Going to the 8th with Toronto's big guns coming due to hit, buckle up.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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I don't get to watch many games anymore due to the Bally's garbage, but it so funny watching so many of our pitchers throw so much gas after so many years of pitch-to-contact
Edit: I just used 'so' 4 times in a sentence... smh
Poor Kevin Slowey has caught strays from A-Rod on back to back days when he talks about the changing approach the Twins have taken over the last decade with regards to pitch to contact vs missing bats.
Going to the 8th with Toronto's big guns coming due to hit, buckle up.
Same situation as game 1. Jax to pitch to the big righties with his slider and hopefully getting the game to Duran against the bottom of the lineup again.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Duran gets the blister superglued and then promptly sails 2 fastballs 102mph over Alejandro Kirk's head. Kirk gets happy feet as Duran then throws back to back pitches outside corner for strikes and then drops the splinker on him for strike 3.
Have the world look at his hand then throw the first two pitches in "hit the mascot" fashion. Strategery!
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great performance by Gray today despite not being overly sharp. Giving the team 5 shutout innings when you're not at your absolute best is the type of performance the Twins have been desperate for out of a SP in the playoffs for YEARS. With the old approach if a pitcher wasn't at his best they'd give us 4 innings and allow 3 runs.
Have the world look at his hand then throw the first two pitches in "hit the mascot" fashion. Strategery!
I told my buddy who was driving home "Duran is diabolical. He just had half the Twins dugout on the mound inspecting his hand and then uncorks his first two pitches at 102mph in the top of the 9th of a playoff game to make the hitter S his pants."
Extra day to rest the 'pen and get a little healthier before teeing it up again on Saturday.
Saturday, Oct. 7 TEX @ BAL, Game 1, 1 p.m. ET (FOX/FS1) MIN @ HOU, Game 1, TBD (FOX/FS1) NLDS A, Game 1, TBS NLDS B, Game 1, TBS
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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The Twins gave up the fewest runs in the American League this season. Some people discounted this and said the Twins will be over matched in the playoffs (after all they play in a weak division) when people would bring up that this team is different and will have a better chance in the playoffs.
The Twins have the 2nd best record in the American League since the All-Star break. This season they had a winning record against teams with winning records. They've had success against good teams this season so this shouldn't be that surprising.
True story: our eldest was born 9/5/02. For the series against Oakland my wife and I watched one of the games on a beautiful afternoon day from the outdoor seating area of Blondies in BP. The kid sat in his carrier for the duration all bundled up surrounded by friends of ours. I'll never forget.
Obviously this win is bigger than that but it brings up great memories.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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btw as good as Berríos has been up until the time he was yanked, it's not as if he was untouchable. Yes he had 5 SOs, but also 3 H and 1 BB and it was 100% a must-win situation for TOR. if Kikuchi does his job regardless of how the rest of the game played out I don't think the decision receives that much scrutiny. That said he would look good in a Twins uniform again.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Both home plate umpires helped the Blue Jays considerably. A 2.42 run advantage over a two game span is quite large usually it is more balanced between teams. This could have easily cost the Twins but they did a great job over coming the disadvantages placed on them.
btw as good as Berríos has been up until the time he was yanked, it's not as if he was untouchable. Yes he had 5 SOs, but also 3 H and 1 BB and it was 100% a must-win situation for TOR. if Kikuchi does his job regardless of how the rest of the game played out I don't think the decision receives that much scrutiny. That said he would look good in a Twins uniform again.
In Berrios' defense, two of the three hits he allowed were infield singles. The Twins only had two balls hit in excess of 79mph against him - a lineout from Wallner and a single from Polanco.
I know Toronto had that move made in their gameplan ahead of time because they wanted to try to get Rocco to take Kiriloff and Wallner out of the lineup but it backfired for them because Kepler welcomed Kikuchi into the game with a single which then turned the tide back into the Twins favor with Solano in for Kiriloff drawing a walk and Correa getting the bases loaded single. I'm glad it did.
Should the Twins reset the pitching rotation and go with Lopez again tomorrow? Or save that for Sunday?
Rushing Lopez and Gray back a day ahead of schedule is tempting but I like the idea of going with Ober to start with Maeda being ready if Ober runs in to trouble early. Maeda has experience coming out of the bullpen in postseason successfully and would be able to give the Twins 3-4 innings.
Then you get your two horses against Valdez and Javier.
