Monday September 22, 2003

TWINS THOUGHTS

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

 SWEEPING THROUGH DETROIT

The Twins ran their current winning streak to nine games Sunday with a 6-4 win over the Detroit Tigers. They had won Saturday’s game 7-3 and Friday’s game 6-2. Their magic number is now down to 2, and by the time they play again on Tuesday night at the Metrodome against the Cleveland Indians, they could have clinched a tie. That means that they could clinch the American League Central at home on Tuesday night! Hopefully the stands will be packed!

But that wasn’t the full Minnesota sweep over Detroit this weekend. Sunday afternoon. The Vikings traveled in to Pontiac, Michigan, and came out with a 23-13 win over the Lions. That moved the Vikings to 3-0 overall! With the Packers losing to the Cardinals (again, how does this happen???), the Vikings already have a 2 game lead heading into next Sunday’s tilt versus the San Francisco 49ers.

TWINS THOUGHTS

Here is a brief update on the Twins/Tigers games this weekend:

Friday (Twins 6, Tigers 2) - The story was absolutely Eric Milton. I know the Tigers are barely a AAA-caliber team, but Milton’s 77-pitch, 7 inning performance was remarkable! He gave up just two hits and one walk, while giving up no runs, striking out 2 Tiger hitters. He says that his fastball is only hitting about 90 or 91 miles per hour now, but that his control over his other pitches (changeup, curveball) is improved. His progression shows just how hard he worked to come back from the major knee reconstruction surgery that he had in March! Oh, AJ Pierzynski went 4-4 with his 11th homer and 2 RBI too!

Saturday (Twins 7, Tigers 3) - Johan Santana improved his record to 12-3, despite giving up 3 runs in 5 2/3 innings. The bullpen (Grant Balfour, JC Romero and Juan Rincon) picked him up though, providing 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief!  Matthew Lecroy had a single, a double, and a home run to go with 3 RBI on the day. Unfortunately, Lecroy just missed the cycle. I’m sure going into his last AB he was thinking triple! In my mind though, the most important thing Lecroy did on the day was catch 9 innings. Why? Because going into that game, AJ Pierzynski had caught 21 consecutive games, which is something very near “crazy”!

Sunday (Twins 6, Tigers 4) - Brad Radke continued his September success! He improved to 14-10 with 7 innings pitched. He allowed just one run on 6 hits, walking none, and striking out six Tiger batters (including striking out the side in the 5^th!). To update Radke’s post-All Star break numbers, he is now 9-1 with a 3.32 ERA. He has walked just 7 batters in 89 1/3 innings. How about his numbers in his four September starts? Well, he is now 4-0 with an ERA of 1.80. In 30 innings pitched, he has struck out 18 batters and walked… NONE! That’s pretty “ace”-like!!!

By the way, after the game, the radio team of John Gordon and Dan Gladden were able to interview Al Newman from his hospital room in Chicago. Apparently the tests he went through today were very positive. There is a hole in his head the was shut, and if it continues to go well, he could be flying to Minneapolis by the end of this week. Al sounded pretty good, had his same sense of humor and provided a great interview. It was good to hear him.

Ideally, the Twins would clinch the division on Tuesday. I can see Ron Gardenhire playing his regulars Tuesday night in an attempt to finish it. But after that, I would like to see him get some players some much needed rest. He needs to find a way to do that while still giving them the opportunity to stay ready. My thought would be to give two or three regulars a day off each game. That way 6 or 7 regulars get their at bats, but fitting in two or three backups with them, would allow them to still compete. Actually, some of those players on the Twins bench could be starting for the Indians or the Tigers.  OK, most of them would be starting for the Indians and ALL of them would be starting for the Tigers!!!

It’s an exciting time of the year. It’s fun to see them coming through at the most important time of the year. A friend and I were talking this weekend and decided that we are chronic complainers. No matter how well the Twins play, we see little things that we would do differently. But that’s the beauty of baseball- Second Guessing the manager, wondering what you would do differently in that role. I will probably continue to do that as all baseball fans will. But, that said, I think that the Twins manager, Ron Gardenhire, deserves a little bit of credit for getting the Twins into the post-season in back-to-back years for the first time in 30 years! He must be doing something right.

It looks like the Twins will be playing the Yankees in Round 1 of the playoffs. I listened to a lot of Sports Radio this weekend and no one was really giving the Twins a shot at beating the Yankees. Yes, the Yankees have won the last 12 or 13 or 137 games against the Twins. But, the last two years, the Twins played the Yankees early in the season. 1.) I don’t think the Twins are the same sad team as they were in April. 2.) The Yankees aren’t the same team they were in April! Obviously, the Yankees will be a very difficult opponent, but I really, truly believe that the Twins can match up with them!  Clearly, as has been the case the past 3 or 4 weeks, it all depends on starting pitching. The way they’re pitching now, I would put Brad Radke, Johan Santana and Kyle Lohse up against anyone! Eric Milton could play a big role in the playoffs, whatever role that is. And with LaTroy Hawkins and Eddie Guardado at the end of the game, I like the Twins chance. Not to say that I agree with everything in the book Moneyball, but when Billy Beane is quoted as saying that the playoffs are really about luck, I can’t help but agree, especially in a 5-game series.  The Twins will be in the playoffs. That’s hurdle #1! From that point on, anything can happen!

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

The Vikings showed a lot of maturity yesterday. Playing anyone on the road is not an easy thing to do, especially in the NFL. The Lions had a great game plan and executed it with success in the first quarter, actually taking a 10-0 lead. But the Vikings didn’t panic. They continued to run the ball well, but also took more shots deep than they have recently. Randy Moss and Kelly Campbell each had 72 yard receptions in the game. Daunte Culpepper had two nice touchdown runs to re-claim the lead going into halftime.

On the second TD run though, Culpepper got hit hard in the back and didn’t play the rest of the game. Gus Frerotte came in and showed why the Vikings were so happy to sign him in the off-season. He came in, and although being unspectacular, kept the offense moving enough to eat up some clock, and he actually threw for 184 yards, including the above-mentioned 72 yard TD pass to Kelly Campbell. It is not known yet whether Culpepper will be able to play next Sunday against the 49ers, but it’s good to know that if he can’t, the Vikings are in good hands with Frerotte.

That said, Daunte came into the week as the #1 rates QB in the NFL. He has really been playing well. Take away the fumbles (which I realize is easier said than done), and he is playing very well. The whole offense really is. And again, it’s due to the work of the offensive line. They are opening up some huge holes for Moe Williams to run through. On both of Culpepper’s TD runs, he was untouched until reaching the end zone. Being able to run the ball well, opens up the passing game. For the first time in a long time, the Vikings actually even through the ball downfield four or five times.

I thought the defense played really well.  The defensive line, despite just 2 sacks, put pressure on the Lions QBs the whole game. We knew the linebackers would be fine. The question mark was the defensive backfield. But Denard Walker and Ken Irvin have been great additions at the corners. Brian Williams has played great as well. Corey Chavous already has 3 interceptions from his new strong safely position. And, to me, Brian Russell has been the biggest, most-pleasant surprise of the early part of this season. Russell did play quite a big last year already, but now he’s starting and playing great! He too has 3 interceptions and is around the ball a lot!

Really, the lone negative of the game was the Vikings 11 penalties, which accounted for 125 yards. But, most of those are correctable!

Now, let’s be honest, the Vikings are 3-0, but they’ve beat the three teams in their division. The combined record now of those three teams is 2-6. The Packers lost to the Arizona Cardinals yesterday, a team that, last week, I called the worst in the NFL. So, next week’s game against the 49ers at the Metrodome is really a big game. The 49ers are 2-1 and coming off a TOUGH loss to the Cleveland Browns. They will definitely be ready for the Vikings!

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

Well, after having at least a share of the best record the first two weeks of the NFL season, I can do no better than a tie for fourth place in Week 3. From my perspective, I would have to just encourage you to check out the overall standings on the Football Picks Page!! Congratulations to Anthony Fox of The Bad Twin who, with just 2 wrong so far, will win this week. Aaron Gleeman and Vic Quick  are each 10-3 so far this week, but all three of those teams have the Broncos winning tonight, so Anthony Fox will win this week! Here are the Week 3 results.

Well, that’s it for today!  Twins win 3! The Vikings win their game! The White Sox lost 2 out of 3 to the Royals! The Gophers football team went to 4-0 with another lopsided win over a nobody team! Oh, and the University of Minnesota-Morris football team even won (for the first time since Nov. 1998, 46 games ago) and in doing so, where mentioned on SportsCenter by Chris Berman! Sure Morris, a Division II school, had to go to Illinois to play Principia College to do it, but… oh well! How cool is that?!

Be sure to check out the D-Rays Blog today. Last week, I wrote my thoughts on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays future. Today, David Bloom wrote his review of the Devil Rays 2003 season. Very interesting stuff!

If you want to discuss any of this information, or anything in general, send me an e-mail. Another Good Weekend in Minnesota! Oh, also, my dad got officially ordained on Saturday night, so that was a pretty big event too!  Those of you that were there, Hello!

Have a great week!

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