New York Topic Page
ALDS Game 3 Preview
The Twins enter game 3 of the AL Division Series down 2 games to none to the high powered Yankees. They'll try to leave the controversy of Friday night's game behind them and hope that the Metrodome magic can, once again, propel them to victory with their backs against a wall.
The Twins will send mid-season acquisition, Carl Pavano, to the mound. Pavano spent 4 injury plagued seasons in New York before the team cut ties with him. His mound opponent will be 38 year-old lefty Andy Pettitte. It seems like the Twins always struggle against left-handed pitchers, but the team, as a whole, has actually hit left-handed pitching slightly better than right-handed pitching this year.
- 2009 Twins vs. LHP: .285/.344/.441
- 2009 Twins vs. RHP: .269/.345/.423
That's one way to end a losing streak
The Twins snapped their worst losing streak of the season--6 games--on Thursday in spectacular fashion.
The game was quickly put away after they scored 7 runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by Michael Cuddyer's 3-run home run. The Twins continued to pile on the runs as the game went on, eventually ending with a 20-1 victory.
The Twins lost 4 games in New York by a combined 5 runs. A 19 run surplus only earned them 1 win in this game. They lost the series to the White Sox 2 games to 1.
2008 MLB Predictions
The season has technically started, but I think it's still early enough to fairly submit my predictions. Feel free to add yours to the comments.
A taste of spring training
Pitchers and catchers are well underway with their spring workouts in Ft Myers, FL. Noah Pransky of ABC7 caught up with Joe Mauer check out Noah's Blog as well as the video below.
Destruction in New York
This is a short one mostly because I spent my time working on the Neshek voting script and partially because it's just depressing to talk about the Twins right now.
Twins vs. Athletics Preview
Arguably the greatest regular season in Twins history is over and the Twins find themselves hosting the Oakland Athletics rather than playing in New York. It's the playoffs, so there's no saying what will happen. One thing is for certain though: Minnesota workplace productivity will drop to an all time low in this first week of October.
Back in the wild card lead
Despite having a less than stellar holiday weekend, the Twins have found themselves back in the wild card lead with a 1/2 game margin over the struggling White Sox. After losing the series to New York, the Twins beat Tampa Bay Monday afternoon. Boston came back late against the White Sox to help the Twins move into the lead.
Twins struggling with Royals
The Twins have lost two straight games to a team they should beat. There's still a month left in the season, but if the race comes down to the final days of the season, they might be able to look back at two games that slipped away, despite pretty good pitching performances from Matt Garza and Boof Bonser. For a while it looked like Wednesday was going to shape up to be a good day for the Twins. Detroit was losing its second game in New York, the White Sox were losing, and the Twins were leading the Royals 2-0. That all changed abruptly.
Baker good enough for win
Scott Baker wasn't perfect in his return from Rochester, but he pitched just well enough to pick up the win. Baker gave up 3 runs through 6 innings—good enough for a quality start. The Twins' bullpen was perfect to finish out the game. Pat Neshek, Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan each pitched 1-2-3 innings in order. The victory moved the Twins within 6 games of the wildcard, but they still have two other teams wedged between them and the White Sox—Toronto and New York.
Making the Playoffs
The Twins have roled off 7 straight victories and improved to .500 for the first time since April. Due to the success, some fans are surely starting to dream of a playoff run. I decided to give a look at just how realistic the thought of the Twins making the playoffs would be. Obviously what's going to make it tough is the two teams that are ahead of the Twins, Detroit and Chicago. Both continue to win game after game, so all the Twins have been able to do is try not to lose more ground.
