Bring On The Twins

Wow. The game between the Tigers and Twins was epic. It was an instant classic. It was arguably the game of the year. It was a knocked-down, dragged-out fight that lasted almost 5 hours and went into extra innings. It was exactly what I wanted to see. I'm not sure I wanted to see the Twins win, but I'm cool with it. The Tigers have a much better pitching staff but the Twins have some crazy momentum and that can be a scary thing. I'd almost prefer to see them take on Verlander and the Tigers than face the Twins. The Yanks have beaten teams with tough pitchers before, namely Johan Santana and the Twins. The pitchers don't scare me as much as the momentum does. Am I the only one who's a little scared of the Twins? And when I say "little" I mean little. I think the Yanks will take care of business regardless of who they're playing and how hot they are. Bring it on.

The game itself couldn't have gone any better. It lasted 12 innings. The Twins used 8 pitchers, including Joe Nathan for 5 outs. They're definitely going to be a little tired come 6pm tomorrow. I don't think they'll get to their hotel rooms until sometime tomorrow AM. I'm thinking maybe around 5am. Now factor in the time zone change. Yeah, they'll be a little tired. Advantage Yankees.

I just got a text alert that the Twins starter tomorrow is Brian Duensing. OK, I'll admit it. I've never heard the name Brian Duensing. I pulled up his stats and he's a rookie LHP with 84 innings under his belt and tomorrow will be his 10th career start. His numbers are decent, 3.64 ERA with a 1.37 WHIP. I don't think he'll be much of a match for the Yankees though. They've done much better against pitchers they've never faced before. I do hope that they put together a game plan. I think they'd be smart to run his pitch count up and get him out of the game as early as possible and make the Twins use their relievers. That would be my plan of attack.

The Yankees still haven't released their ALDS roster though they did make it known that Brian Bruney won't be on it. I'm a little surprised by that. I'll discuss that more tomorrow once the official roster is made public. Right now I'm off to bed. I need to get my rest. If tonight's game is any indication of what's to come, we're in for a bumpy ride. Nothing beats October baseball. Nothing. I love this game.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie