Aerodeliria

I disagree about Arraez, he had one bad play that arguably could have been caught by Rosario coming in on the bloop, but he also came up with some clutch hitting. On the throw to first, it was low but it wasn't even in the dirt, so that was completely on Cron. You have to catch that!!!!! On the remainder of the complaints, I agree. I was worried by Cron's inability to catch non-perfect throws to first and wanted Gonzales on the infield instead. Use Cron as a pinch-hitter against lefties, but his defense is just not good enough for playoff baseball to be on the field for the whole game IMHO. I've already ranted long enough about pulling Berrios out, so I'll just leave it at that.

It was like I was in the twilight zone to be honest. The crazy thing is that it seemed like Rocco was trying to mimic Boone and the Yankees' strategy. Pulling a pitcher after five is the Yankees' strategy because they have a very experienced bullpen. This what they do. We don't have to follow suit. Just because Boone pulled Paxton after five, we have to pull Berrios to match this move? Despite having a bit of trouble locating his curve, Berrios' fastball still had plenty of pop. He was still throwing 95+ in his final inning, and he had only give up one earned run and only two balls had been hit hard. Isn't this a case where you apply the vaunted metrics? Berrios is still hitting 95+ and getting swinging strikes; he's only given one earned run, so let's pull him???...I wouldn't have cared if he had thrown 108 pitches if he was still bringing it. My point is this: The Twins are not the Yankees and this notion that we can play like there is a tomorrow in the playoffs reminds me a lot of the mindset brought by Gardenhire. Berrios would not be an ace on many teams, but, for the time-being, he is the Twins' ace, so let him pitch until he starts getting hit. If we think back (way back) to 1987 and 1991, the starters in those games went as long as they could. It's different era, but the general principle should still apply IMHO. We lost the first game (which was sooooo winnable) by horrible game management and this set the tone for the next two games, whereby the process was repeated. Tom Kelly, for all of his weaknesses as a manager, knew how to manage the team in playoff games. Maybe a chat with him is in order? Let's see if we can get this figured out by next year. I love Rocco, but that was indefensible playoff management. OK, my rant is finished, but I'm still frustrated (apparently more than Rocco). Let the poison arrows fall from the skies.

Agreed! Although the throw was low, it wasn't even in the dirt. Cron is not adept at taking throws that are a bit off-target. It is why I preferred to have Gonzales at first and using Cron only as a pinch-hitter.

It's mind-boggling to me that Baldelli goes from his Joan of Arc patience with his starters to Captain Hook. As I can watch the games here in Japan on cable, I was a bit flummoxed at Baldelli's quick hook. Berrios was not getting hit hard IMHO and Dobnak wasn't even given a chance to work out of the jam despite his record of consistently managing such situations during the regular season. (I just wanted one more batter in the third inning. If you say he is your starter, there has to be a modicum of trust in his ability.)

I thought I read somewhere in TD a plea to attack the heart of the Yankee's lineup. I couldn't agree more--go right after them. Keep getting ahead in those counts. Make the Yankees beat you by swinging at pitches while they are behind in the count rather than ahead. If we can avoid the 3-0, 3-1 and 2-0 pitch counts, we'll be fine.

There are always unsung heroes who emerge in these kinds of series. My pick for an unsung hero is Jake Cave. He's been swinging the bat fairly well as of late and he has power to all fields.

If you want to take your vacation in Japan this year, you can come here and watch the game on TV via NHK on Saturday morning in your hotel room. The game will be broadcast live in two languages...just ask the staff to show you how to shut off the Japanese (unless you want to learn baseball lingo in Japanese). :-)

Great as always Nick! I optimistically mentioned that the Twins were capable of posting 92 wins....I guess they were capable. LOL... There were many big (good) surprises. Garver's and Kepler's home run ability, Cruz's performance in every batting statistic available. Sano's adjustment at the plate (I had serious doubts, but big brother took him under his wing (by all accounts)). Arraez coming up and literally taking the second base job through an outstanding approach at the plate.

It would have been nice to tie the Twins record for most wins, but I'll take the team home run record, especially because we beat those guys on the east coast. Now, let's see if we can do it our series. I'm surprisingly optimistic.

I really hope we are not thinking three-man rotation because I think that doesn't bode very well for Berrios the second time around, so I am hoping it is Berrios, Dobnak (just because I want the 'control' pitcher sandwiched), Odorizzi and then the bullpen game.

I agree-almost. I want Arraez's bat in the lineup no matter who is pitching because he can get walks. Schoop comes in as a pinch hitter or if we think his "D" is better than Arraez's, he comes in late to protect the lead.

I wouldn't discount Gregorious based upon how he has been hitting this season as a whole. He made mincemeat of Twins pitching this year again. Gregorius, who went 8 for 10 with 10 RBIs in his two starts (against the Twins), hit an RBI double to ignite a four-run second. Mike Tauchman added a two-run triple before the inning was over. Gregorius tacked on a two-run triple in the fourth and finished with three hits, one day after going 5 for 5 with seven RBIs (from a NY online news site). Make the determination based simply on who are the best pitchers available.

Hear, hear! Smeltzer throws strikes and Perez falls behind hitters.

Fun to watch those highlights!

What if we keep Telis and let Castro go?

Not only that, but there are times when the Twins really need someone to make contact and if you need that, you turn to Astudillo.

Whether he sinks or swims, he needs to get in the pool against THAT team, so he might just as well keep on throwing strikes. I saw some highlights against the Tigers (I know, I know). He had some of those hitters swinging at ghastly pitches outside of the zone. I mean this in a positive way. The hitters were completely fooled by the speed and movement. It was impressive. He got ahead of hitters and then had them swinging at his pitch of choice.

Why Dobnak and Smeltzer should be in every conversation when it comes to playing the Yankees is that they throw strikes. The Yankees have feasted off the Twins pitchers' falling behind in the count. It happened when we held a five-run lead against the Yankees this year (and lost) and more importantly, it happened in that demoralizing one-game playoff with the Yankees a couple of years back, where Santana, despite being given a 3-0 first inning lead, started every count at 3-0 or 2-0. The Yankees become quite human when they have to swing the bat.

Morris pitched that Game 7. He wins it by a nod IMHO.

Thanks as always! I feel a bit relieved to have the magic number down to three, especially with the way Cleveland has been playing. They've lost only once since our series in Cleveland was finished! I wished Dobnak had been given one more inning to be honest. The lead was only 2-0 when he was pulled but he had really made mincemeat out of Gordon on the previous two occasions. Oh well, he at least got the win. Berrios is not a question mark IMHO. His patterns seem relatively consistent (unlike someone like Perez). The thing with Berrios is that if he is on his game, he is money. He could probably go nine without sweating it too much. However, when he starts getting hit in the 5th or 6th, Rocco has got to recognize that he isn't going to be pitching his usual seven because he will be giving back any lead the Twins had given him. This has happened five times in Berrios' starts by my count. Look Rocco's a great manager, but when it comes to the hook for starters and in particular Berrios, he allows too much rope. I'm not saying that the Twins would have won everyone one of those games, but Berrios could have a couple of more Ws and so could the Twins. (I get that this is a bit of learning curve, but the key to a learning curve is the learning part. Every pitcher is going to tell his manager he's good to go, so that information is unreliable. He now knows the characteristics of Berrios, so he needs to be quicker with the hook when things start to go south.) It seems like the rookies are going to have to step up for the playoffs because we are running low on veterans--especially pitchers. Go Twins! (This old song just popped into my head.) We're gonna win Twins! We're gonna score. We're gonna win Twins! Watch that baseball soar. Crack down a home run. Give a hip-hooray! Cheer for the Minnesota Twins today!

At least we didn't lose anyone in the deal just a little cash.

Cruz. Although he's only the DH, other teams really do hate him coming up and his influence on Sano cannot be ignored. ("Are we having fun yet?") He seems to have this calming presence about him. You just know that it'll be a little bit better tomorrow so don't let it get to you. Besides, he makes everyone better. The guy is 39 and he's going to drive in 100 runs and finish with an OPS of +.900 and hit above .290. (At the moment .299 vs. RHP and .298 vs LHP.) He seems to rarely sink into long slumps, and he just looks like a professional.

That hit by Arraez looked like one of those hits when I was kid playing at Rocket Park in Anoka, MN. You never knew when a batted ball was going ricochet off a stone or hardened clump of mud. I saw the video from a couple of angles. Moncada completely guessed correctly. The ball just seemed to have a mind of its own.

I remember Mr. Batista coming to Japan. He played some decent baseball here, but was kind of of disinterested in being a team player. (Something Japanese players and managers/coaches really cannot relate to.) In the off-season, he really let himself go, so by the time he got to the Twins front door, he was kind of useless. He hit the occasional home run, but his bat speed had really fallen by the wayside and his defense was horrifyingly bad.

I'd say go with Perez but keep him on a very short leash. Gibson simply cannot get anyone out right now, but Perez at least has the potential to be effective. Folks forget that he was very effective two starts ago with good movement and was firing strikes. Gibson should be rested for one turn and then let's see how he fares. If they do decide to go with Gibson, he should be on even a shorter leash than Perez. I'd call the Perez, Gibson game as a semi-bullpen game and if game four becomes a reality, that game would be a full bullpen game. It's not ideal, but the other options seem even less attractive IMHO. I'm just as concerned about Berrios without sufficient rest, so I am concerned about the fourth starter as well. It wouldn't be Berrios IMHO. He needs his rest to be effective it seems.