And So It Ends
I don't mind that the Twins lost this series so much as I mind how they did so, looking like a team that just didn't belong in the playoffs. Sadly, the offense pretty much disappeared, and what little offense was put up was hamstrung by bad decisions with the bat and on the basepaths. This was not the Twins team that won the AL Central this year. Somehow, that team got left behind when the regular season ended.
The only explanation I have for how the Twins played in this series is that they were nervous and almost to a man tried to do to much. I had planned on posting two lists when the Twins season ended, one a "5 Best Things about the Playoffs" list and one a "5 Worst Things about the Playoffs" list. Unfortunately, there weren't 5 good things in this series overall, and talking about the 5 worst things would feel like piling on. Instead, I'll limit myself to 3 in each category:
Three Best Things
1.) Justin Morneau's hitting
2.) Johan Santana in Game 1
3.) Rondell White at the plate (and can you tell I'm already desperate?)
Three Worst Things
1.) Decision-making, by virtually everyone
2.) What happened to the defense?
3.) Luis Castillo, Nick Punto, and Jason Tyner - piranhas no more
Before I finish up this post, I want to mention that, had the Twins survived Game 3, they would NOT have gone with Johan Santana in Game 4. This is, sadly, not because Ron Gardenhire realized that I was right about using Santana in Game 5, but because Santana was too sore to be ready to go in Game 4. Nevertheless, this would have been the right decision, in my mind. Sadly, we won't have the opportunity to know whether or not I was right about keeping Santana for Game 5, or whether the commentators on my blog (who uniformly disagreed with me) were right about starting him in Game 4. I was looking forward to that argument, but it's a casualty of a poor post-season.
And so, all of my energy and attention goes towards seeing the Yankees lose, preferably as soon as possible. If that means the Tigers make my American League picks completely wrong, then that's the way it has to be. I'll consider this post-season a success so long as the Yankees don't win the title. Go Tigers!
The only explanation I have for how the Twins played in this series is that they were nervous and almost to a man tried to do to much. I had planned on posting two lists when the Twins season ended, one a "5 Best Things about the Playoffs" list and one a "5 Worst Things about the Playoffs" list. Unfortunately, there weren't 5 good things in this series overall, and talking about the 5 worst things would feel like piling on. Instead, I'll limit myself to 3 in each category:
Three Best Things
1.) Justin Morneau's hitting
2.) Johan Santana in Game 1
3.) Rondell White at the plate (and can you tell I'm already desperate?)
Three Worst Things
1.) Decision-making, by virtually everyone
2.) What happened to the defense?
3.) Luis Castillo, Nick Punto, and Jason Tyner - piranhas no more
Before I finish up this post, I want to mention that, had the Twins survived Game 3, they would NOT have gone with Johan Santana in Game 4. This is, sadly, not because Ron Gardenhire realized that I was right about using Santana in Game 5, but because Santana was too sore to be ready to go in Game 4. Nevertheless, this would have been the right decision, in my mind. Sadly, we won't have the opportunity to know whether or not I was right about keeping Santana for Game 5, or whether the commentators on my blog (who uniformly disagreed with me) were right about starting him in Game 4. I was looking forward to that argument, but it's a casualty of a poor post-season.
And so, all of my energy and attention goes towards seeing the Yankees lose, preferably as soon as possible. If that means the Tigers make my American League picks completely wrong, then that's the way it has to be. I'll consider this post-season a success so long as the Yankees don't win the title. Go Tigers!
posted by JST @ Friday, October 06, 2006
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home