Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Right and truly done -- the 2006 Twins?

Considering that about half the ESPN "experts" picked the Twins to go to the World Series before the games started yesterday (and The Monk noted the questionable nature of that concept considering that the Twins were supposedly better built to beat the Yanks in a 3-of-5 than a best-of-7 series), it'd be somewhat shocking (and ironic) if the Twinkies went out like suckers in Oakland on Friday.

The Monk is a bit surprised that the Twins suddenly can't hit, especially because Esteban Loaiza doesn't exactly inspire fear. After all, the A's could only get away with starting their #4 (seriously, now, would you pick Loaiza over Harden or Haren?) in game 2 after winning game 1. But the Twins are now a game away from a big-time flop after their 5-2 loss today.

Remember: only four teams have rallied to win from 0-2 down in the ALDS ('95 M's, '99 RedSux, '01 Yanks, '03 RedSux) and only one (2001 Yanks) did it after honking games 1 and 2 at home. Thus, the Twins aren't no-hopers, but they're not dancing in the aisles in Minneapolis. If I'm Ken Macha, and I can get my rotation ready for the Yanks (working assumption -- if the Yanks flop, someone's getting canned no matter how big their managerial contract is . . .), I get Danny Haren as many starts as possible -- he makes the Yanks look like littleleaguers.

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