Tagged: Colorado Rockies

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

 

9/29 MLB Tonight – Musings of a Play by Play Guy

vasgersian.jpgSo 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

 

9/22 MLB Tonight Pre-Show Meeting

amsinger.jpgOne of our main themes tonight will be who will be the 3rd starter for some of these teams that could make the postseason?  We’ll begin that discussion in the first hour with former Twin and current broadcaster Bert Blyleven.  If the Twins make it they’ll start with Scott Baker and Carl Pavano, but who do you go to after that?  Is it Nick Blackburn after his performance last night or is it rookie Brian Duensing who is 4-1 since being called up from the minors.

Another pitcher with an important start tonight is Ervin Santana of the Angels.  Right now the Angels are set with John Lackey, Jered Weaver, and Scott Kazmir.  Can Santana change Scioscia’s mind and get a start in the postseason?  He also has to think about Joe Saunders who pitched well last night.

How about the Phillies?  Is your number 3 Joe Blanton or Pedro Martinez behind Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels?  What about Jaime Moyer who has 12 wins?

Another interesting team is the Rockies.  They’ll begin with Ubaldo Jimenez and Jason Marquis, but who do they go to after that?  Is it Jorge De La Rosa or Aaron Cook?

Finally, what do the Cardinals do?  We know Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright are a given, but is Joel Pineiro definitely their number 3?  What about John Smoltz or Kyle Lohse?

This is some of the things we’ll be talking about tonight starting at 6. -Greg Amsinger