What a couple of great baseball games vs the almighty Yanks! :beer :beer I know the Twins sure surprised the Yankees winning the first game, and almost taking game 2, I hope they can pull it off!!! Go Twins!!!!!
They've both been extremely close games!! A key hit one way or the other, and the series could be 2-0 either way. I thought Moose pitched way too good a game to lose that 1st one. ou: Last nights game was incredible!! Talk about the 'comeback kids'!! :bglasses: I can actually see this one getting decided back at Yankee stadium.
Yeah, 3 innings for Joe Nathan was one too many last night. But by the 12th inning, there were no good options left in the bullpen for the Twins, they had to let him try to close it out. What really ticked me off was the extremely poor throw home by Jacque Jones from short right. He needed to assume the runner on 3rd would try to score, but he threw it as though he didn't think that was going to happen. That ball should have been at home on the fly for the 3rd out. JJ may have had other things on his mind though... after all, they buried his father today. Big coaching mistakes too, by Ron Gardenhire, leaving Kubel in the game, batted in both the 8th and 12th innings I believe. 22yr old rookie, looked like a deer staring at the headlights every at bat. All the while, they've got Lew Ford on the bench, who carried this team while Shannon Stewart, then Torii Hunter were hurt. Never did get an at bat... :spank: while Kubel is striking out swinging at head-high pitches... :rant:
Even Joe Torre said he would have done the same thing. Actually...he did. He left Sturtze in there for 3 also. Similar results too. They both made a good effort, but gave up runs. I'm not sure I'd place much blame on JJ.....Jeter was tagging up from the get-go. He runs the bases better than most anyone out there!! :Smarty: It would have been an interesting play, if Sheffield was making that throw. He's got a cannon!! :TU:
Jones has an excellent arm in right, not a "Sheffield" arm, but very strong. He just didn't get his body turned and set in anticipation of having to make a strong throw. I think he was caught napping... :sleep: It looked to me like he was trying to hit the cut man, instead of throwing for home all the way. No doubt in my mind, he messed up. (when I wasn't pitching, I played center) Jeter did what any runner on 3rd is supposed to do with less than 2 outs and a ball hit in the air, go straight back to the bag and tag up.
After seeing the replay a few times....You have a point about him not being ready to catch & release. I'm not convinced he would have thrown Jeter out, but it should have been 'on the fly' to home. Derek was asked about it after the game....he said he knew it was hit short, but he was going to force them to make a perfect throw. I also played outfield some (center & right), when not pitching. Also played alot of short. I always enjoyed the challenge of throwing someone out!! :TU: I had a strong arm.....sure wish my HS team was better. County baseball was much more fun....won ALOT more games too. Got to play on Doubleday field many times. It's pretty cool playing in Cooperstown and having your name announced. :bglasses: :TU:
Man, that would be awesome! I never got to play on any major league fields, but played regional college playoffs on Triple A Tulsa Drillers field in Tulsa OK in the early 80's. That was very cool, my first time on artificial turf, on an outdoor field. It was very spongy, surprisingly. Not sure what variety of turf it was, but it wasn't hard at all.
We used to play the Milford Macs on the weekends up there. On Saturday, we'd play a double header....then on Sunday, we'd play in Cooperstown on Doubleday field. :bglasses: Also got to play in Oneonta, back when the Yankees single A team was playing there. That's the same field that John Elway played on for the Yanks. :TU: If you've ever had the privilege of playing on a professional ballfield, you know just how perfectly manicured they keep them. The infield dirt was as flat and pebble free as you can imagine. Nice and soft for sliding and proper drainage. I could have gotten used to that. :TU:
Well David......guess it's the end of the road for the Twins. They sure have a talented team......today's game sure could have turned out diffently. It was really looking like we'd get that game 5 back in NY. Today's game had it all, just about. Strange plays like Hunter's "where is the ball ploy'', Sheffield's "where is the ball....REALLY'', missed calls by the umps (Jeter's 'phantom' tag at 2nd and Cairo's call at 1st - least they evened the calls out), good pitching, bad pitching, bad catching(Borders), excellent hustle (A-Rod), etc., etc. Although I'm glad the Yanks had 64 come from behind wins this season.....I sure wish they'd make it a little easier on us fans. ou: The Twins need to win a few more games next year, so they can take on Boston first. :grin: :TU: I fully expect to see most the AL teams in the playoffs next year too (AL West is too close to guess). The Boston-Yankees series coming up, should prove to be at least as exciting & entertaining as last year!! :Smarty: :TU: I don't know of a hotter rivalry!!
I wish I could have watched more of the game, just caught bits and pieces of it, not more than 2-3 innings in total. At 5-1 in the 7th with Balfour mowing down everyone in sight, I thought they might get to game 5... THIS year, I preferred to play NY in the 1st round, I think Boston would have been just as tough a matchup, if not tougher. Hate to go against the curse, but I see Boston knocking off NY.
