Relax

It’s just 1 game. Sure it would have been great to the first game, but winning it doesn’t guarantee anything. It was a typical 1 run game where 1 team gets a bloop hit that leads to a run and the other team hits a few balls hard that are outs.

It happens.

People are saying that Zito pitched a great game. There is a fine line between pitching a good game and not hitting well. It is a chicken and egg situation.

Santana actually pitched better than Zito but Oakland took advantage of the bad pitches that Santana made while the Twins flailed away at balls outside the strikezone and missed pitches that should have been hit hard.

The Twins offense failed in this game. The 3-4-5 hitters only got 1 hit and it was a Metrodome triple. It would be easy to blame Gardy for some of his managerial mistakes but it is the offense which really caused the loss.

Gardy may have had a hand in that though. The key spot in the 1st was when Punto swung at some bad pitches and made an out when he should have walked. And Castillo was caught stealing.

Zito was all over the place. Stealing there was not a high percentage play. Gardy said Luis has the “green light” and thought that Zito would throw a curve in that spot. Gardy should have given him the red light when he saw that Zito did not have command of his pitches.

The Twins should have been more patient. Zito had walked 99 men in during the season. That is second in the league and twice as many as Santana. You know this going into the game so show some damn patience. Too many Twins swung at bad pitches in hitter’s counts. Causing the Twins to either make and out or getting another strike.

At one point in the game 50% of Zito’s pitches were balls. The Twins should have drawn 6 walks that game. That is the hitter’s fault and maybe the coaching staff’s fault. That is when the coaches should get on the hitters to be more patient. 43% of his pitches were balls. And many of the strikes were balls too.

1 more mistake was not bringing in Nathan in the 9th. The game is 2-1 and this is the most important inning of the game. It has to stay close to have a chance. Since it is a home game Nathan will not get a chance to get a save so it is important now to pitch him in high leverage situations. With Thomas up and a close game there is no other more important spot in the game. Bring in Nathan.

I like Crain but he is not the same pitcher as Nathan. Neshek would have been a good choice also, even for 1 batter.

The good thing Gardy did was to put his best lineup out there. It was very good that he had White and Nevin in the lineup.

All is not over for the Twins. Oakland really has a miserable offense against righthanders and if they pitch more carefully to Thomas, i.e. no more off speed stuff high and inside, the Twins should be fine.

Thomas is there only threat, don’t let him beat you. If the count is 3-1 don’t pitch a strike.