Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Twins Win Pivotal Game 1
I'm not sure I would describe Johan Santana's performance tonight against the Yankees as strong, but it was certainly effective, and ultimately that's all that matters. The breaks that the Yankees always seem to manufacture never materialized tonight, as Santana threw a deceptively low total of 93 pitches in shutting out the Yankees through 7 innings before giving way to Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan in the 8th and 9th.
New York certainly had their chances, then watched them snatched away one by one as the game progressed. Inning-ending strike-'em-out-throw-'em-outs. Outfield assists at the plate. Rockets directly to short that started inning-ending 6-4-3's. Unbelievable catches at the wall. A ball missing by a whisker of being a down-the-line homer. Also worth noting is that the Yanks managed nine hits in seven innings off of Santana, a guy who gave up 14 hits in July.
This sets up another pivotal game, Game 2, tomorrow night. The Yankees had exactly the right game plan against Santana -- jump on the first pitch if it was there and make him get his offspeed stuff over the plate. Look for a similar strategy against Brad Radke. If Radke has better command than Santana it could mark a swift exit from the playoffs this year for New York, and at the very least would allow Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire the luxury of pitching Santana on full rest Sunday in Game 5. If not, the Yankees will even up the series and head to Minnesota with a series that's up-for-grabs.
posted by Tom Renbarger 9:59 PM
