Friday,
September 17, 2010
Friday Links and Thinks
Week 2 NFL Picks
Quick Note – NFL “Expert” Picks to be posted around 12:30.
Happy Friday!! It is currently good to be a Twins fan. Remember when the
team was really struggling around the All Star break? Remember when many
thought that Joe Mauer should sit out the
All-Star game to rest up? Remember when we were scared of the Yankees and the
Rays, and wondered if home field in the first round of the playoffs was
feasible? Remember the concern about handing over the 3B job to Mr. Valencia?
Remember all the injuries? Remember the excuses? Remember the fan outrage?
Ah, memories. It’s good to be a fan of baseball’s best team. Joe Mauer is again an MVP candidate. Ron Gardenhire should be the unquestioned manager of the
year. Danny Valencia has snuck into Rookie of the Year discussion. There
are some injuries yet, some tired players, to be sure, but this team is playing
at its finest, and it would be great to see it continue. They are ½ game behind the Rays for the best record in the American
League, and tied with the Yankees.
QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
Who would you rather play in the first
round of the playoffs? The Yankees or the Rays? We
know that the Twins will not be playing the Rangers because two teams from the
East will be in the playoffs. So, who would you rather see the Twins play in
the 1st round, Yankees or Rays?
Yankees – The Twins have really struggled, inexplicably, the
last two years against the Yankees, but Jason Kubel
did go yard-work on Mariano Rivera in Yankees Stadium earlier this year.
The Yankees lineup does contain Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark
Teixeira and MVP candidate Robinson Cano… don’t ya
know? The Yankees have CC Sabathia? But then
who? AJ Burnett has been really bad. Phil Hughes has not been the
same in the second half. How healthy and productive can Andy Pettitte be when he comes back from his injuries? Mariano
Rivera is still Mariano Rivera, but how do the Yankees get the ball
to him? Joba Chamberlain hasn’t been
what people hoped. Sergio Mitre pitches for
them.
Rays – An immensely talented and athletic team, the Rays
are led by Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria. But for all the speed
that the team has, this offense has really not produced at times this year. BJ
Upton remains an enigma. Jason Bartlett fell back to reality. Carlos
Pena is more home run or nothing than ever. Ben
Zobrist fell back to the pack. But the talent,
athleticism and speed make this a scary matchup. They could bunt on the Twins
pitchers. They will try to run against the Twins pitchers and catchers. But
this team is built on pitching. David Price is a strong Cy Young candidate. The tough lefty lost twice to the Twins
this year, but pitched quite well both games. Matt Garza is up and down.
James Shields has pitched in big games before, but he’s had a rough. Wade
Davis has been better of late, but Jeff Niemann
has really struggled. Jeremy Hellickson has
not taken to the bullpen as they likely hope. That said,
the Rays bullpen is very good and deep. And Rafael Soriano is one of the
top closers in baseball.
There is no
denying two things. First, regardless of whether the Twins play the Rays or the
Yankees, they will be playing a tremendous baseball team and will have to be
playing at their peak to win. However, second, these two great teams are not
perfect. They have weaknesses. They can be beaten.
So which
team would you prefer to play in the first round… with the
understanding that there is a good chance that if the Twins win their ALDS
series, they will play the other team in the ALCS.
WEEKEND AHEAD
The Twins did wonders for their AL Central hopes by sweeping their three
game series in Chicago. The Magic Number is now down to eight. It isn’t a
matter of if the Twins will win the division, but a matter of when they will
clinch, and if they can take home field advantage. The Twins don’t play anyone
else with a .500 record this season, but it doesn’t mean things will be easy.
For instance, this weekend the Twins will face three
left-handed starting pitchers. Brett Anderson’s peripherals are
terrific despite his 5-6 record. Dallas Braden’s numbers are solid, and
he’s got a losing record. But we know that he also has the ability and talent
to throw a perfect game. The reason that the A’s really good starting pitchers
are not getting “Wins” is because the Oakland offense is really, really bad. I
mean, the Mariners’ offense is bad, but the A’s may be even worse. The Twins
bats will have to show up still to put a few runs on the board, but hopefully
that will be enough to continue the winning.
The A’s Sunday starter, Bobby Cramer, is quite a story. He signed
with the Tampa Bay Rays as a non-drafted free agent out of Long Beach State. He
never made it above A-ball with the Rays when he was released in 2005. He went
two years without playing baseball. Instead, he was working as a pipeline
inspector and teaching algebra to at-risk high school students. But he was
given another chance by the A’s in 2008 and pitched for the organization the
past two years. But this sprint, the A’s released him and loaned him to the
Quintana Roos of the Mexican League. The A’s brought
him back, sent him to AAA, and on Monday, the 30 year old made his Major League
debut. He got a win by going 5.1 innings and giving up just one run.
Here are the pitching matchups:
·
Friday
night – Nick Blackburn (9-9, 5.51, 1.50, .311) vs
Brett Anderson (5-6, 2.94, 1.21, .261)
·
Saturday
afternoon – Kevin Slowey (12-6, 4.24, 1.28, .278)
vs. Dallas Braden (9-12, 3.56, 1.15, .249)
·
Sunday
afternoon – Francisco Liriano (14-7, 3.28, 1.24,
.248) vs Bobby Cramer (1-0, 1.69, 0.94, .222)
TWINS BLOGS
Here is a look around the Twins blogosphere. A good site to find 66 Twins
blogs is Newsbobber’s Minnesota Baseball Blog site., but you
can also look on the left side of this page for many. I’ve only included blogs
that have been updated in the last few days (let me know if I’m missing any
sites that I should add):
·
Aaron
Gleeman, who was on Twins Wrap with Doogie Wolfson the last two nights on 1500espn.com, posted his
newest
Link-O-Rama.
·
What was the conversation between Ron Gardenhire and Carl Pavano’s
representative when telling him that Joe Mauer
would catch Pavano in last night’s game? Twinkie
Town’s RandBall Stu has an idea.
·
Over at The WGOM, AMR posted a
Little Graph for Fun, a graphical look at the 2010 AL Central division.
·
Nick
Nelson gives a nod to the Twins Bullpen Ace.
·
The Baseball Outsider, Ed Thoma, writes about Resting
Joe Mauer.
·
Coffeyville
Whirlwind investigates Paul
Molitor’s 3000th hit.
·
Andrew from Off the Mark is a little
concerned about agreeing
with Patrick Reusse.
·
FunBobby from Hitting the Foul Pole (blog
formerly called Fire Gardy) asks “Will
Gardy finally win the AL Manager of the Year?”
·
Jim
Crikket of Knuckleballs asks What’s
Next? The Twins have (pretty much) accomplished their first of three
spring training goals, so what do they need to do to reach the two other goals?
·
On the Road with Shawn wrote a couple
of days ago that the Twins are on Fire, and they
have just kept it going. Also, congrats to Shawn on a new job!
·
No
Smoking in the Metrodome takes a look at
the best 2nd
half Managers in baseball. Guess who is #2 on that list? And guess
which two managers are at the very bottom.
·
Granny
Baseball’s TT asks, Are the White Sox are finished? Last week, he
updated his
personal top ten Twins prospects list.
·
Hitting
the Eephus welcomes All
Aboard the Crain Train.
·
The
Twins Geek puts us Back
to Reality about Home Field Advantage.
TWINSCENTRIC
STUFF
Here are the links to the StarTribune.com TwinsCentric blog postings for this week:
·
Monday – Parker Hageman – Why
did Flores favor his fastball?
·
Tuesday – Seth Stohs – Hometown
Hopeful
·
Wednesday – Nick Nelson – Straightening
out the AL Cy Young Race
·
Thursday – John Bonnes – Getting
Past Defense
·
Friday – Parker
Hageman – ???
·
John
Bonnes is on The Power Trip Morning Show on KFAN Tuesdays and Friday’s
during the 7:00 hour. (Podcasts
available here.) I am on KFAN with Paul Allen each
Thursday morning at about 9:20. If you would like to listen, the podcast
is available here.
PODCASTS AND
MORE
·
On Monday
Night’s SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast, I was joined by Examiner.com’s White Sox writer, JJ Stankevitz,
City Pages’ Judd Spicer, and Twins non-drafted free agent signees Matt
Schuld and Gunner Glad.
Any thoughts on the Twins or the Twins blogosphere? Feel free to leave
your questions and comments here.