Anaheim /Oakland Best of 3, winner gets Boston...

[Journeyman]

I feel Anaheim at this point , would make a better opponent....The A's are limping badly...struggling again today just to get by the lowly Mariners (3-2)...In fact the Mariners should have won again today , squadering 3 bases loaded situations...Oakland survived with a 9th inning homer....

Matchup this weekend ;

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="20%">B. Colón vs. M. Mulder</TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap align=left width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="58%">http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6393</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap align=left width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="58%">http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6394</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD noWrap width=3><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=yspscores noWrap align=left width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="58%">K. Escobar vs. B. Zito</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap align=left width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="58%">http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6245</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=yspscores noWrap align=left width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="58%">J. Washburn vs. T. Hudson</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap align=left width="20%"></TD><TD class=yspscores noWrap width="58%">http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6245</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>



The pitching match up couldnt be any better really , A's big 3 , vs red hot Anaheim....Does anyone think the A's pitchers will show up?

Mulder has been horrible, no arm left it seems....he's had trouble hitting 90 on the gun....I'd rather see Anaheim (the hotter team get in)

 

[mudbone]

Jman,

I'd have to take Angels. Mulder is faltering badly, Zito has not had a good year and Hudson got rocked in his last start. While Angels pitching is nothing to rave about, the Angels offense will outscore Oakland's.

Put Tejada back in the Oakland lineup and it's a whole different deal.

 

[wilheim]

Not sure it's a done deal as to who plays who. The Yanks play the team (non-wild card) with worse record. All three teams A's, Angels and Twins have 90 wins and 69 losses with 3 games to play. If the Twins win all tree remaining games they will most likely play Boston, if not, I am not sure where the tie breaker falls. The Twins host a 3 game series against the Indians.


wil.

 

[Doug]

Wil: That's what I thought.

 

[winkyduck]

Twins lose a tie-breaker to both the angels and a's (based on season series) so unless the twins sweep the injuns and the angels/a's seies also is a twins' sweep - if the a's win the West we could have an exact replay of last year's AL post-season.

and ya know what - if i am the twins i'd rather face the yankees in a 5-game series than the redsox in 5. if i face the yankees i can toss santana in 2 games against ???able pitching by the yankees - and even though the twins have been beaten senseless by the yankees - the pinstripes are ripe for the picking. if the twins play the bosox - they get schilling two times (against santana twice - most likely) and pedro once - and while pedro is not the pedro of old - he is still not bad :aktion033

 

[ChuckSims]

I am positive the Twins would want to have homefield and play Boston as opposed to hitting the road and playing the NYY.

 

[winkyduck]

I am positive the Twins would want to have homefield and play Boston as opposed to hitting the road and playing the NYY.

maybe so - but after 2 games they will have it anyway - and in a game 5 if i am the twins i'd rather have santana face anyone from the yankees - even if the game was in NY - then face schilling - even though it would be in Minny.

 

[Journeyman]

Tejada 146 RBI for the O's...insane year from Miguel !

 

[Journeyman]

Jman,

I'd have to take Angels. Mulder is faltering badly, Zito has not had a good year and Hudson got rocked in his last start. While Angels pitching is nothing to rave about, the Angels offense will outscore Oakland's.

Put Tejada back in the Oakland lineup and it's a whole different deal.

Tejada 146 RBI for the O's..... Oakland sure ould have used him....

 

[kermit16]

The Yanks will face either the Twins or the winner of the West which will be either Oakland or Angels. Since Minn., Angels, and Oakland all have exactly the same record, who plays who is still up in the air except the Yanks cannot play Red Sox in first round. In other words Red sox may be playing any one of the 3 teams... angels, A's or Twins. Still 3 games to decide which team has the worst record which will be Yanks foe in 1 st round of the playoffs !

 

[Doug]

Winky: I agree. Now if Minn agrees, they need to lose 3 to Cleveland. Clev is + 119 for Fri. Perhaps watch them Fri, and decide if it looks like they want to lose, if so play Clev Sat and Sun ?

It's a tough call for Minny. I think other teams may have used this ploy in the past to get a more desirable opponent. Please don't ask me to cite examples, it's a gut feeling.

If Twins "rest" starters, and make errors, it will lead me to believe they want NYY. I think Boston is better than Yanks, right now. Yanks lack the lights-out starter. If Brown was OK, I'd take home and Boston, right now I'll take NYY and road. The 5-game series makes a difference. Friday's game could tell a lot.

 

[winkyduck]

Winky: I agree. Now if Minn agrees, they need to lose 3 to Cleveland. Clev is + 119 for Fri. Perhaps watch them Fri, and decide if it looks like they want to lose, if so play Clev Sat and Sun

actually - they only need to lose 1. since the al west teams and minny are tied - if minny loses 1 - we know either the a's or angels will only lose 1 game so unless minny sweeps and the a's/angels winner doesn't - 1 minny loss and they are assured of opening against "the evil empire."

 

[kermit16]

Wil, To answer your question on tie breaker rule, if Twins finish with the same record as either A's or Angels and that can happen even if Twins should sweep their last 3 games as A's or Angels can also sweep right ? Since both A's and Angels hold a season series advantage over the twins.... Twins would get the Yanks and Angels, A's winner would get Red Sox ! Since either A's or Angels must win at least 2 out of the 3 remaining games, the way I have it figured, Twins must sweep or they will face the Yanks !

 

[jwunderdog]

If your real goal is to win the world Series I don't know if it is bad for Minny that they may have to face the Yankees first? They get to set their starting pitching up as they would like it with Santana and Radke pitching at least twice, they could give the Yankees some problems, If Santana could not go at least twice against them in the ALCS Minny wouldn't have a chance.

 

[Journeyman]

Ya know, when I posted this last night...I actually thought the Twins beat NYY last night....my mistake!!!! Looks like it could still go either way now...

 

[kermit16]

Twins have already set up Santana to open the playoffs and why not ? He's simply been the best all year long and I think He can shut down whichever team He faces. I will predict the Twins will be facing the Yanks as the only way they could avoid that is to sweep their 3 game series and then they would also need A's / Angels to win by 2-1. a 3-0 sweep by either team puts the Twins verses Yanks anyway as both team hold the tie break over Twins.

 

[jwunderdog]

Minny is obviously not too worried about it or they wouldn't have pulled Santana and Radke after 5.