Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Tigers (86-76) @ Twins (86-76), Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 5:07pm **Game Chatter**
Lineups
Detroit Tigers
Curtis Granderson, CF (.248/.324/.454, 3.0 WAR)
Placido Polanco, 2B (.286/.328/.399, 2.4 WAR)
Magglio Ordonez, RF (.309/.376/.422, 1.1 WAR)
Miguel “Slim” Cabrera, 1B (.323/.395/.541, 4.2 WAR)
Carlos Guillen, DH (.245/.340/.423, 0.4 WAR)
Ryan Raburn, LF (.288/.351/.533, 1.8 WAR)
Brandon Inge, 3B (.230/.314/.406, 1.8 WAR)
Gerald Laird, C (.229/.304/.324, 1.2 WAR)
Ramon Santiago, SS (.267/.308/.388, 0.1 WAR)
Total, (.271/.339/.434, 16.0 WAR)
Minnesota Twins
Denard Span, CF (.312/.387/.417, 3.9 WAR)
Orlando Cabrera, SS (.283/.313/.385, 0.2 WAR)
Joe Mauer, C (.364/.442/.586, 6.9 WAR)
Jason Kubel, RF (.300/.369/.535, 2.7 WAR)
Michael Cuddyer, 1B (.276/.342/.520, 1.3 WAR)
Delmon Young, LF (.285/.307/.428, -0.8 WAR)
Jose Morales, DH (.316/.386/.368, 0.0 WAR)
Matt Tolbert, 3B (.228/.288/.306, -0.4 WAR)
Nick Punto, 2B (.228/.326/.285, 0.8 WAR)
Total, (.293/.355/.447, 14.6 WAR)
Win Probability
Tigers: 43.5%, Twins: 56.5%
At this point, I pass the baton to MC in VA for a guest intro.
As we all know, a Major League Baseball season is 162 games long. This year,
however, a couple of American League teams are going to play a 163rd game
for the privilege of being a massive underdog in the upcoming Division
Series against the Yankees. The Twins and Tigers square off for the AL
Central crown at 5:07 PM today. Young Rick Porcello, pride of Seton Hall
Prep in West Orange, NJ goes for the Tigers. In case you haven’t heard,
he’s way better than Joba Chamberlain—maybe even almost good enough
to be the last guy in the Red Sox bullpen. The Twins will counter with
Scott Baker, who is practically an ace when you think about the rest of
Minnesota’s starters.
Now, since the Yankees are an unstoppable juggernaut, the importance of
this game is fairly limited. It’s not even clear that anyone will show up
to the Metrodome, considering that both of the Twin Cities are still hung
over from last night’s Brett Farvray show. Perhaps this game has some
importance to Rosangel Cabrera, since her husband will get to spend a few
more days out of town if the Tigers win. And maybe to Joe Mauer, who gets
an unfair extra opportunity to pad his MVP stats. And possibly to Justin
Verlander, who (according to Peter Gammons) will pitch two shutout innings
in relief tonight to win his 20th game. Loathe as I am to go along with
anything Gammo says, I could live with that outcome as long as the innings
in question are the 28th and 29th.
I might have had more to say if SG had gotten around to posting the Twins
half of his “Twins or Tigers?” analysis sooner (editor : will be posted later if necessary). At least this game
gives us a few hours to argue about which team would be more infuriating to
lose to. Other than that, whatever.
Thanks MC.
I don’t have a rooting interest in this game, as I don’t see a clear advantage for the Yankees in facing one team or the other. I do root for a 30 inning marathon that requires both teams to use every single pitcher on the roster.
Go extra innings!
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