Category: Dailies
10/6 Path to the Pennant – The Leiter Side
Tonight we’re all excited about the tiebreaker game. My eyes will focus on one key guy, rookie hurler Rick Porcello.
The Tigers season falls on the 20-year-old shoulders and right arm of Porcello. Here’s a 20-year-old kid from New Jersey, who pitched in A ball last year, going up against the noise of the Dome, the Homer Hankies, 50,000 deafening and hostile fans, the turf, and a scorching line up.
The game will be won and lost right there.
The Twins have the mojo, and are in a great position going up against a Tigers team they always seem to handle in the Metrodome.
Pitching in a playoff atmosphere inside the Metrodome is an intense challenge for any opposing pitcher to face, so if Porcello pitches into the 7th, the Tigers will win.
Being no stranger to pitching these do-or-die games, I can say they’re the most compelling, do-all end-all this sport has to offer. It’s going to be the complete Game 7 experience tonight. A moment to be enjoyed by all who watch, and all who play.
Players who love and cherish the moment thrive and have a good game. Those who don’t will have all winter to think about it. – Al Leiter
10/5 Path to the Pennant – Playoff Preview
We have a couple of themes on tonight’s show. It goes 1, 2, 3, 4. We’re going to look at the best 1-2 pitching combinations for this year’s playoffs as well as in past playoffs. We’re also going to do the same for 3-4 hitting combinations.
First up is the 1-2 pitching duos. We have a few good ones this year with Carpenter-Wainwright in St. Louis, Lester-Beckett in Boston, and Sabathia-Burnett in New York. The thing that always fascinates me about these debates is the historical part of it. There have been some great 1-2 punches over the years. Koufax-Drysdale for the Dodgers, McLain-Lolich for the Tigers, and Schilling-Johnson for the D-backs to name a few. Who is better? That can be debated for a long time.
The same can be said for the best 3-4 hitters of all-time. Again, we have a few good ones this year. Teixeira-Rodriguez in New York and Pujols-Holliday in St. Louis jump out at you right away as the most formidable 3-4 combos in this postseason, but are they better than say Manny-Papi? Tough to say.
The other topic I can’t wait to get into tonight is the one-game playoff. This is the 3rd year in a row we’ve had one. We’ll have two guys on the set tonight who played in one and that’s Barry Larkin and Al Leiter who squared off in 1999 for the NL Wild Card. Leiter and his Mets won 5-0.
We’re on from 6-8 tonight previewing all of the playoff matchups so make sure you tune in.- Matt Vasgersian
10/2 MLB Tonight – Thing’s Things
So we’ve got two undecided playoff spots to debate tonight at 9.
The Rockies are going into this final weekend series against the Dodgers with plans to knock them from the NL West crown. Colorado wants to win the NL West and face St. Louis whom I feel they match up better with. The Rockies pitching matches up better with the Cardinals hitters. And their line up would rather face the Cardinals big right-handers than the Phillies big left-handers. So, look for Jim Tracy to go for it in these three games to try and take the division.
Looking to the AL Central, Detroit will finish this weekend on top. The Twins have given a valiant effort, but they will just come up a little short. It just goes to show that even though you can’t win a division in April, you can lose one. The Twins were just not able to get their season together in time.
And with the last series being played in the Metrodome, let me just say that it was the loudest place I’ve ever played in my life. Next year, those Twins better find some hairy ball players because it’s cold in Minnesota. – Mitch Williams
10/2 MLB Tonight – Crucial Weekend Matchups
The thing that interests me tonight is the matchups. We have Royals-Twins, White Sox-Tigers, and Rockies-Dodgers. 2 division titles are still up for grabs.
We’ll start with the Royals-Twins and if the Twins are to have any chance of winning the AL Central they’ll need to sweep the Royals this weekend. The tough part comes tomorrow when they face Zack Greinke. He’ll be looking to make his case for the AL Cy Young Award with a 17th win. Let’s not forget his ERA is only 2.06.
Let’s discuss the White Sox-Tigers next. Jake Peavy goes tonight for Chicago. This may or may not be good for the Tigers. Peavy hasn’t had a lot of work this year, but he threw 7 shutout innings his last time out against Detroit on 9/25. The Tigers are throwing Edwin Jackson. He’s been good all year, but he’s had a tough stretch over his last 7 starts. Detroit will need him to come up big tonight. The Tigers are hoping not to pitch Justin Verlander on Sunday so he can throw game 1 for them against the Yankees.
Rockies-Dodgers is interesting too. It’s amazing that the Rockies still have a shot at the NL West crown. If they sweep this weekend they are division champs. The Dodgers have lost 4 in a row and are looking for a win. They don’t want to lose this division. They want to have some positive momentum heading into the postseason.
Finally, there are a couple of postseason pitchers going for 20 wins tonight. The Cardinals Adam Wainwright and the Yankees CC Sabathia both have a shot at it. 20 wins is the magic number for a pitcher. We’ll have to see what happens.
Watch MLB Tonight beginning at 6.-Tony Clark
10/1 MLB Tonight – The Hot Corner with Hazel Mae
Here’s what’s HOT……The ALDS.
As we turn the corner into October, there are so many exciting matchups to focus on.
Having covered the Red Sox over the last 4 years I’ve seen first hand how dominating the Red Sox can be in the postseason, especially against the Angels. They out pitch, out slug, and simply out play the Angels in the postseason seemingly every time. The Angels are putty in the hands of the Red Sox come October.
So history tells us show’s over for the Angels; pack up the bats, gloves and the rally monkey, and call it a season, but I tell you I have this feeling about 2009. It could just be different. The Angels have made it through a tough season on and off the field.
This tough 2009 season started in the off season with Mark Teixeira and Francisco Rodriguez leaving for New York. Losing them completely changed the character of the team. Then early on with so many injuries, and the Nick Adenhart tragedy, it was hard to get a feel for the team.
In the midst of all the turmoil, the true character of the team revealed itself. The steady hand of Mike Scioscia, along with the patience of Bobby Abreu got the team believing again. Then it was Kendry Morales who took off, and he is now a strong candidate for MVP. Injuries healed as confidence grew and now it’s going to be trouble for the American League.
This could have been a real down year, but here they are. After steamrolling through the AL West they prepare for another battle with the Red Sox.
They have made it though every obstacle so far this season making the Angels a Team of Destiny (also thanks to an Angel in the outfield).
Hit it out of the park! – Hazel Mae
9/30 MLB Tonight – Twins-Tigers Preview
One of our main storylines this evening will be game 3 of the Twins-Tigers series. It’s a must win for Minnesota tonight and they have the right guy on the mound.
The Twins brought in Carl Pavano for this game. He’s 4-0 against the Tigers this season and if you look at the pitching matchups the next 2 nights they favor Minnesota. It’s Pavano vs. Bonine tonight and Baker vs. Robertson tomorrow night. There’s a good chance the AL Central will be tied heading into Friday night. I honestly think that this race will come down to the final day and may even need an extra day.
Another thing we’re going to discuss is this year’s possible award winners. I like Joe Mauer for the AL MVP and Albert Pujols for the NL MVP. I still haven’t decided on the AL Cy Young award winner. I want to see how Zack Greinke and Felix Hernandez do in their last start. The NL Cy Young race will be close too, but right now I’m leaning towards Adam Wainwright. As far as my Rookie of the Year choices you’ll have to tune in tonight at 6 to find out. There are a lot of good ones to choose from.
Don’t forget we’re on an hour early tonight with Path to the Pennant at 5 followed by MLB Tonight at 6.-Dave Valle
9/29 MLB Tonight – View From Outside the Dugout
After the Twins and Tigers game, we are going to break down the Brewers and Rockies matchup. Even though the Braves have fallen out of the sky to put a little heat on the Rockies, the Rockies are still my favorite for the Wild Card. Once they’re in it’s a different story because of a few weaknesses that need to be straightened out in the last days of the season.
Two challenges stand out in my mind: the pitching of Jason Marquis, and the Rockies lineup against left handed pitchers. It’s time for Jason Marquis to step up. Here’s a guy who had a great first half, which is his trademark, but he can’t escape his other trademark which is a pitcher who needs to put two good halves together and complete a season. He’s carried the wagon for most of the season, but this start tonight might just determine if he’s going to have a spot in the rotation come playoff time.
The other challenge the Rockies need to address in these next few games is their lineup against left handed pitching. With 4 out of the next 6 games against lefties, Jim Tracy will be able to shuffle around guys like Garrett Atkins, Ryan Spilborghs, Carlos Gonzalez, Seth Smith, and Dexter Fower to see whose stroke is in rhythm with the southpaws.
With all of our focus on the playoffs, it’s time to shift on a few teams that will be going home in a week. For the Rangers and the Giants, the season was just two weeks too long. They took a few steps forward, and now they see what improvements need to be made in the offseason.
And with 81 wins the Marines had a season they can feel good about. It didn’t take long for the entire organization to put that 100 loss season in the rear view mirror. From players to scouts, coaching staff to the front office, all around top to bottom, the organization was completely turned around, and there’s a team to look forward to next season.
It’s playoff time, no second guessing – Clint Hurdle
9/29 MLB Tonight – Musings of a Play by Play Guy
So I’m sitting here watching the 1990 World Series highlights on MLB Network as my Oakland A’s eventually get swept by the Cincinnati Reds. There’s no way that should have happened, which brings me to the point of today’s blog. It’s not always the best team that wins it’s the hottest and you have to be in it to win it.
Let’s start with the Atlanta Braves who heading into tonight have won 15 of their last 17 and are only 2 games back of the NL Wild Card. On September 12th they were 6.5 games behind the Rockies. This is an interesting spot for Colorado as just 2 years ago they were the hunter and now they are the hunted. They won 14 of their last 15 games to make the playoffs and went onto to win 21 of 22 overall and now the Braves are trying to do the same. I think the announcement of Bobby Cox retiring after next season has made this even more interesting for the Braves. We’ll see this week if they can pull this off and make the postseason.
The other great race is in the AL Central and the Twins pulled to within a game of the Tigers after their 3-2 win in 10 innings today. They’ll try and draw even with them tonight in game 2 of their DH that can be seen on MLB Network. The Twins are another hot team as they have now won 12 of their last 14 as they are trying to chase down the Tigers. As we saw with the Angels in 2002 and then the Marlins the following year it’s not always the team that was good all year that wins it all. Sometimes it’s the team that got hot at the right time. The key of course is to get in.
It’s going to be a fun week as we have 2 races coming down to the wire. It all starts tonight with Path to the Pennant at 5, the MLB Tonight at 6, and the Twins and Tigers at 7.-Matt Vasgersian
9/28 Path to the Pennant Debut
We’re debuting a new show today called “Path to Pennant.” It will air all this week from 5-6 as a lead-in to MLB Tonight. This is where our network is different from everyone else. We can bring you baseball in a variety of ways.
We’re going to begin the show tonight discussing the 10 teams that have a shot at the winning the World Series. I know there are only 8 playoff spots, but the Braves and Twins still have a great shot at making it with one week to go. Atlanta is 2.5 back in the NL Wild Card race and Minnesota is only 2 back in the AL Central and they begin a 4-game set in Detroit tonight. We are carrying this game on MLB Network.
The Twins-Tigers series is going to be fun to watch this week. We’ll be breaking it down from every angle. Tonight Harold Reynolds will be talking about Nick Blackburn, Tom Verducci will discuss Rick Porcello and our John Hart will break down the pitching matchups in all 4 games.
The other big topic tonight will be on the Yankees and Cardinals since they both clinched their divisions over the weekend. Harold’s going to break down the seasons of Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, and Johnny Damon and how they’ve benefited from the short porch in right field at the new Yankee Stadium. He’s also going to look at facing the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright back to back and whether that’s good or bad.
Make sure you tune in to all of it tonight. Path to the Pennant at 5, MLB Tonight at 6, Twins-Tigers at 7 and then MLB Tonight after the game.-Greg Amsinger
9/25 MLB Tonight – Thing’s Things
Tonight at 11, we’ve got the playoff races flowing on tap.
Only one interesting playoff race is going on right now, and it’s in the AL Central. The showdown between the Tigers and Twins is going to be a fight to the finish.
I mean for me, what makes baseball exciting is that after the long season it comes down to four games to determine it all.
One team’s going home.
One team’s going to the playoffs.
Who’s it gonna be??
In the NL, it’s plain and simple; the bullpen that pitches the best is going to carry their team in the playoffs.
To me, the Dodgers have the potential to make it to the series because they have the best bullpen. With Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill, and Ramon Troncoso firing on all cylinders they could be taking the Dodgers for a long ride in October.
And if we’re talking about bullpens, we should probably talk about the Phillies. It’s simple, if they don’t get Scott Eyre and J.C. Romero back, it’s trouble.
If Brad Lidge can’t get his game straightened out, more trouble.
Add the playoffs and that’s a whole heap of trouble. The offense is going to have to score a ton of runs with that bullpen. – Mitch Williams
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