Twins

[Gunner55]

  Sure glad they pulled Berrios!!

[KEN W]

No time set for Twins game on Saturday. Only one set is Baltimore and Texas at 12:00 noon. Guessing it will be after that at 3:30.

American will be on Fox
National on TBS

[KEN W]

Game 1: Twins at Astros, Saturday, Oct. 7 at 3:45 p.m. (FOX/FS1)
Game 2: Twins at Astros, Sunday, Oct. 8 at 7:03 p.m.  (FOX/FS1)
Game 3: Astros at Twins, Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 3:07 p.m. (FOX)
Game 4: Astros at Twins, Wednesday, Oct. 11* (Time TBD)
Game 5: Twins at Astros, Friday, Oct. 13* (Time TBD)

[Steve-o]

Sure glad they pulled Berrios!!

Yep, kinda when like the Ruskies pulled Tretiak in the 1980 olympic hockey game. 

Berrios only had something like 50 pitches, right?

[KEN W]

Pitchers.....My Guess....

Ryan vs Verlander in game 1

Lopez in game 2

Gray in game 3

[KEN W]

Vikings and Chiefs....3:30 on Sunday

Twins vs Astros at 7:00 Sunday

[LPS]

Gonna be a big day for us Minnesotans.   

[Steve-o]

OR... the biggest let down in MN sports history since the Twins finally broke their 18 game post-season losing streak.

Maybe I better get off the bandwagon with KOD and find something else to do that day. 
Twins...  I like their chances.    Vikes against the defending Superbowl champs...  not so much.   

[Gunner55]

  Seen this https://www.fox9.com/sports/vikings-qb-kirk-cousins-takes-family-to-twins-playoff-game & thought it was kind of .

[KEN W]

Twins pickoff play......I saw that they had practiced it. With the catcher, pitcher and shortstop all having those speakers in their hats, they called for it. The bullpen has them also so they were all on their feet watching it.

They called for it then because the third base coach watches for that and yells at the runner when the shortstop moves towards second base. Well the crowd was so loud that he couldn't hear him and he got caught. Great play.

[Steve-o]

Twins pickoff play......Well the crowd was so loud that he couldn't hear him and he got caught. Great play.

Well, A-Rod was quick to point out that getting picked off 2nd was Little League 101, and he wasn't wrong, but as you pointed out - while there might not be excuses for bad things happening, there are reasons.   

[LPS]

Ya that was fun as heck.

[Gunner55]

Pitchers.....My Guess....

Ryan vs Verlander in game 1

Lopez in game 2

Gray in game 3

The MLB Network seemed to think that there was a chance of Ober getting the Game 1 start, as of yday.  I couldn't find anywhere this AM where Rocco had named his starters yet.

[Steve-o]

I thought Ober was pretty good in his last start, but then I think it was only against the A's, yes?

I can see why some talking heads and pundits might try to get ahead of the power curve and predict someone other than Ryan for the Game 1 start - trying to be smarter than everyone else in the room - since Ryan does have that tendency to serve up those first inning taters.

At first they blamed Ryan for hiding an injury, they gave him some time off, and when Ryan came back, he was a bit better again.  But lately I think he as been slipping back and has served up some crushable pitches.

[Gunner55]

He's gave up 5 HRs in his last 4 starts but 3 of those came @ Coors Field so...................  Given up 13 earned runs in his last 3 games too, but again 6 of those were in Colorado. 

[Steve-o]

That's why managers get paid the big bucks - they live and die by making tough decisions - like when or if to start Ryan.  Perhaps Ryan will have a short leash with Ober being asked to be ready at any time.

And speaking of being ready at any time...

I was wondering why we didn't see The Pagan in the first two games - it was a sprinkling of Varland into Theilbar and Jax into Duran both times.  I was wondering if he might be hurt, but the other theory I shared with my wife was validated in the 9th inning of game two.

When Pagan didn't come into the 8th inning of either game I wondered if Baldelli was saving him in case "Doo-Ran" didn't have his best control - or they had to go to extra innings.  Turns out Baldelli had Pagan warming up in the 9th while Duran was misfiring on all those high fast balls.  But Duran brought it back under control and finished the game.

[Gunner55]

Yeah, Pagan has been about their steadiest guy out of bullpen since about late July/early August IMO. After his early season struggles, they convinced him he needed another off-speed breaking pitch & that's about the time he got it figured out. I'm not sure if it's a Cutter or a Splitfinger, but he's been much more effective since he's started throwing it.

[Gunner55]

Actually, I just looked at his stats for the season & it looks like it was just after the ASG that he started using the new pitch.

[Steve-o]

And now with Duran throwing his curve for strikes...  103 mph FB, 87 mph curve ball.   

[Steve-o]

I about put it on mute though when I heard A-Rod in the booth!!  

Former Twin A.J. Pierzynski will be an analyst alongside former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright for the Twins-Astros series.

[Pulleye16]

wife bought tickets for Tuesdays game!

[KEN W]

 

[KEN W]

Bailey Ober will take the mound Saturday for the Twins in Game 1 against the Astros in the American League Division Series.

Ober was left off the wild-card roster because he pitched in the regular season finale, so he is fully rested to start Saturday against Astros ace Justin Verlander.

Joe Ryan was scheduled to start a potential do-or-die Game 3 if it was necessary. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli apparently had second thoughts about starting Ryan against the Astros, who he faced twice in 2023 and gave up nine runs in 10 total innings.

[Steve-o]

Good for Ober.  He did what they asked him to do, worked hard, and earned his spot.

These are the problems managers like to have.

[Gunner55]

I about put it on mute though when I heard A-Rod in the booth!!  

Former Twin A.J. Pierzynski will be an analyst alongside former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright for the Twins-Astros series.

Seen that earlier too, Adam Amin will be doing the play-by-play.

[Gunner55]

They had their chances early against the HOF'er but the DPs changed that. You can't throw 1st pitch fastballs to Altuve there either. Alvarez's was a lot lower but still right down the middle. They still made a game of it. Hope Lopez is sharp today.

[KEN W]

They had Verlander where they could get him. His breaking pitches were all over the place. The only strikes he could throw were fastballs. Can't hit into DP's when you have the chance to knock him out in the first couple innings.

[Pulleye16]

I feel the Twins could have had about a dozen more walks the way Verlander was pictching. He hardly threw a strike it seemed.

[Steve-o]

That may prove to be the difference in the series...  Astros lineup is good top to bottom, Twins lineup - although hitting much better since the all start break, still has a lot of strikeout in them. 

Correa's power seems to be all dried up.  He doesn't even hit many line drive shots to the outfield.  Everything seems to be dribblers to the left side of the infield that sometimes make it thru cause you can't shift anymore.    But man, can he play SS!   

[Gunner55]

Actually, Taylor hit his DP ball pretty hard, it was just right at Pena.