Division Series: Tuesday, September 30th, 2003

Tuesday, September 30 2003 @ 11:47 AM EDT

Contributed by: robertdudek

This entry will be updated as necessary throughout the day.

Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees, 1 PM ET

Today is Minnesota's best shot. They have their ace going, a fireballing lefthander is Yankee Stadium. If Minnesota is to win this series, today figures to be a must win for them (although I thought the same thing in the 2002 ALDS between Anaheim and New York). The key to this game will be Santana's ability to throw strikes to a patient Yankees lineup. If he can walk fewer than 4 batters and go 7 innings, he should be able to limit the damage.

It seems like half the time Mike Mussina is unhittable; the rest of the time you can get 4 or 5 runs off him. Minnesota's lineup isn't very potent, so scoring 3 runs in today's game will more than meet my expectations.

Johan Santana (2002/2003)
versusABHHRTBWKHBPSBCSOBPSLGK pct
right7291621926475231243.297.362.287
left255495752175232.259.294.270

Santana isn't much worse against righthanders, though he walks a few more of them. I don't look for the Yankees to do much running against Santana/Pierzynski - they'll probably try the long sequence offense (walks and singles) and get his pitch count up.



New York Yankees versus Lefhanded Pitchers (2002/2003)
PlayerABH2B3BHRWKSBCSHBPavgobpslg
A Soriano268842021421561694.313.372.560
N Johnson131317041938007.237.363.382
D Jeter2217680828361105.344.429.489
J Giambi300741401553851015.247.386.443
J Posada25780220134156003.311.412.549
B Williams2969515184942403.321.422.459
H Matsui194559031331022.284.335.376
A Boone30368202942481433.224.325.393
J Rivera581940436100.328.361.603
              
R Sierra2285916041638110.259.307.382
K Garcia12527606535020.216.246.408

notes: OBP is calculated without including sac flies (H+W+HBP)/(AB+W+HBP); player in red indicates the batter is at a platoon disadvantage.

Johnson batting 2nd is a bit of a surprise. I like the decision to put Juan Rivera in the lineup instead of Sierra.

Mike Mussina (2002/2003)
versusABHHRTBWKHBPSBCSOBPSLGK pct
right76719022305261586117.278.398.198
left86321026335442192413.282.388.241



Minnesota Twins versus Righthanded Pitchers (2002/2003)
PlayerABH2B3BHRWKSBCSHBPavgobpslg
S Stewart88226665616769113411.302.364.443
L Rivas5541533110832742066.276.323.412
D Mientkiewicz634182462910780524.287.393.409
M LeCroy30581181121673023.266.309.449
J Jones78925750238421431453.326.362.539
T Hunter806215465405215816109.267.318.485
C Koskie6271894642110813915137.301.410.488
AJ Pierzynski7032225471134793216.316.361.459
C Guzman779217251562910621145.279.309.372
              
M Ryan5518305510200.327.383.655
D Mohr4801322621532122622.275.323.431

notes: OBP is calculated without including sac flies (H+W+HBP)/(AB+W+HBP); player in red indicates the batter is at a platoon disadvantage.

Matt LeCroy starts instead of Mike Ryan, which is a mistake in my book. There's no way I would bat Rivas second, and batting Koskie 7th is a bit of a head-scratcher. I'd probably move Hunter down the order. The best #2 hitter of the team would be Doug Mientkiewicz, but because he's a first baseman it's unlikely he'll ever bat there for Gardenhire.


Playoff Schedule
       
TuesdayMINJohan SantanaatNYYMike Mussina1:00
...FLAJosh BeckettatSFJason Schmidt4:00
...CHIKerry WoodatATLRuss Ortiz8:00
       
WednesdayFLABrad PennyatSFSidney Ponson4:00
...CHICarlos ZambranoatATLMike Hampton7:00
...BOSPedro MartinezatOAKTim Hudson10:00
       
ThursdayBOSTim WakefieldatOAKBarry Zito4:00
...MINBrad RadkeatNYYAndy Pettitte8:00
       
FridaySFKirk RuerteratFLAMark Redman4:00
...ATLGreg MadduxatCHIMark Prior8:00

 



2003 Playoff Series
New York Yankees
versus
Minnesota Twins
ALDS
...........| |...........
Atlanta Braves
versus
Chicago Cubs
NLDS
 
ALCS
 
NLCS
 
Oakland Athletics
versus
Boston Red Sox
ALDS-WC
...........| |...........
San Francisco Giants
versus
Florida Marlins
NLDS-WC

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