Results tagged ‘ twins ’
You Have To Beat the Bad Teams
This has been a frustrating week to follow the Minnesota Twins. While they split a four game set with the Angels–more than acceptable since the Angels are headed for the playoffs–they didn’t do well in Seattle, losing 2 out of 3.
The Twins have hopes of making it to the playoffs, but to do that, they have to beat the bad teams. Like Seattle. I didn’t get to watch any of the games since they start so late and I get up so early for the Evil Day Job (EDJ), but most of them were winnable games. This is where the good teams throw it up a notch and make the pitch to retire the other side, or get the one base hit they need to score that runner off second–something the Twins don’t appear to be doing.
The only thing in their favor is that the White Sox have played just as poorly lately. I was just watching them play the Red Sox tonight, and barring a big inning, it looks like they’re going to lose another in Boston. That makes it even more important that the Twins win tonight in Oakland and take the opportunity that they’re being given.
Ya gotta beat the bad teams. That’s all there is to it. If the Twins can’t do that, they’ll be watching the playoffs from their offseason homes.
Down the Stretch: Patti’s Picks
Things are shaping up to be exciting as we head toward the playoffs. With the exception of the American League West, every division has some good races happening. I’m going to go out on the limb and predict who wins their respective divisions.
American League East: Tampa Bay and Boston. As of this moment, Tampa Bay has a 5.5 game lead over the Red Sox. The Sox can’t be dismissed, but the Rays not only have the best record, they show no signs of slowing down.
My pick: Cinderella wins the division. Makes for some good press stories and it’ll be fun for fans to see this underdog in the playoffs.
American League Central: Minnesota and Chicago White Sox. The Twins lost Johan Santana, and my favorite player, Torii Hunter, this last off season. No one expected them to do anything, not even anyone in Minnesota. The question is are they playing above their ability or are they for real? The Twins are young and hungry–the White Sox in general are not young.
My pick: Minnesota. Hey, I grew up and still live in the Twin Cities, who else am I going to pick?
American League West: This is the division that really isn’t in question. The only thing that’s up for grabs is whether or not the Los Angeles Angels will have the best record in baseball.
National League East: New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. It was a three-team race, but the Florida Marlins have fallen 6 games back. They’re not completely out of it, but I don’t like their odds. The Mets had a terrible start this year, so bad that their manager was fired. They’ve turned things around since then and lead the division by 1.5 games right now. Philadelphia surprised the Mets last year and took the division out from underneath them, can they do it again?
My pick: New York Mets. Johan Santana traditionally turns it up another notch in the second half of the season and in the Phillies games I’ve seen this year, they seem inconsistent.
National League Central: My beloved Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers. This was another three team race for a while, but St. Louis has fallen 8 games back and I don’t think they have the horses to get back in the race. Both the Cubs and the Brewers are going for broke this year. The Cubs are a veteran team that isn’t getting any younger and Milwaukee will be losing part of their team to free agency at the end of the season. It’s do-or-die time for them. Milwaukee made a key acquisition getting C.C. Sabathia and the Cubs countered by getting Rich Harden.
My pick: Cubs. Did you think it was going to be anyone else after looking at my page? This team hasn’t won a World Series in 100 years. It’s time, and if Boston can break the curse of the Bambino, the Cubs can break the curse of the goat.
National League West: Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers picked up Joe Torre as manager and Manny Ramiriez before the trade deadline. The Diamondbacks have had injuries, but their pitching has been strong and consistent.
My pick: I’d like to see the Dodgers, but I think it’s going to be Arizona. They seem to be a more complete team at this point.
There you go, my choices to win their respective divisions. We’ll see how right or wrong I am come October.
Mea Culpa
Saturday was not a good day to be one of my teams–all four of them lost. Three of those losses I blame on the fact that I couldn’t watch the games and send them my powerful mojo as the situations warranted. I really hate that FOX blackout on out of market games–I have MLB Network on my cable system–and I hate that my local FOX affiliate insists are showing the least interesting games week after week after week.
The fourth team was the Twins. Livan Hernandez took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before one of the Rockies hit one into the left-field corner that Delmon Young couldn’t snag. He almost made the catch.
Why does it always seem that whenever a pitcher loses his no-hitter that the team ends up losing? I’ve noticed that time after time. I wonder if there are stats out there on this because it sure would be interesting to see how many times it happens.
My Local FOX Affiliate
My local FOX affiliate makes me nuts pretty much every single Saturday. They absolutely insist on showing an American League Central team on the Game of the Week no matter who else is playing. Because I live in Minneapolis, they think that people here would be more interested in watching New York/Detroit than say the Chicago Cubs.
I say they’re wrong.
How do I watch a Yankees/Tigers game and care who wins? I hate both teams, so who do I root for? Can’t root for NY–I loathe them. Can’t root for the Tigers because the Minnesota Twins are in the same division with them. And because I am so uninterested in the outcome, I just don’t watch. I can’t be alone.
Besides, there are a ton of Cubs fans up here in the Twin Cities. Come on Fox 9, wise up and stop choosing the broadcast with the AL Central teams unless it is the Twins playing.
Go, Torii!
I watched part of the Angels/Mariners game last night and Torii Hunter had 3 doubles! Yea, Torii!
Hunter used to be a Minnesota Twin, and if the front office wasn’t filled with cheap idiots, he still would be a Twin. I’m always going to hope Torii does well, and while I never liked the Angels much before, now I hope they make it to the World Series.
I also watched a little bit of the Mets game and saw another former Twin, Johann Santanna, pitching. The Mets were ahead the last time I saw the score, but the other team had two men on base. I’d like Johann to do well, too. He’s another victim of the Twins front office and idiot maneuvers that go back to last season when they traded Luis Castillo.
Patti O'Shea
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