Friday, October 06, 2006

ALDS Game 2: Oakland 5, Twins 2

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.

Torii Hunter's outfield misplay of a single by Mark Kotsay turned into an inside the park home run that set the momentum clearly in the A's favor. Boof pitched 6 innings and gave up only 2 runs in another great outing by a Twins starter. Morneau and Cuddyer hit back to back homeruns in the 6th to tie the game. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and the Twins are heading to Oakland down 2-0.

Torii's play is going to be his "Buckner" moment. And I'm not sure the Twins are going to be able to recover. But it's more than just that play. Their offense has been stagnant. Three of their four runs have been solo homeruns. They are 0-14 with runners in scoring position. The offense has just completely shut down.

Punto continues to play good 3B, making another great catch that I first thought was a replay of the one he made in game 1. However, his batting and (first) base running leave something to be desired. He hasn't been able to do much with the bat lately, of course, neither have a lot of the Twins. When I hear of people saying they want a "real" 3rd baseman and move Punto to 2nd, I just think "Why?" Why fix what ain't broken. Punto is fine at 3rd. It's batting 2nd that I'd question at this point.

The biggest question mark for the Twins coming in was starting pitching. With only Johan, a rookie, and two shaky veterans, nobody thought their starters would be worth a darn. However, the offense, defense and bullpen, all considered strengths, have let the Twins down this series.

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