I realize that everyone is going to pound the Yanks tonight like a high school whore, but I like the Twins. Radke is a seasoned pitcher who will not give up more then 3 runs or so. He has been in this situation before as everyone knows, so nerves will not come into play. I believe Lieber is the one who will be nervous. He is no postseason horse like Pettite, and I believe he pitches shaky tonight. I strongly believe the Twins sweep this series and leave the Yanks scratching their heads about why they ditched Rocket and Pettite. This is the year of the Twins.
Yanks/Twins Game 2
- Thread starter Dizzayton
- Start date
just a note. Radke is more of a changeup guy than Lieber. WIth the changeup being such a touch/feel pitch he might have problems with it being a litte chilly in yankee stadium. Twins are used to the 75 degree temp in minny. Look at santana last night. People were actually getting wood on him, bc his change is such a touch pitch. (werid bc he didn't have his best stuff and still didn't allow a run) I think the Yanks have an edge here with the weather and how radke is going to attack the yanks. I am going to value my local line before i make a decision though. maybe over.anyways gl on your side 2night.
2muchchalk, interesting you brought up the point about throwing the changeup in cool weather. I just got done reading an article about it in today's paper. Santana couldn't throw it last night.
Posted on Wed, Oct. 06, 2004
Santana changes up the plan
TOM POWERS
NEW YORK
Johan Santana's first changeup was in the dirt. His second one was a foot wide.
You could see the quizzical look on his face. "What the?" He blew on his hand. He tried again a little while later. It was a mile off the plate.
There was no getting around it. Santana, whose changeup made batters look silly all summer, couldn't find his out pitch in Game 1. During warmups between innings, he tried to get a feel for it. Every so often, he'd try another one.
Nothing. Zippo. It was as if the pitch never existed. Especially over the first three or four innings.
"He said it was the cold and he couldn't get a feel for it," pitching coach Rick Anderson said. "But that's what he's done all year. Sometimes he has no changeup and he goes with slider and fastball. Sometimes his slider is off and he goes with his change and fastball."
Tuesday, his change was off and his slider was iffy. He went with his fastball and his courage.
The Yankees never had a chance.
"Today, he figured out that he didn't have a great feel for his change," Anderson said. "Sometimes he pushed underneath his slider, too. He mostly just went with fastballs."
Santana basically reared back and threw his fastball as hard as he could for as long as he could. Pop, pop, pop. Catcher Henry Blanco's glove sizzled.
"All I know is that these guys are good," Santana said of the Yankees. "You have to be careful. You make a mistake, and you are going to have to pay for it.
"I was able to make the right pitch at the right time."
Usually, the right pitch was a fastball.
The Yankees got some hits but couldn't put anything together. Santana still threw his changeup, even though it wasn't going over the plate. Basically, it was something for the Yankees to think about.
However, it appeared that the Yankees weren't doing much thinking. Mostly, they were hacking at the first pitch. And several of the hitters who didn't swing at the first pitch clearly were waiting for the changeup, even though Santana couldn't get it over. Those were the ones who watched fastballs sail past for strikes.
Sometimes, you have to throw the scouting reports in the trash and make adjustments. No changeup? Maybe I shouldn't look for one. Duh! Yet this logic escaped several of the Yankees.
Santana battled. The man who gave up 14 hits during the entire month of July gave up nine in seven innings Tuesday. Yet the Yankees never scored off him.
"When he needed to get a ground ball, he certainly got one," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
After seven shutout innings, Blanco went up to manager Ron Gardenhire in the dugout and said: "Skip, I think that's enough."
Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan finished off the shutout.
In his seven innings, Santana gave up nine hits, walked a batter and hit a batter. He struck out five, a relatively low total for him.
"A lot of people expect me to get strikeouts," said Santana. "But it is all about throwing the right pitch at the right time. I know my teammates can make some plays. Tonight, we proved what the Minnesota Twins are all about."
The Twins did everything right behind their starter. Shannon Stewart made a leaping catch. Torii Hunter threw a man out at the plate. As Bernie Williams fanned, Blanco whipped the ball to third to catch Alex Rodriguez trying to steal.
Cristian Guzman started two double plays in the field behind Santana. He started another one behind Juan Rincon in the eighth. Hunter went up the wall to make a catch for Rincon.
All in all, it was vintage Twins baseball.
I've seen Santana much more dominating. There are nights when he has all three pitches working and makes it look easy. Tuesday, he parlayed a good fastball and determination into a critical victory.
It's like former manager Tom Kelly used to say after one of his marginal pitchers was cuffed around: "Anybody can pitch if he has great stuff."
Not many can when they are having an off night.
"It is a great feeling to beat the New York Yankees," Santana said. "It's also good for the team. Now we know we have a chance to go home and win."
Imagine if he has two pitches working next time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.
Posted on Wed, Oct. 06, 2004
Santana changes up the plan
TOM POWERS
NEW YORK
Johan Santana's first changeup was in the dirt. His second one was a foot wide.
You could see the quizzical look on his face. "What the?" He blew on his hand. He tried again a little while later. It was a mile off the plate.
There was no getting around it. Santana, whose changeup made batters look silly all summer, couldn't find his out pitch in Game 1. During warmups between innings, he tried to get a feel for it. Every so often, he'd try another one.
Nothing. Zippo. It was as if the pitch never existed. Especially over the first three or four innings.
"He said it was the cold and he couldn't get a feel for it," pitching coach Rick Anderson said. "But that's what he's done all year. Sometimes he has no changeup and he goes with slider and fastball. Sometimes his slider is off and he goes with his change and fastball."
Tuesday, his change was off and his slider was iffy. He went with his fastball and his courage.
The Yankees never had a chance.
"Today, he figured out that he didn't have a great feel for his change," Anderson said. "Sometimes he pushed underneath his slider, too. He mostly just went with fastballs."
Santana basically reared back and threw his fastball as hard as he could for as long as he could. Pop, pop, pop. Catcher Henry Blanco's glove sizzled.
"All I know is that these guys are good," Santana said of the Yankees. "You have to be careful. You make a mistake, and you are going to have to pay for it.
"I was able to make the right pitch at the right time."
Usually, the right pitch was a fastball.
The Yankees got some hits but couldn't put anything together. Santana still threw his changeup, even though it wasn't going over the plate. Basically, it was something for the Yankees to think about.
However, it appeared that the Yankees weren't doing much thinking. Mostly, they were hacking at the first pitch. And several of the hitters who didn't swing at the first pitch clearly were waiting for the changeup, even though Santana couldn't get it over. Those were the ones who watched fastballs sail past for strikes.
Sometimes, you have to throw the scouting reports in the trash and make adjustments. No changeup? Maybe I shouldn't look for one. Duh! Yet this logic escaped several of the Yankees.
Santana battled. The man who gave up 14 hits during the entire month of July gave up nine in seven innings Tuesday. Yet the Yankees never scored off him.
"When he needed to get a ground ball, he certainly got one," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
After seven shutout innings, Blanco went up to manager Ron Gardenhire in the dugout and said: "Skip, I think that's enough."
Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan finished off the shutout.
In his seven innings, Santana gave up nine hits, walked a batter and hit a batter. He struck out five, a relatively low total for him.
"A lot of people expect me to get strikeouts," said Santana. "But it is all about throwing the right pitch at the right time. I know my teammates can make some plays. Tonight, we proved what the Minnesota Twins are all about."
The Twins did everything right behind their starter. Shannon Stewart made a leaping catch. Torii Hunter threw a man out at the plate. As Bernie Williams fanned, Blanco whipped the ball to third to catch Alex Rodriguez trying to steal.
Cristian Guzman started two double plays in the field behind Santana. He started another one behind Juan Rincon in the eighth. Hunter went up the wall to make a catch for Rincon.
All in all, it was vintage Twins baseball.
I've seen Santana much more dominating. There are nights when he has all three pitches working and makes it look easy. Tuesday, he parlayed a good fastball and determination into a critical victory.
It's like former manager Tom Kelly used to say after one of his marginal pitchers was cuffed around: "Anybody can pitch if he has great stuff."
Not many can when they are having an off night.
"It is a great feeling to beat the New York Yankees," Santana said. "It's also good for the team. Now we know we have a chance to go home and win."
Imagine if he has two pitches working next time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.
