Nightly Notes
Today set up perfectly to give baseball fans some very interesting things to watch tomorrow, so despite the Twins loss to the BoSox, I'm happy. Just as a note, my College Football Top 25 post is located just below this post, so check it out if you're a college football fan. Now, here are my thoughts on the day that was -- and what I'll be hoping for tomorrow:
1.) I'll start, as always, with the Twins -- and how good was it to see Joe Mauer go 3-for-4 with a dinger in what could be his last action of the season? I'm hoping that Mauer will be fine next year, and will put together a great season -- and this game nicely reminded us what he's capable of. You know you're a pretty good catcher when a season batting average of .293 is a disappointment!
2.) Rondell White may have played his last game as a Major Leaguer tonight, depending on what Gardy's lineup looks like tomorrow. If so, he ended it in style with a homerun against Tim Wakefield. He's been a disappointment as a Twin, but he seems like a great guy and I wish him well as he heads into retirement.
3.) Nick Blackburn had a rough couple of games, allowing 8 earned runs in his last 3 innings of work. Overall, there wasn't a lot positive out of Blackburn in his first Major League stint, but at least he made his debut. He won't start 2008 with the Twins, but there's a reasonable chance we'll see him again at some point next year -- and I would guess he won't put up a 7.71 ERA when he comes back.
4.) Now, onto the playoffs. Thanks to the Brewers, there will be quite a bit of drama tomorrow. If the Padres lose tomorrow and the Rockies, Mets, and Phillies all win, there will be a four way tie between those teams for the Wild Card, with the Mets and Phillies being tied for the NL East title. According to Jayson Stark, the possibilities essentially would look like this:
- On Monday, the Phillies and Mets would have a one-game playoff to determine the winner of the NL West. A few years ago, the loser of that game would have been eliminated from Wild Card contention, because the game was counted as a 163rd regular season game, and the loser would have had a slightly lower winning percentage, breaking the Wild Card tie in favor of the idle team. No longer, however -- MLB decided that if you finished the 162nd game in a tie, you shouldn't lose your chance at the Wild Card. That means the playoff silliness would just be beginning.
- Afterwards, there would be some sort of crazy three-team playoff that apparently would involve the Rockies (by virtue of head-to-head records) deciding whether they wanted to play two road games or one home game. Trust me, this scenario is bizarre -- so I'd love it. I'm not going to go into details here (because frankly, I'm not sure I understand them), but it sure would be a lot of fun! This is the scenario I'm hoping for, because it would be chaos. Hopefully you have a comfy chair and lots of time to watch things unfold tomorrow afternoon!
1.) I'll start, as always, with the Twins -- and how good was it to see Joe Mauer go 3-for-4 with a dinger in what could be his last action of the season? I'm hoping that Mauer will be fine next year, and will put together a great season -- and this game nicely reminded us what he's capable of. You know you're a pretty good catcher when a season batting average of .293 is a disappointment!
2.) Rondell White may have played his last game as a Major Leaguer tonight, depending on what Gardy's lineup looks like tomorrow. If so, he ended it in style with a homerun against Tim Wakefield. He's been a disappointment as a Twin, but he seems like a great guy and I wish him well as he heads into retirement.
3.) Nick Blackburn had a rough couple of games, allowing 8 earned runs in his last 3 innings of work. Overall, there wasn't a lot positive out of Blackburn in his first Major League stint, but at least he made his debut. He won't start 2008 with the Twins, but there's a reasonable chance we'll see him again at some point next year -- and I would guess he won't put up a 7.71 ERA when he comes back.
4.) Now, onto the playoffs. Thanks to the Brewers, there will be quite a bit of drama tomorrow. If the Padres lose tomorrow and the Rockies, Mets, and Phillies all win, there will be a four way tie between those teams for the Wild Card, with the Mets and Phillies being tied for the NL East title. According to Jayson Stark, the possibilities essentially would look like this:
- On Monday, the Phillies and Mets would have a one-game playoff to determine the winner of the NL West. A few years ago, the loser of that game would have been eliminated from Wild Card contention, because the game was counted as a 163rd regular season game, and the loser would have had a slightly lower winning percentage, breaking the Wild Card tie in favor of the idle team. No longer, however -- MLB decided that if you finished the 162nd game in a tie, you shouldn't lose your chance at the Wild Card. That means the playoff silliness would just be beginning.
- Afterwards, there would be some sort of crazy three-team playoff that apparently would involve the Rockies (by virtue of head-to-head records) deciding whether they wanted to play two road games or one home game. Trust me, this scenario is bizarre -- so I'd love it. I'm not going to go into details here (because frankly, I'm not sure I understand them), but it sure would be a lot of fun! This is the scenario I'm hoping for, because it would be chaos. Hopefully you have a comfy chair and lots of time to watch things unfold tomorrow afternoon!
Labels: Nightly Notes
posted by JST @ Saturday, September 29, 2007
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