Yankees sweep the Twins in the best of five series...I really didn't want to write anything about this since it was such a depressing performance by our ball club. Unfortunately, I feel like I have to though. Here's what I took away from watching all three games:
* TBS sucks. Why do you have TWO former pitchers filling ONE role as the "baseball analyst" on your broadcast team? Two "analysts" can work at times...but, you need different perspectives. Nothing worse than everybody in the booth agreeing with each other...the "Yes" man is the role for the play-by-play man.
* On the way home from work before game one of the series...I heard Dan Gladden ask Gardy about the game plan. Gardy mentions about having to "pitch inside" on the Yankees. I call bullshit. No one pitched inside the whole series. Every pitcher tried to tickle the outside corner on virtually every pitch. Thome was brushed back once and beaned another time in two different at bats (early in Game 1 by C.C.)...nobody did anything other than make the Yankees even more comfortable at the plate by only working the outside half of the plate.
* Fans want to criticize and put blame on Gardy. How about Joe Mauer? This guy is going to eat up a sizable chunk of our payroll starting next year (limits who we can and can't sign to help this club) and he's going to give us lame duck post season performances such as this year...and on top of it...he won't even speak to the media (he leaves that to Cuddyer) on a regular basis.
* Hunter Wendelstedt III...what are you doing? The Pavano pitch was strike three to Berkman. You missed plenty of other calls (balls and strikes) with your inconsistent strike zone that night too, but the real question is how do you throw out a manager in a PLAYOFF SERIES stating that fact to you in a close game. Gardy probably had some choice words for you, but he didn't throw a tantrum until you booted him from the game. Ever since I saw Doug Harvey get into the Hall of Fame this year (2010), I've seen more and more umpires take even less criticism.
Memo to Gardy: If you plan to get ejected from games, please line up a more competent fill-in manager than Scott Ullger. I had to watch his managing prowess in Detroit for 1 1/2 games in September...and it was B R U T A L, brutal.
* I read another blog (Down With Goldy)...he thinks the Twins should go and get Carl Crawford and either trade Young/Kubel and one of our mediocre pitchers for whatever we can get for them. I don't think it'll happen, but I'm game. This team won a lot of games this year, but this roster still needs a major overhaul. We're stuck in between a power team (with actually no to minimal power) and a speed team (with no speed other than Span and reserves). The current roster is great compared to years past...but, we still need upgrades all over the field. Is Span a true center fielder or should he be moved to a corner? Should Kubel/Young even own gloves? Do we even have a true ace on the staff? Are Hudson and Hardy worth keeping after average years at best? Will Valencia have a sophomore slump? Does Morneau have a headache this BIG? Is Mauer ever going to be clutch?
* I really liked our bullpen before the playoffs started. I thought Gardy would use it early and often because of our depth, and the lack of an ace on the starting staff. He didn't (until the Game 3 mismatch)...and now that strong bullpen will evaporate (Fuentes, Rauch, Crain or Guerrier) in the off season. I can't believe I just wrote "strong bullpen" and had "Crain" attached to that point.
SBG
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