Comments on: AL Central may be settled before Twins and White Sox play next week

By: minnesconsin_ad

minnesconsin_ad — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:05:56 +0000

I love the twins and I hope they stay on track. But the playoffs will be tough. They need Fuentes to get healthy to make a run in the playoffs, and for Gardy to be smart enough to give him more opportunities late in the game. Capps is a mess: 1.35 WHIP and .332 BABiP. Thankfully, he’s got an above-average strand rate of about 76%, but that doesn’t make me feel much better. The guy is single-handedly proving Craig’s point about the meaningless nature of the save stat.
Gardy should know, after 6 years of sub-1.00 WHIP from Joe Nathan (exception being 2002 when he had a 1.02), that a closer who keeps the basepaths relatively clear is essential to success.
Look at the numbers for the closers for the other 3 likely AL playoff teams:
Feliz has a .96 WHIP and a .238 BABip
Soriano: .81 and .207
Rivera: .75 and .207
So you’re Gonna throw Capps out there in the 9th? really? worst trade EVER.

By: tjwilliams

tjwilliams — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:41:15 +0000

That’s a pretty ballsy statement coming from someone who wrote
.
They needed to take three of four games in Detroit to give themselves a reasonable shot at the playoffs going into the final weekend, but instead two poor pitching performances, a ton of small ball-obsessed over-managing from Ron Gardenhire, and an injury-depleted, scrub-filled lineup has all but destroyed the Twins’ hopes for a division crown even before the final game of the Tigers series.
.
on September 30th, last year, in a post on the Twins not-so-presciently titled “The End”. You can never count anybody out in that division.

By: funkyrabbit

funkyrabbit — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:40:33 +0000

Oh… tbliggins is probably just trying to say that nobody gave the Twins a chance last year either when they were 5.5 games back on September 14 and went 17-4 over their last 21 games. If the AL Central has demonstrated anything over the past few years, it’s that anything can happen and probably will… Right now the Sox are 5.5 games back too, and it’s only September 9. I’m sure the Twins have enough to clinch this division, but you just never know.

By: Mrsteve

Mrsteve — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:13:04 +0000

The Twins did win the division last yr in the 1 game playoff. The year prior they came in second loosing the 1 game playoff. They are always in contention. What does your comment mean?
Anyway who cares because Gardy will find a way to get swept from the first round. Like he did to the Yankees & A’s.

By: tbliggins

tbliggins — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:51:27 +0000

Pretty confident for a team that also had no chance at winning the division at the same time last year.

By: ThatGuy

ThatGuy — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:42:56 +0000

Absolutlely. As well as being able to set a playoff rotation, give Mauer/Cuddyer/Delmon a day off or two and rest the pen.

By: Cheap Seat Chronicles

Cheap Seat Chronicles — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:33:50 +0000

Here’s to hoping that’s the case. It’d be nice to see the Twins go into the playoffs without having spent everything in the tank over the final three weeks.