Tagged: Minnesota Twins
10/9 MLB Tonight – ALDS Previews
We have plenty to talk about on today’s show. Both AL series will be played tonight so we’ll break those down as well as look back to yesterday’s games with the big story taking place at Dodger Stadium.
It’s going to be very tough now for the Cardinals to come back and beat the Dodgers being down 0-2 and losing both of the games Carpenter and Wainwright pitched. It should be 1-1 and then you’d like the Cardinals chances of possibly winning this series. If they don’t come back and win it’s going to be a long off-season for Matt Holliday. There are a few reasons as to why he didn’t catch that ball yesterday. It could have been the white towels, the lights or the time of day, but when he didn’t make the catch it started to unravel for St. Louis and they may not be able to recover.
Yankees-Twins will be interesting to watch tonight. Joe Girardi has given A.J. Burnett his wish as Jose Molina will be his catcher. Will this work for Girardi or backfire? It’s important to make your pitcher comfortable so I think he’s making the right decision here. We’ll find out.
After Yankees-Twins tonight we’ll have Angels-Red Sox as LA looks to go up 2-0. The Angels haven’t been able to beat the Red Sox in the postseason in recent years, but this may be the year they get it done. They’re as healthy as they’ve ever been, while the Red Sox are not. We’ll have to see which Josh Beckett shows up tonight.
We’re on at 5 tonight and then we’ll be on after both game so make sure you tune into MLB Nework all postseason.-Dan Plesac
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
9/30 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 – 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
9/24 MLB Tonight – Hart of the Matter
We’re coming on after the World Cup game between USA and Cuba so make sure you tune it a little earlier tonight.
We’ll begin with the Cardinals who can clinch a playoff spot with a loss by the Cubs this evening. It’s amazing the job Tony LaRussa has done. At the beginning of the year he didn’t know what to expect from Chris Carpenter and he didn’t have a closer. Carpenter is back to being his ace and Ryan Franklin has stepped up to be his closer. Also, remember he didn’t have anyone to protect Pujols to start the season, but he had his team in good shape until they got Matt Holliday and we all know how that trade has worked out. Let’s not also forget the moves to bring in DeRosa, Lugo, and Smoltz. The Cardinals know how to stay in the race year in and year out and a lot of the credit has to go to their manager.
Another team that’s interesting is the Twins. This is a team that is always in the mix year in and year out and they have to do it with a low payroll. They lose players like Johan Santana and Torii Hunter, but can replace them with a Joe Mauer and Justin Morneuau. Even with Morneau out for the season they are right there with the Tigers with players like Michael Cuddyer stepping up. Their race with the Tigers down the stretch will be fun to watch.
Speaking of the Tigers they are playing in our Thursday night game tonight against the Indians. They have had a great turnaround from a year ago with letting players go like Gary Sheffield and Edgar Renteria and allowing young players to flourish like Rick Porcello. With Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, and Porcello at the top of that rotation the Tigers could be a tough out in the playoffs.-John Hart
9/22 MLB Tonight Pre-Show Meeting
One 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
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