Game Three - Yankees 6, Twins 1 - Series is officially over
Well, I'd say Game Three was the worst for the the Twins. Just one run (coming in the eighth inning) and seven total hits for the night in their last game of the 2010 season. Just an abysmal effort. Fortunately for me, at this point of the series I was already a bit past the bitter station, and I had moved on to the "over it" station on the postseason train.
Hitting was once again the biggest problem. The regular lineup for the Twins made Yankees starter Phil Hughes look like a Cy Young candidate. He threw perfectly the first time through the lineup, and faced the minimum through four (after Denard Span's lead-off single was quickly negated by Orlando Hudson's double-play ball).
It was just depressing. The Twins were consistently swinging and missing on 91, 92 mph pitches. I'm not a huge expert when it comes to pitching, but I didn't feel like those pitches and their speeds were insurmountable. I mean, it wasn't like the guy was throwing 99-mph heat up there.
You're major league hitters, make some contact with the baseball, preferably something that makes it out of the infield.
Total Twins hit count: 7. LOB (left on base) count: 7.
On the pitching side for the Twins, young Brian Duensing failed to make it through the fourth inning. But you know, the hitting for the Twins was so bad, I really don't hold him responsible. It's ironic though because he seemed to take the loss pretty hard, as did Carl Pavano in Game Two.
When the Twins finally got their one run in the eighth, with a couple of hits, it was very much too little, too late. You can't wait until the end of the game to start putting runs on the board, especially in New York. There was something one of the TBS announcers said that stuck with me, saying Twins hitters were "due."
Yeah, they're all "due," but they're not "dueing" anything.
At one point of frustration with the Twins lineup, I suggested mixing it up. Why not swap out players for the three utility infielders on the postseason roster, Alexi Casilla, Nick Punto, Matt Tolbert, and outfielder Jason Repko.
None of the regulars were getting it done at the plate, so why not try something different? They might surprise you. What have you got to lose? (except the game, series and pride)
Twitter is good therapy
Shifting gears a bit, I'll once again plug how great Twitter and sports fit together. During Game Three I probably Tweeted about 35 times. I even started a hashtag - #postseasondepression as the game got deeper. It's just nice to share your thoughts with Twins fans and the media who cover them.
The loss didn't seem to hurt as bad because half of my attention was really focused on Twitter, rather than hanging on every at-bat during the game. It really is a great outlet to vent, plus get some insider information during the game - like learning that the classy New York faithful were chanting and taunting Span while he was in center field.
Same old story
By game's end, the result was the same. The Twins losing to the Yankees in three straight games, and not really showing up to play their best baseball in any of them. I won't get in to all the statistics, but the numbers in most categories for the Twins when facing the Yanks are not good.
Watching the Yankee celebration was quite telling - because there was no celebration. They shook hands on the field like it was a normal game, because their competition had failed to make the series competitive.
Handshakes said it all.
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