First the playoffs. My favorite aspect of the NHL playoffs is overtime, the longer the game the better. The fact that a team that has been outplayed for the majority of a game, can still come away with the win. An excellent example of this is the Canucks-Ducks game from Thursday night. The Ducks held almost a 2-to-1 shot adavantage, but they were going to overtime and one break by the Canucks can send the series back to Vancouver for Game 6. Alas, The Ducks won in the second overtime. The longer the overtime, the better as each save extends the game.
However, as soon as a team scores, it is always bittersweet, mostly because it means the game is over and I have to wait another day for the next game. Oh well, at least I get to watch bonus hockey and it doesn't end in a shootout like in soccer or regular season hockey.
I don't know what this says about me.
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Now onto the Twins. Losing 2 of 3 to the Devil Rays and dropping the season series. How pathetic is that. Joe Nathan looks human, especially against the D-Rays, the only team he has given up an earned run to this young season. That doesn't bode well for the rest of the season, especially with the Red Sox and White Sox coming in the next two series.I have two underachievers from the last series: Jesse Crain and Joe Mauer.
First Mauer, like TrulyBrilliant said, he can't hit with guys on base. Let's recap some at-bats from the last 2 games. He had 1 RBI in the Wednesday game when he came up with the bases loaded and grounded into a force out. Thursday night was worse, striking out with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth and grounding out with the bases loaded and 2 out in the 8th, down one run. WTF? I checked out his splits from this season and his numbers are actually pretty good with guys on, with 14 RBIs so far this season, not too bad. Maybe it's just a stretch of rolling balls to the middle infielders, but he's got to start driving the ball.
Now Jesse Crain. He's been awful in his last three or four appearances including giving up a homer to lead off the 8th after the Twins rallied to get within one in the top half of the inning. He can't get anyone out when it counts and has become the most unreliable pitcher on the staff and unlike Mauer, I don't see him turning it around. Crain, Juan Rincon and Matt Guerrier, don't inspire a lot of confidence in me.
2 comments:
Well it looks like Mauer has an injury and that could explain something. If his legs were all messed up and no one knew about it, it would account for his inability to drive the ball. Crain's at least throwing better the past two games, but man this team is in trouble.
too many pirahnas
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