Los Yanquis estan en Minneapolis, si?
Posted by SBG on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 5:12 am
The New York Yankees come to town tonight for a three game series. That's not why they call it Good Friday, by the way.
There's no Scrubini Fixation in New York. They have the game's highest paid, and best, player at third. They have the second highest paid player at shortstop. They have, I believe, the fifth highest player in the game at third. In fact, the Yankees have five players who each make more than the entire Florida Marlins roster.
After a slow start, New York has won four straight (three against the Royals), and you don't have to be an uber-historian to know that the Twins have had their problems with the Yankees over the last several years. The Twins split their regular season series with the Yankees last year, 3-3 and were 2-4 against them in 2004. However, they were a combined 0-13 against the Yankees in 2002 and 2003. Then there's the matter of those two playoff series...
Still, this is a new year and the Twins, after tonight's Scott Baker start, offer Johan Santana and Brad Radke. Meanwhile, the Yankees counter with Mike Mussina, Jaret Wright, and Chien-Ming Wang. Wright is no great shakes and Wang, who was reportedly (at least right here) part of a potential off season Hunter deal, has gotten off to a pedestrian start.
Mussina has traditionally been a Twins killer, but the hometown boys have had more success against him of late. Last year, he had one start against the Twins, allowing six runs in six innings pitched in a loss, including two home runs. In two starts in 2004, he allowed twelve hits and seven runs in 10.0 innings. Plus, the Twins were 2-0 in the playoffs in 2003-04 against Mussina (their only wins). So, the mystique may be gone and he does owe us a few more.
I'll not be in town, as Lucy and I are heading to SBGville for Easter, so I'll miss my annual dinner with the shortstop. Nevertheless, love 'em or (more probably) hate 'em, it's always an event when the Bombers are in town.
Have a good weekend. Come back on Saturday for the second 360 degrees. Hint, the second time around looks a teeny tiny bit better than the first. We'll see what happens tonight.
Oh, and one more thing. What is it with Dan Barreiro? I've found him to be absolutely unlistenable. He rags on KG. He rags on Mauer and Morneau. Now, KFAN is running a promo on his show where he goes into a rant about Francisco Liriano, ridiculing people who are wondering when he might be going into the rotation. Dan, here's why people are excited about this guy: in 6 2/3 innings he's allowed five hits, no walks, and has 12 Ks. He throws 98 MPH.
Dan, here's why I'm not excited about you. You rip the best athlete in this town's history (KG), you rag on Mauer for not getting enough RBIs (even though he's hitting .322/.428/.483/.911 with runners in scoring position, lifetime), and now you are ridiculing people who are excited about Liriano.
Loading ...
SBG, I agree 100% about Barreiro...I listen to him up here and I can hardly listen for 5 minutes to the guy. He wants KG out of here...can't play the 4th quarter I guess. And with Mauer, I think he will stick to his guns no matter how well Mauer does...and Morneau.
Anyways, have a great Easter in SBGville. Say hi to Beaner if you see him.