWUDT.
He’s 26.
How certain are you that the Twins re-sign him? I can’t see them letting him go, regardless of price. Your thoughts, Congressman?
Not as certain as others around here seem to be. Do I think the Twins would be crazy to not break the bank and re-sign him? Yes, of course. But they haven’t been able to get it done yet, and the closer he gets to free agency the higher the odds are that he is tempted to dip his toe into the market. If I’m the Twins, I’m going all out to lock him up this offseason. The longer they wait, the more they hurt themselves.
Mauer hits RBI. Twins up 1-0 in the bottom of the 6th.
I don’t care who we’ll play, we’ll beat Detroit or the Twinkies. I’d like to add a third choice to the poll: it doesn’t matter
The MVP overcomes the should be Cy Young winner.
This is one helluva game.
Wow, just wow.
DELMON YOUNG!!
Holy lord, Delmon Young got on base?
that’s his 2nd hit of the day
Yeah. He’s been tearing up September and October. Before that, he’d been pretty bad.
tie going into the last day in the central?
Hopefully Figaro sucks and the white sux dont.
Alfredo Figaro isn’t exactly the name you want to hear if you are a Tigers fan and it is a critical game.
delmin young ftw
I like Delmon, too bad he hasn’t reached his projected potential.
Throwing down and in to Jacobs? That’s the only spot he can hit the ball!
lol i know!
I’d actually rather face Detroit, if only because I’d prefer to watch outdoors baseball and not have to endure that god-forsaken dome one last time.
if you’re leyland, are you wondering why hillman pitched to mauer?
Only because it was Greinke on the mound.
i’d rather have ZG pitch to anyone he wants in the league than almost every other pitcher
Yup, everyone beside Mo.
my personal opinion: i want greinke pitching to any hitter in the league except mauer
So, walk mauer 700 times a year?
just once: 0-0, man on third, 2 outs, another team counting on me to win the game
Managers don’t make decisions based on what other teams need to have happen.
Eh, says you. Maybe Hillman thinks it’s his duty to play this game like it’s a playoff game. What do we know.
i respectfully disagree
I’m saying Hillman shouldn’t decide to not pitch to Mauer because another team needs the Twins to lose, all while Greinke is the best pitcher this year with his almost 2 ERA and already pitching stellar early in the game.
At no point should Hillman go “Oh I better pitch around Mauer with the best pitcher this year, so we may have a better chance to win and maybe help the Tigers.”
i agree. just cranky because i prefer to play the tigers. i do think managers whose teams are playing “spoiler” feel a responsibility to play their starters even if they’d rather be getting rookies at-bats
Jose – You can say Hillman shouldn’t care about the situation, but that’s different than saying he doesn’t care. In your 6:27 comment you clarified and agreed with that statement, but the reactions were to your declarative statement at 6:16.
So, yeah, he probably shouldn’t care much. Agreed.
I see what you mean. Let me clarify, Hillman should not make decisions based solely on effect on other teams. I suppose I was only guessing that “Managers don’t make decisions based on what other teams need to have happen.” I have no way of verifying that statement either way. I apologize for the confusion and misrepresenting what I was trying to say.
Standing ovation for nick blackburn. That was the start of his life today
I can’t wait to be serenaded by the wonderful, original music of Bon Jovi, and the creativity and humor of George Lopez. Maybe next year we can look forward to Tyler Perry and…Bon Jovi…again.
Holy crap this game is nuts.
Lots of pressure on Detroit if Minnesota holds on. I would LOVE for the Yankees to verse the Twins. A few Reasons:
1. Undefeated vs. them
2. No “True Ace©®™”
3. A meh offense without Morneau.
WHY MIJARES, cant we get a little Guerrier?
when the fuck did alex gordon decide to show up?
cmon twins
just bring in joe nathan for 2 outs
i mean 2 innings
that was funny when Zack Greinke pulled Alex Gordon into the film room to show him his homerun and tell Gordon thats what a homerun looksl ike in case he forgot.
PLEASE DON’T CHOKE MINNESOTA! THAT’S THE METS JOB!
HAHA! Look at Rauch’s picture on Gameday.
Joe Nathan should have come in after the home run. This game is critical to the Twins. They are already winning, you have to keep it that way. Nathan rarely goes more then 1 inning, you have to do it here.
Is the Twins game on like ESPN or anything?
FOX
its on FOX
Only FOX as far as I know.
BTW, I’m gonna kill the
MetsTwins Bullpen!Thanks JSquared, Delga G, and Jose… A little bit of overkill, though…
this is unbelievable
please don’t blow this shit
As the Twins move to Queens…
Does the pitcher have a tattoo of poison ivy on his neck?
Thank You Punto.
that was an awesome play
No reason for Nathan not to be in this inning. The save rule might cost the Twins their season.
Gardenhire for manager of the year.
In fairness, what manager wouldn’t have abided by the save rule? I agree with what you’re saying, but I just can’t think of any other manager that wouldn’t have done the same thing.
What a game, this is awesome. Good for the Royals for showing up today.
win or lose, willie bloomquist will never get a bigger hit
CUDDYER!!
Cuddyer with a possible FTW.
Haha, “uh-oh.” Awesome call.
i love you cuddyer
Fans across America, take note: A curtain-call in that situation was appropriate. After a third inning home run on May 17th, not so much.
/curmudgeon’d
Who curtain call’d in May?
Rhetorical, not literal.
Gotcha.
DENARD SPAN FOR THE WIN!!
i do NOT want to play the twins
last season in the baggy dome/ghost of kirby puckett/dominant closer/etc
Now i’m afraid of an 07 Rocky type of hot streak. Like, theyre on FIRE and i wouldnt wanna play a hot team. but then again the yankees are the better team. (THEYRE VERSING THE ROYALS)
Don’t worry too much. Whoever the Yankees play is going to be a relatively good and/or hot team. That’s just the nature of the playoffs. Anything can happen in a short series, but the Yankees are the best team, there’s no reason to fear anyone.
They took out Greinke, at worst they get the 1 day playoff in my opinion.
i want to play the tigers, especially since verlander’s going to have to pitch tomorrow.
so if the tigers just win tonight and tomorrow, we’re good
wow…what a game. verlander tomorrow baby!!
The waxing poetic about the fall of the Metrodome is a bit much. That place is arguably the worst MLB stadium in the country.
TWINS WIN!!
FUCK YEAH!
Congrats, Twins, for making an amazing playoff run. Win or lose, very good run.
i’d rather the tigers just because i’d rather lose to the heroics of justin verlander and miguel cabrera than have to hear about the “little engine that could” mentality of the small-market twins. i won’t like that. we should win either way, but in the event that we lose, i’ll take the tigers.
Even if it offers a 1% chance better of the Yankees winning, I want the weaker team, because no matter who they play, the Yankees will have to hear the “can’t perform in the playoffs” media drum either way.
There’s no way I want to play the twins when they are this hot right now.