2006 Playoffs: Twins vs A's

[Lynch]

Somehow all the chips fell just right for our Twins and they managed to win themselves another AL Central title. Congrats to the Twins. Since we have plenty of other space to talk about how they got there and what they had to overcome to get to the division title, let's look forward in this thread and look at the best-of-5 series with Oakland starting up this Tuesday.


Game 1 - Tue Oct 3 (1pm ET) : Santana (19-6, 2.77 ERA) vs Zito (16-10, 3.83 ERA)
Game 2 - Wed Oct 4 (1pm ET) : Bonser (7-6, 4.22 ERA) vs Haren (14-13, 4.12 ERA)
Game 3 - Fri Oct 6 (4pm ET) :
Game 4 - Sat Oct 7 - TBD
Game 5 - Sun Oct 8 - TBD


I love winning the division because Santana is normally so dominant at home and to start out this series at home with him on the mound is a good feeling. I'm still not completely confident on Bonser, but compared to Garza and Baker and Silva, this is the best way to start out the series.


Anyway, share your thoughts

[Lynch]

Oh, one more thing. Has anyone heard anything around the campfire whether or not Radke will be throwing in this series? I've looked around and don't really even see much speculation that he will be.

Any info would be appreciated on this one.

[Porter]

I think he might come out the bullpen.

[catman]

I would say that Radke will likely start rather than Garza. Have Garza in the pen for his start to take over in the 4th if necessary. Radke pitches well in Oakland.
Then, if necessary, Silva takes the ball in game 4.

[Molina00]

If Santana can be in a position to start 2 game then the Twins have a shot at winning. Otherwise, their rotation does not stack up well enough against the Oakland staff to pull it off. Bonser seems to have put together a decent season, but it still doesn't say a whole lot about the rotation when he is the game 2 starter.

All I can say is good luck against the Zito/Haren/Harden trio.

[Providence A's]

I'm almost positive that the A's rotation is Zito, Loaiza, Harden, Haren, and then Zito for game 5. I don't know why it doesn't say that on the A's site because that's what they said it would be and other sites have it listed that way.

[Lynch]

ESPN says Loaiza in game 2. Yahoo sports says Haren. CBS sportsline shows Loaiza in game 2 as well. Who the hell knows.


Also, ESPN is slotting Radke in for game 3 and doesn't have anyone for Oakland for game 3.

[Lynch]

Some other stats to look at (even though they mean nothing in the post season).
Regular season stats comparisons between the Twins and the A's:

Team	Batting	Opp Avg	ERA
Twins	.287	.267	3.95
A's	.260	.272	4.21

Twins are up in all three categories in the regular season. Interesting actually to
see the Twins team batting avg as high as it is, considering they've been one of
the worst offensive teams in the league for the past few years.

[catman]

I also found it interesting to see the Twins leading the majors in team BA. It just doesn't seem possible that a team that struggled to get hits during April and May would come back as strong as they did. I guess changing the line-up helped a bit.
The A's have always been a good 2nd half team. Not sure why, but there it is.
The Twins were 5-1 against the A's at the Dome this year and 1-3 in Oakland. I do like their chances with home-field advantage.

[Providence A's]

Some other stats to look at (even though they mean nothing in the post season).
Regular season stats comparisons between the Twins and the A's:

Team	Batting	Opp Avg	ERA
Twins	.287	.267	3.95
A's	.260	.272	4.21

Twins are up in all three categories in the regular season. Interesting actually to
see the Twins team batting avg as high as it is, considering they've been one of
the worst offensive teams in the league for the past few years.

the ERA is somewhat misleading as the Twins bullpen's extremely low ERA brings that down significantly...the A's starters had a better ERA than the Twins starters. And the A's starters are in better shape this series. After Santana, you guys are in trouble as far as you don't really know what to expect from Radke/Silva/Garza/Bonser

also, the BA is a little misleading...the teams with 7th and 8th in scoring runs, so that means they're about even as that's the ultimate goal...scoring runs.

[Lynch]

the ERA is somewhat misleading as the Twins bullpen's extremely low ERA brings that down significantly...the A's starters had a better ERA than the Twins starters.

I don't think any of it is misleading. It's pretty black and white. Starters start the game and the bullpen finishes the game. It's all relavant. If you want to talk about starters, the A's starters in the month of September had a combined ERA of 6.00. If not for some hot bats, the losses would have been higher for the A's.

Anyway, as I said, none of those stats matter in the playoffs. Was just pointing them out.

[Lynch]

BTW: I'll comment on the game later as I dont have time to do a writeup right now.


I'm sad/disappointed. Twins bats sucked to go with some damn fine pitching by Zito.

[mntwinsfan]

yeah that is true. Just got home and taped the game. Santana did fine today. The Twins did not hit the ball. It is fine, Game 2 Twins will win I dont care if they put Garza on the mound, there is no way we go down 0 - 2.

Hey at least is was a good game and no blow out. Game two is the must WIN GAME for the Twins.

[Providence A's]

I believe Bonser is pitching tomorrow, not Garza, against Loaiza. I think Garza is scheduled for Saturday against Harden if necessary. Haren against Radke on Friday.

[Lynch]

Silva is slotted for game 4 and Santana back for game 5 (if there is one).