Author: David Medsker (Page 6 of 20)

Piranhas? Try pira-nahhhh. The Twins, once again, had to play catch-up against the A’s who, thanks to some timely hitting (a three-run double by Marco Scutaro) and a deplorable defensive performance by the Twins (three errors), beat Minnesota to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 1990.

Like the first two games, Minnesota kept it close, but an intentional walk to Frank Thomas with two outs in the seventh inning proved to be the Twins’ undoing. Eric Chavez walked, then Justin Morneau made an error, loading the bases. Nick Swisher walked, scoring Thomas from third, and then the big slugger Marco Scutaro doubled to right, clearing the bases. One hit, four runs.

Torii Hunter was also the center of attention on a questionable call, getting thrown out on a play at the plate, even though Oakland catcher Jason Kendall didn’t appear to tag him. The throw beat Hunter to the plate, and the home plate umpire did not put himself in the position to get an unobstructed view of the tag, so he put two and two together…only he was wrong. Still, when you don’t have the lead in a single inning of the postseason, you don’t get the calls, simple as that. And frankly, any team that puts Jason Tyner, who has yet to hit a home run in the majors, in the lineup as a DH deserves whatever they get.

Oakland is now in the driver’s seat, getting to rest their pitchers and reshuffle their rotation for the winner of the Tigers/Yankees series, which is proving to be the most interesting series thus far. Sorry, Twinkies. Maybe next year, when/if Liriano is healthy.

Oh, and I’ll let Mr. Statler blog the Yankees/Tigers game, but Alex Rodriguez got totally hosed on a play at third base where he tagged out Pudge Rodriguez but was called safe.

The Padres couldn’t score a run on Jeff Weaver. Jeff Weaver, he of the 5.76 ERA this season and the lifetime record of 86-101, the one who was waived by the Angels earlier this year…San Diego couldn’t score a run off of him. Hell, they could barely hit him. Weaver gave up two hits, both singles, over five innings.

St. Louis limped into the playoffs thanks to a last-minute collapse by Houston. They looked worn down and exhausted, while San Diego won 10 of their last 13 games to take the division. Of course, none of that technically matters now, but you’d think some of their momentum would carry over. Instead, this is like “Freaky Friday” on a grand scale. San Diego chooses to pitch to Albert Pujols with Preston Wilson on second, and of course Pujols belts a ball to left field and scores Wilson. San Diego then had Pujols in a rundown, but Pujols reached second safely after no one came over to receive the throw from first base. Pujols would later score, and that’s all they’d need. Two runs. That’s all they’d need.

San Diego now has to go into the belly of the whale and face the most rabid fans west of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The only thing the Padres have in their favor now is that they are a better road team than a home team, and boy, did they prove that this week. One run in two games. I wonder what the Phillies would have done in that situation…

Game 3, Saturday: Chris Young (11-5, 3.46) vs. Jeff Suppan (12-7, 4.12)

Well, so much for my ‘Twins in 4’ prediction. In 18 innings of post-season baseball, Minnesota has not led once. The two runs they scored today came from two huge blasts from Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau, who hit the biggest fly ball I’ve ever seen. But that only tied the game, and then Torii Hunter – perennial Gold Glove candidate Torii Hunter – made an error in judgment that can only be considered Cub-like. With one on and two outs, Hunter dove for a sinking fly ball from Mark Kotsay, which skipped past him and rolled all the way to the wall. Kotsay, who has pretty decent wheels, circled the bases for an inside the park home run. Ow.

Here’s how listless the Twins have been: they didn’t even put a runner on base with less than two outs until the tail end of the game. That makes it really hard to manufacture runs when you don’t have any outs to give. The Twins now have to send Brad Radke, who’s pitched only once since August 25, to the mound and save their season. Geez, I bet the White Sox would have put up more of a fight than this.

Game 3: Brad Radke (12-9, 4.31) vs. Danny Haren (14-13, 4.12)

When I broke down the playoff teams for Bullz-Eye, I said the following about San Diego when detailing their weaknesses: “If Jake Peavy gets pounded – and that’s happened to him quite a few times this year – the offense is not built to mount a large comeback.” There you have it, proof positive that Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa reads Bullz-Eye.

Here’s how bad San Diego is at catching up: when Albert Pujols hit that bomb in the fourth inning (which was only a two-run shot), the game already seemed out of reach for the Padres. And sure enough, those two runs are all the Cardinals would need, though they tacked on three more for good measure. San Diego did give LaRussa a brief scare in the seventh, when they loaded the bases with one out. But Mark Bellhorn struck out, of course, and Todd Walker was robbed by Ronnie Belliard in short right field to end the inning.

San Diego has now dropped seven straight games to St. Louis in the playoffs, but that may change on Thursday when they face human pitching machine Jeff Weaver. Then again, the Padres are trotting out 76-year-old David Wells, so…

Don’t the A’s know that they’re not supposed to beat Johan Santana at all, much less at home, where he was undefeated this year? Apparently they didn’t get the memo, but if anyone missed a memo, it was the Twins hitters, who didn’t know that if they’re patient enough, Barry Zito would have walked in three runs. Zito walked 99 batters in 2006, compared to Santana’s 47. Game One of the playoffs is not the time to expand the strike zone, yet that’s exactly what the Twins hitters did.

You can’t fault Santana. He struck out eight, walked one, and scattered five hits over eight innings. But one of those hits was a big blast by Frank Thomas just inside the left field foul pole. Thomas also hit a second home run and mega-big insurance run off of Jesse Crain in the ninth. The A’s looked like they came to play – check that play where Jason Kendall nearly picked off Jason Bartlett at second in the eighth – while the Twins looked extremely uptight and nervous. Check, once again, that play where Bartlett was nearly picked off at second, then stopped halfway between second and third on a fielder’s choice. Bartlett also booted a routine double play ball. Look for him to be grabbing some bench in Game 2.

This changes the entire momentum of the series. Now Oakland only has to win two out of four games, and the win today guarantees that they will play two games at home. Hey Boof, how are your nerves, rookie?

Game Two starters: Esteban Loaiza (11-9, 4.89) vs. Boof Bonser (7-6, 4.22)