October 8, 2010
ALDS Game 2: Yankees 5, Twins 2
At this point writing about postseason losses to the Yankees has me feeling like Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day, except there's no Andie MacDowell to hit on while going through the same frustrating story over and over again. I'm not sure what's left to say, really, but here are some notes from Game 2 of the ALDS ...
• For all the media-fueled talk of Francisco Liriano being untrustworthy in big games and Carl Pavano being less likely to implode they basically turned in identical performances versus New York. Liriano struck out seven and allowed four runs on nine baserunners in 5.2 innings, while Pavano struck out three and allowed four runs on 11 baserunners in six innings. Unfortunately neither performance was particularly good.
• Of course, Pavano's line (and the game in general) would've looked much different had home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt called what appeared to be a pretty obvious strike three on Lance Berkman in the seventh inning. Instead he called it a ball and Berkman connected on a go-ahead (and ultimately game-winning) double on the next pitch. Berkman later came around to score, putting the Yankees up 4-2.
Via replays and various pitch location charts the call was perhaps somewhat less obvious than it initially appeared, but Pavano's pitch was pretty clearly a strike and even more clearly was a pitch that's almost always called a strike. However, it was also far from the only questionable ball/strike call Wendelstedt made all night and in fact his strike zone was wildly inconsistent for both sides and ... well, let's say "unique." Plus, in Game 1 a bad call went the Twins' way.
• From the moment Ron Gardenhire left the dugout there was absolutely zero that doubt he'd end up getting tossed from the game. Typically pitching coach Rick Anderson makes all trips to the mound that don't involve a pitching change and Gardenhire has a long history of incidents with Wendelstedt, so clearly he headed out there with the intention of venting his frustration with the umpire and perhaps even with the goal of getting tossed.
• Jon Rauch deserves some praise for wriggling out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam against Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano in the seventh inning, just as he probably deserved more praise than he received during the regular season for converting 21-of-25 save opportunities before the closer role was yanked away and for his 3.12 ERA and 41-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 57.2 innings overall.
• Lost in the talk of pitching matchups and rotation orders is that the Twins' lineup has been inept during the 2-11 playoff stretch against New York, scoring 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4, and 2 runs. That works out to 2.8 runs per game, which won't equal many wins regardless of the pitching. To put that in some context, the average AL team scored 4.5 runs per game this year. Against the Yankees the Twins have more than four runs twice in 13 playoff games.
• Coming into the series I felt that two factors being somewhat overlooked were the strength of the Yankees' bullpen even beyond Mariano Rivera and how facing four left-handed starters in five games put the Twins at a big disadvantage because they relied so much on left-handed bats Joe Mauer, Jim Thome, and Jason Kubel. Both factors have sadly played out pretty much as expected in the first two games. They face a right-handed starter Saturday in Phil Hughes.
• I'll be co-hosting "Twins Wrap" on 1500-ESPN following (hopefully) both games in New York, talking with Darren Wolfson and taking phone calls starting about an hour after the final out. Win or lose the shows will likely last for at least an hour and maybe two hours, so I'd definitely love to hear from some AG.com readers, if only for the sake of my sanity.
Would dramatically reducing the playoff roster not only significantly help club profits, but also increase competitiveness in the playoffs? 😉
I respect Gardy and believed he was right to say basically that the Yankees build their lineup, then build their bench. That is difficult profit on in the season, but can make all the difference in the playoffs. They have every favorable option for every contingency
Comment by herb — October 9, 2010 @ 1:02 am
Would all you supporters be quiet with the “I’m satisfied” or “we’re lucky to get this far” bull….
This is professional sports. They are paid to win. Period. Don’t give us garbage about this and that. It’s simple. Winning.
If the Twins don’t advance, or at least win a damn game, Gardenhire needs to go. Something has to change on this team and he is the only one that can easily be changed. He does NOT DESERVE a free pass for life for winning AL Central titles. You WIN IN THE POSTSEASON AND GARDENHIRE FAILS EVERY TIME>
Comment by Dean — October 9, 2010 @ 6:56 am
First of all, players aren’t paid to win. They’re paid to generate revenue for their franchise. Usually, that means winning, but ask the Tampa Bay Rays how much they’ve profited from having a good team. They hemorrhage money every year while the cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates keep costs low, lose games, yet make money. Very few owners want to win at any cost; they want to win while making money. The Yankees don’t lose money, so they can reload quickly because they don’t need to rely on cheap (young or untalented) players to help them win and they can spend as much as they want to help the team during the trading deadline.
Second, the first two losses are squarely on underperforming players. Whether that’s because they’re pressing or not focused enough, they’re just not getting it done. There are 2 ways the modern-era Yankees have lost playoff games and series: losing to dominant and/or power pitchers (which the Twins don’t have) or losing to hot offenses combined with hot bullpens (which is much more up the Twins’ alley but hasn’t happened yet). A team has to generally be able to rely on the same guys that won them games in the regular season to win them games in the postseason, and so far, it hasn’t happened. This team is capable of winning a couple of 8-5 or 7-6 or even 11-4 games in the playoffs, but it hasn’t happened. This Yankees team is extremely confident that they can win by just scoring in the late innings and shutting them down in the late innings. Until the Twins prove them wrong by building an insurmountable lead early or outscoring them late, the results aren’t going to change.
Comment by Greg — October 9, 2010 @ 1:16 pm
Wow. All capital letters. I thought AG deactivated that feature automatically on posts. When you see that crap, it’s no longer AG.
Comment by brian — October 9, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
The Mystery of the Inside Pitch
by Colin Wyers
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12193#commentMessage
Comment by doug — October 9, 2010 @ 4:12 pm
Arnold4321 – you get my vote for greatest post in the history of this website.
fire gardy.
Comment by UGH — October 10, 2010 @ 12:33 am
Let’s do a quick compare.
Granderson in game 1. Vs. Liriano. Gardy leaves him in, with good reason. Granderson is horrible against lefties. What happens, a triple off the wall giving the Yankees the lead.
Kubel in game 3. Runners on 1st and 3rd, against a lefty. strikes out. Later, bases loaded, swings at first pitch, pops up. Delmon does the same a couple pitches later.
Granderson, despite the odds, got it done. Kubel did not.
Gardy did nothing this series to deserve getting fired. There wasn’t any management decisions that swung the game. It was the ineptitude of the players that lost us the series. If anyone needs to go, first we look at Vavra.
Comment by Joe — October 10, 2010 @ 1:46 am
This teams OF Defense is horrible. That triple that Cano hit Saturday night was a catchable ball (Hunter & Puckett would have made that catch). Ever since Span had that collision w/Hudson he’s been very timid going after balls near the wall & near other OF’s. Delmon cannot go back on a ball to save his life and Kubel looks like a 50-yr old man out in RF.
I had very little hope that this team would even win 1 game in this series after they way they limped into the playoffs. Any momentum they had after clinching the Division was lost with their poor play. Resting Thome & Mauer did not seem to refresh them. Their timing at the plate looked off vs Yankees.
Comment by Dose of Thunder — October 10, 2010 @ 11:44 am
Repeat after me Twins fans: It’s not your fault.
http://www.beelev.com/2010/10/twins-swept-away-yankees-pursue-world.html
Comment by bee — October 11, 2010 @ 9:25 am