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GROUND HOG DAY - I have been so nervous about this I wrote a blog on this site last week. I want to be wrong, but watching the Twins this past week I have not found anything to pin optimism on, except that we are hitting so bad it can only get better. Here are my wishes for the post season playoffs. We will need runs to beat the Yankees. If our starter is going well we do not have to pull him after 5 Do not put Kepler at lead offLet Buxton runMove Sano down again until he gets hot - his k's kill too many rallies. Let Jeffers be the catcher. He has passed Garver and Avila Do not let Adrianza bat - bring back Blankenhorn Clippard and Romo should be saved for series two - they will be batting practice for that team

Maybe someone can send videos of Whitey Herzog's Cardinals or any team that Billy Martin managed or the Go Go White sox of Aparicio and Fox, or the Dodgers of Maury Wills, or Rickey Henderson. Rocco a stolen base is not a terrible thing. A hit and run can work. Especially when you have Buxton on base. This station to station wait for the HR is just not working right now. By the way, the Yankees have 21 Stolen Bases this year to go with 89 HRs. I do have one thank you - Rocco moving Buxton to leadoff was wonderful.

I hear the Pint commentators, I see the bloggers and TD writers and the posts saying the 16 game losing streak to the Yankees does not count - there are Twins who were not even born when this began - okay I exaggerate. But some were pretty young. It is a different team, different players - and that is true. I think we have said that in every playoff appearance. Don't tell me that the players don't know about this - heck they might even read this rambling essay. Fans know it, the media knows it, and the Yankees know it. So am I nervous about the Yankees in this years playoffs? Yes. Today on ESPN I read, "The Yankees have awoken. Watch out, American League. A little more than a week ago the Yankees had lost their fifth straight game and dropped to 21-21. Even with the expanded playoff format, the unthinkable suddenly seemed possible: The Yankees were actually in danger of missing the playoffs. They were just a half-game ahead of the Orioles for the final wild-card spot, a mere one game ahead of the Tigers -- two teams that combined for 222 losses in 2019. "Droppin' Like A Stone," exclaimed the headline on the back cover of the New York Post, featuring a photo of Gary Sanchez dropping a foul pop-up.' The Yankees have not lost since then and they are beyond winning. They are treating the Blue Jays like a last place team and they are the team that should be defeating the Yankees so they could play the Twins. But the Yankees have hit 383/.478/.957 in this series with 19 home runs. And they just got back Stanton and Judge. Meanwhile the Bomba squad is .243 .318 .429 which looks good and compares with the Yankees who were really bad to start the season. The issue is who is rising? Who is getting momentum? Not that momentum means anything in the post season. But momentum is often a product of confidence and confidence does matter. Right now I look at yesterdays lineup and it is Kepler - 204 Donaldson 215 Polanco 264 Cruz 320 Rosario 251 Sano 220 Buxton 270 Gonzales 216 Jeffers 283 Polanco's BA is falling, Buxton is rising. Kepler and Donaldson have been at the same place all year. Cruz is our best despite a bad WS series. The other player with a good averages are Rooker who is injured. On the bench we have Adrianza - 182, Jake Cave 219, Wade 258, Avila 174, and Astudillo 250. I trust Wade over Cave and I am still disappointed we do not have Blankenhorn instead of Adrianza and Kiriloff instead of Cave. If Garver comes back I want Avila, not Jeffers to be removed. The Yankees have 4 starters with era in the 3+ and their BP looks solid with only Ottavino having a bad year. We have had Dobnak lose his Cinderella status and Odorizzi has been plagued with bad luck and injuries. Hill is a great three inning pitcher and now people are hoping for Homer Bailey to come off the injured list. We have three pitchers under 4 era which includes Hill. What worries me is the inconsistency in the bats. The 16 game losing streak might not mean anything, but Yankee lineup looks like it has fewer weak spots and a stronger bench.

If this season has been about keeping players healthy they have failed. We have a miserable health record - I know nobody got Covid. If this season was about getting ready to dominate the playoffs they certainly have not given me any confidence. It has been the rookies - Jeffers, Rooker, Alcala, Stashak, Blankenhorn that have looked like they had energy and spirit, not the veterans. I am sorry I had to leave Dobnak off that list of the second half. It is not easy to turn on the gas for a sprint to the finish. We need to start now.

YES. And I would expect my starters to go 6/7 innings. wow am I old school.

Isn't it wonderful to keep having Kepler and his 204 average batting first. Thanks for your consistency or should I say stubbornness Rocco. I have been told in other posts that Kepler has a better OBP than Buxton. I am tired of hearing hit. Byron is so hot - lead off, bat second - get him up and Kepler down. Move Donaldson down too or are you afraid he will throw a tantrum. On another post I was criticized for saying I would drop Clippard from the post season roster right now. I know he was great at the beginning, but he has not been great this month. It time for Romo to shut up and step up. I know it is old school, but starters are allowed to go more than 5 innings Rocco. This series has been a disaster except for the third game.

Bumgarner is a lesson that is hard for teams to learn. Signing an older star in their thirties is paying for what he has already accomplished and not what he is going to do. The Twins might regret the Donaldson signing eventually - especially if he maintains this years line and injuries. The Maeda move was terrific and while he is producing he is not harming the teams finances. I am leery of big FA signings. Gerrit Cole was the big catch and so far he is 6 - 3 with 1.5 WAR - is that good enough for his contract? Madison Bumgarner is 0 - 4 with 8.53eraand -0.8 WAR, like Maeda, Hyun Jin Ryu with 2.1 WAR has been worth it for the Blue Jays where he is 4- 0 and a 3.00 era. Had we succeeded with Zack Wheeler like we tried we would have been happy too. He has 4 - 0 2.62 era and 2.8 WAR. Our old friend Kyle Gibson is 2 - 5 with no WAR and 5.18 era. Cole Hamels is 0 - 1 with 8.10 era and -0.1 WAR. You can even add our pickup of Odorizzi who has a - 0.2 WAR is 0 - 1 with a 6.59 era. I know injuries hit some like Odorizzi, but that is also part of the FA problem if you are signing older players. There are more, but you can see that the FA market big names are not a sure bet. Better to do what the White Sox have done and raise your own.

That OBP is for the season and the beginning of the season does not reflect what he has been doing since he came back from his last injury.

the top of the lineup has to change. Is Baldelli really so stubborn that Kepler will be lead off no matter what he hits? Put Buxton up there. Josh Donaldson in not worthy of the second place in the lineup either. A few bombs does not make him the hitter we want him to be. Buxton, Polanco, Cruz, Rosario, Donaldson, Sano, Jeffers, Blankenhorn ((I know he is gone, but he should be at 2B), Kepler in the former Buxton position.

I do not know why, but I really feel bad about Dobnak. and do I really want Avila? No.

Wish he had been here sooner. Adrianza could have been replaced or Arraez could have been on the IL earlier.

I share your concern - the just get healthy, we have it made, don't worry we will be in the playoffs theme is getting tiring. The listless play, the lack of urgency is part of the malaise that not playing for a title can bring. The challenge will be trying to turn on the urgency when the playoffs do come. I love the energy that the White Sox are playing with.

I may be too late, but I hope they keep him on the roster for a while.

Let's not oversell Donaldson. He is good, but he has played in 20 games so the improvement has to be shared with Adrianza at 3B or just plain improvement at the other positions.

I have a few observations - why is Kepler Leading off? Should Donaldson be hitting second? Put Buxton first, Polanco second, Cruz third and pressure the pitcher and defense. Kepler has been a big disappointment, even before the injury. Is Dobnak really doing poorly or do we have a defense that cannot support a ground ball pitcher? Has he lost his position for the off season rotation? The big story for the year is the BATS - where are they? Finally - can we get the electronic strike zone? I know it is not perfect, but compared to the umpires we have seen it is from heaven.

I am really happy you wrote this because it has been fashionable to knock Eddie and praise Max, but I feel the opposite. I had hoped Max would continue to flourish, but I am not seeing it. Let's hope next year is his real break out or we can start to dream of Larnach or Kiriloff taking his spot. Can we at least switch Kepler and Buxton in the lineup? I would love to see Buxton, Polanco, Cruz as 1 - 3. And if Arraez was healthy I would sandwich him between Buxton and Polanco.

yes - play him. Adrianza and Marwin will be gone next year. Let's get the next man up into shape for the future.

no - RP are very volatile - look at Kimbrel with the Cubs. 17 innings might be a SSS for some but not a reliever. That is potentially 17 games. He might come back next year, but stop putting him out where he can cost a game this year. And start looking for the closer for the playoffs.

Can we afford to replace Jeffers with Avila and Garver? Yes Astudillo can go down, but not Jeffers. Another question is whether Rocco will still insist on using Kepler in lead off? I hope not. Can any starter go more than 5? Give the BP one less inning of work.

Berrios needs the coaches to work with him on his approach to big games. He came away with a good line, but his work was so erratic and it seems to get that way when he his hyped up about a game. Do not rest your players in a key series. Do not experiment with Rogers in a key game when he has not shown any ability to get it done in the last month. I hate to see a player have such a difficult year, but the manager has to prevent the issue from being a team issue. If Rocco wants to experiment, let's see what Alcala does in a tough situation because he might become out closer.

Don't use the WS split to judge them or you have to look at our record against KC and Detroit and wonder how a great team can let the lousy teams beat them so often.

I wish I was as confident as all the posts. But I am not - the Yankees are getting their sluggers back, Cole is coming back into shape and sometimes a curse is a curse! Of course I would love to see us beat them,but I think we would have a better chance in 7 where our depth of pitching could play.

I always worry about those day to day injuries because we seem to limp along with inadequate coverage until suddenly we go to the IL. Questions that are not meant to take away from the wonderful sweep. Is Kepler really the right person for the leadoff? Especially after his injury time.Will we ever actually see the official scorer give the victory to the pitcher who deserves the win? Thielbar has been great, but to win today is a farce. Can Wade go through a season with walk, HBP, and never actually record an AB?

Next year we have Kiriloff, Larnach, Rooker all MLB ready and it is a shame to keep pushing them down to wait another year. I think Rooker made the team by his effort this year. Cave and Wade could be trade bait, but not too many teams need OF - except the Indians and no way does that work out. The Giants and Marlins need OF help as well as the Orioles and Royals - no way. Get the phones going this winter Mr Falvey.

Hard to put a like on your post - but thanks for the update. I am really disappointed. I imagine Kepler will replace him, but I would love to have Kiriloff as an extra hitter.