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BH67

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Everything posted by BH67

  1. BH67
    April 27, 1980 at the Forum in Montreal. The four-time defending Stanley Cup champions, with their elite goalie retired and their stars aging, face Game 7 in the quarterfinals against some upstarts in green and gold trying to overcome years of mediocrity and inferiority. It's happened before.
  2. BH67
    It is said that luck is where preparation meets opportunity. These Twins are surely prepared -- but they are surely good, too.
  3. BH67
    Two weeks ago I wrote that these Twins have emerged in September as a perfect example of Bud Grant's second Vikings team in 1968. Disciplined, tenacious, confident, and getting better quickly. That applies even more so after Game 1. This is the most mentally prepared Twins team since Tom Kelly left the dugout. That speaks well not only for this postseason.
  4. BH67
    With one day to go in the 2023 regular season, the score reads: Bomba Squad 307, this year's Braves 305. Rooting loudly for the Washington Nationals' pitching staff Sunday afternoon.
  5. BH67
    My enthusiasm accelerated when I saw Austin Martin on the honorable mention list. It's like the moment in "Field of Dreams" when Timothy Busfield's character suddenly sees all the baseball talent around him and wonders where they came from.
  6. BH67
    Crow à la Rocco. It's what's for dinner.
  7. BH67
    Seattle's win over Houston means that the West Division winner will have at least 89 wins. Thus, one more Twins loss ensures first-round playoff action at Target Field, and this is likely even if the Twins win out. So it's essential to prepare for next week. To that end, the Twins did marvelously today. Seeing Brock Stewart back was particularly heartening, and seeing Bailey Ober dominate put a big smile on my face. Twins starters in September (23 games and 123.1 IP): 3.50 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 1.97 BB/9, 9.92 K/9.
  8. BH67
    The only thing not clicking today was clutch hitting. Farmer gets two hits and throws out a runner at the plate. Gray looks fantastic save for one pitch, and the bullpen again keeps the Twins in it. And I admit knowing Taylor's penchant for winning hits that I thought he was going to walk it off in the 9th. And that's what's so fun about these Twins now. Even when understaffed they're fighting and learning from the mistakes. I'm excited about October.
  9. BH67
    No Correa. No Lewis. No Buxton. Pablo López throws a horrible inning. So does Caleb Thielbar. So does Jhoan Duran. At least thrice the Twins leave runners on both second and third base. And the Twins win, unlike the Astros, Marlins or Reds who badly needed a W to maintain control of their playoff destinies. Great day to get a lot of occasional bugs out of the system, and still claim a major achievement. Division champions.
  10. BH67
    The biggest statement win of all during this September, given what was at stake. The Reds brought out the man selected immediately after Royce Lewis in the 2017 draft, and he showed today his Cy Young potential for a long time to come. And the Reds badly needed to win in chasing an NL wild card berth, though losses by the Marlins and Cubs this evening softened the blow. But the Twins, who have struggled hitting starting pitchers the last two weeks, stayed close enough with great pitching of their own until the hitters could feast on the Reds' bullpen. This was the bridge they didn't cross a week ago in the final game of the Rays series, but they did so today, and how fitting thus that Griffin Jax closed the door. This team is confident and ready for October. The Tigers must lose either tonight to the Dodgers or tomorrow to the A's along with Cleveland losing to the Orioles for the party to start tomorrow night. Because the Mariners and Rangers won today, however, the first-round bye isn't happening. Both teams have 84 wins and they face each other seven times in the next eleven days. The most optimistic scenario from our perspective has Texas winning four and nothing else, for 88 wins, and the Mariners doing likewise for 87, in which case Houston also would have at least 88. And this presumes no other wins from the Astros or Rangers in their other series. With all that, the magic number is 3. Hard to see even 9-0 surmounting all three teams. But I don't think the Twins care. After today, neither do I. (UPDATE: Detroit beat the Dodgers, so both the Guardians and Tigers must lose Thursday for the Twins to clinch. Probably Friday then. Congratulations also to the Midwest League champion Cedar Rapids Kernels.)
  11. BH67
    With Cleveland having lost, the words of Schoolhouse Rock could not be more appropriate: "Three. It's a magic number." UPDATE: The Astros lost. Four-game difference for the bye with ten to play, plus the tiebreaker. Houston may fall out of first place tomorrow. If Texas takes over, just as well. Here's hoping Royce's injury isn't serious.
  12. BH67
    Two weeks ago, Houston outscored Texas 39-10 in a three-game sweep on the road. This week, they lost series to both the A's and Royals. Last week Texas outscored Toronto 35-9 in a four-game sweep on the road, then proceeded to be swept in Cleveland while the Blue Jays recovered to sweep Boston. Seattle is 6-12 after a 25-6 run. Only the Twins, Orioles and Devil Rays are playing consistently well. From what I understand, as seeds 1 and 4 the Orioles and Rays would have to meet in a division series. Pretty nice from the Twins' perspective. The only issue, then, is a first-round bye. Houston leads the Twins by 5 games, but the Twins own the tiebreaker. The Astros host Baltimore for three beginning today and must yet travel to Seattle and Arizona, both in a heated battle for a playoff spot.. Also, Seattle and Texas have seven matches against each other in which a 4-3 game outcome is quite plausible. If the Twins take at least two in Cincinnati, this will get very interesting with the Angels, Oakland and Colorado yet to play.
  13. BH67
    What a day for Twins baseball. In the minors, Cedar Rapids advanced to the Midwest League championship series. Wichita moved within one game of Springfield with two to play and a Texas League playoff spot at stake, and the tiebreaker belongs to Wichita. Bailey Ober returned from the minors with a solid performance, and he followed Andrus's homer in the 5th with three straight outs. LeBron is known as King James. I think we're seeing Rolls Royce being conferred upon our young star before our eyes, It'll only take a short while for that to stick. 10-2 on consecutive days. They want to get this over with. And don't look now, but as the Astros have dropped three of four against the A's and Royals this week, the Twins are within five games of Houston with the tiebreaker in hand. Still a long shot for a first-round bye, but no longer implausible. Baltimore and Seattle remain ahead on the Astros schedule. Most amazingly, the silence here tonight per Griffin Jax is deafening, I thought someone would at least criticize him for giving up a single to Benintendi. (/s) .
  14. BH67
    Kenta Maeda threw 77 pitches through six innings and 28 more in the seventh. Many years ago a 100+ pitch night wouldn't capture my attention, but it's less common now and makes me wonder if that creates risk to the health of a starter. I understand Rocco's strategic reasoning, of course. And Ryan had 102 pitches and Gray 89 against the Rays, and neither made it to the 6th inning. But Maeda looked brilliant in the middle innings. The Twins' starting pitching on the whole seems to be peaking as the playoffs arrive. As for the Vikings, the two fumbles in the first quarter against the Bucs revealed to me that the 2023 vintage of Kirk Cousins would not be as sweet as the 2022 variety. Ergo, it's time for Kwesi and Kevin to implement their vision of the future. Their 2025 team could be fun to watch...as the Twins are now.
  15. BH67
    I just noticed that in Triple-A, winning a half-season division title is meaningless per the playoffs -- only the best half-season record overall in the entire International League goes to the postseason. So it will be Norfolk v Durham for the league title, with the Saints needing to surpass the Bulls and not merely stay ahead of Nashville. Why have divisions then? At Double-A, where the traditional rules apply, Wichita now trails Springfield by two games in the North Division second-half race with four games remaining. It appears that Wichita owns the tiebreaker, so pulling even would secure a playoff spot. Time is obviously running out. Superb season for the farm system from Fort Myers upward. The fruits are finally becoming evident at the top.
  16. BH67
    47th comment on this post, I believe. Not one heretofore lauding the Twins' grit today in a heavyweight bout against a genuine world championship contender -- or at least not touting it above slamming Rocco's Vazquez decision or being negative about Jax, despite his responding well after a previous bad outing and missing a 1-2-3 9th by one strike due to a perennial AL MVP candidate. Bullpen was great today, especially Floro and Pagan getting out of two-on, no-out situations unscathed. My proudest moment of today was Kyle Farmer's strikeout in the 5th -- which required 16 pitches and set the stage for the tying rally. Yes, one can point out could've and should've in a close game like this. But even getting back in this game from 0-4 was impressive. And they'll learn from today when October rolls around. There is a legitimate comparison in Minnesota sports history for these Twins: Bud Grant's second Vikings team in 1968. Not yet good enough to beat the elite, but clawing and scrapping fearlessly in the effort. Proud of them today, and they have plenty of motivation to thrash the White Sox the next four days..
  17. BH67
    Castro. Varland. Thielbar. Duran. It's a wonderful thing when the heroes change with every September win.
  18. BH67
    Starting pitching for the Twins in the playoffs will provide a huge advantage against teams of similar skill. Maybe Rocco wanted to see if Jax could put together stops in consecutive appearances. He could afford that luxury today. Bats were stymied. It happens occasionally. The overall trend is very good. The Guardians may yet lose today. Kirk Cousins reverted to pre-2022 form. PJ Fleck is wasting another good defense. All good reason to focus on baseball entirely. Go Twins! (UPDATE: GUARDIANS LOSE. Magic number 12.)
  19. BH67
    I asked for and received T-Rex v Ron Gant earlier today. Good stuff. I'd love to see Mike Pagliarulo's extra-inning homer vs Toronto in the 1991 ALCS before going to bed.
  20. BH67
    Absolutely. As it's said, luck often happens where preparation meets opportunity.
  21. BH67
    Isn't it nice when the bizarre moments start trending in the Twins' favor?
  22. BH67
    So it's practically a five-and-a-half game lead for the Twins with 22 games to play. Cleveland now heads to Anaheim for four against the freefalling Angels, of which they should win at least three -- but series against San Francisco, Texas, Cincinnati and Baltimore remain ahead for them. Meanwhile, these Twins don't appear to be watching scoreboards. A great two-week run has revealed a justifiable team optimism in the final days of the regular season. The division title is a matter of when, not if.
  23. BH67
    The Twins finished the first half one game under .500 -- but did so against a schedule that included the Braves, Dodgers, Astros and 29 of their 32 games against the AL East. And they were at or near the top of the majors in ERA, strikeouts pitched, and quality starts. They had come through a difficult stretch ably. So underestimation is I think accurate. Then for a month after the break they became the Box of Chocolates, swept by Kansas City but taking two of three in Philadelphia, for example. I wrote before last week's Cleveland series that I hoped for Chocolate Truffle and not Crunchy Frog. But their confidence and determination were just coming into bloom, and the last week revealed it after the heart-wrenching loss in the final Cleveland match at Target Field.. So much so, that these Twins no longer resemble Russell Stover. You know you're getting their best effort every night now. As for moderating that early schedule imbalance, the Twins have 16 games remaining against the Mets, White Sox, Angels, A's and Rockies. And these Twins will fight hard no matter the ineptitude they face.
  24. BH67
    It's just one win...but what a statement in achieving it. Now 7-4 in this stretch against Cleveland and Texas. Great opportunity to finish off Cleveland by winning Tuesday and Wednesday.
  25. BH67
    That would be Jim Rice, with 36. He did so at least 29 times in four consecutive seasons (1982-85), during which he also drove in 448 runs. Rally killer, though. And I'll consider Correa's five errors all season at shortstop an acceptable substitute for the power.
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