For a multitude of reasons, last night's game was absolutely one of the worst I can remember watching. Joe Nathan chokes away a two-run ninth inning lead, Carlos Gomez makes an unbelievably stupid baserunning error, the offense strands 17 baserunners, and an umpire makes one of the most inexcusably awful calls I have ever seen in a baseball game.
The Twins had every chance to sneak out of New York with a win, but they continually threw away opportunities, repeatedly handing breaks to a team that already holds just about every imaginable advantage in this playoff series.
As I tweeted in the wake of this disheartening loss: "Tuesday's game reminded me of everything I love about baseball. This series is reminding me of everything I hate about it."
All the Twins can do now is regroup and hope to win one back in their home park on Sunday. That won't be easy, as I'm sure this loss stings worse than any most of these guys have experienced.
I'll finish by repeating the front-page headline on FoxSports.com after the game, which accompanied a photo of Mark Teixeira: "Simply Clutch." Yeah, that must be it.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
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7 comments:
Joe Nathan should be out the door along with Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Alexi Casilla, Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez next year. Those guys should never play a game at Target Field as Minnesota Twins.
Nathan is O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D. It's hilarious that some people want to put him in the same sentence as Mariano Rivera and Jonathan Papelbon. He is not, and he never will be.
He is a mediocre closer at best. 47 saves are inflated just like Francisco Rodriguez's saves are from last year. What good does it do when Nathan can't close against elite teams? Ever notice he fails against New York and the Angels.
Nathan was great at one time, but those days are over. His ERA is up to 6 in September the last two years. He nibbles more often than not. I never see him throw the high heat anymore, and it was painfully obvious last night.
Let Jon Rauch be the closer next year. He can't be worst than than our overrated closer.
Very well put-Tuesday reminded me why I like the game, but last night reminded me everything I hate as well. Add in the TBS announcing and it was unbearable. They referred to Arod's hit in the 6th as Reggie Jacksonish? Come on.
I've always thought Nathan had a Calvin Schiraldi demeanor on the mound, but not scoring in the 11th was inexcusable.
The nutjobs really come out of the woodwork. Nathan had a fine year and its not just due to the 47 saves. He let opposing batter hit .167, era in the low 2s and on and on, but it doesn't matter cause he had a bad outing and some people got mad. He needs to get tougher in these type experiences for sure, but people also need to get a little bit of a grip.
Nathan has never been a guy that is lights out 1-2-3, but in fairness, VERY few guys are, which is amazing to me why teams feel like they have to designate a closer.
And the automatic insertion of a "closer" at the start of the 9th inning is completely mindless. Why do managers feel they HAVE to conform to this formula? I understand to get the save in the regular season, but saves are a completely overrated stat and useless in the post-season. Very few pitchers in history have made 9 inning games 8 innings and while Nathan is very good, he is not one of those very few.
Guerrier had very good stuff last night and had a 1-2-3 inning--leave him in. Managers have to think differently---else a third grader could manage a team with the given formulas. When something is working (against the Yanks especially), go with it. I simply couldn't believe they didnt leave that kid in.
Whereas I wouldn't put Nathan on the scrap heap, I also wouldn't let him off the hook with "he had a bad night". These games are what it's all about-and that's twice against the Yanks out of two in the postseason.
Yes the Twins were horrible and had many chances to win it but come on that call by the umpire in my opinion cost them the game. Just say Mauer gets that call and ends up with a double and then those bcak to back singles and score a run there. Everybody knows that the pitcher will definitely feel rattled after that and possibly make a mistake and throw a bad pitch, it has happened many times this year. In the playoffs and these unique situations we need some sort of review because it is inexcusable for an umpire to make a wrong call and cost a hard playing team a chance at advanicng in the playoffs.
I haven't been this upset about a single sports game since the Vikings lost to the Falcons in the 1999 NFC Championship game ('98 season). Hopefully Tom Powers is right, that the incentive to beat this team (badly) will put the Twins over the top back in the friendly confines of the ThunderDome, and we can force it back and steal game 5 there. Improbable, but you just can't stop believing in this team.
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