2010 MLB Playoffs: Yankees Vs. Twins ALDS Game 3 Viewing Guide
Time: 8:37pm ET
Starting Pitchers: RHP Phil Hughes vs. LHP Brian Duensing
Series: 2-0 New York
TV: TBS
TV Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz
Radio: ESPN Radio
Radio Announcers: Jon Miller and Orel Hershiser
Umpires: Jerry Crawford, Hunter Wendelstedt, Greg Gibson, Brian O’Nora, Gary Darling, Chris Guccione
MLB.com Gameday: Link
Team Blogs: Pinstripe Alley, Twinkie Town
Situation
The first two games were a disaster for Minnesota, as they blew leads in each and saw the Yankees come away with two wins in Target Field's playoff debut. The Twins have now lost 11 consecutive games in the playoffs - eight of them to New York - and now they get to go on the road and hand the ball to a most unproven starting pitcher. Whether or not the Yankees are in the Twins' heads, and whether or not the Twins are pressing, the fact of the matter is that they're up against it yet again, and a series comeback would require a near-perfect and consistent performance. Yankees players and Yankees fans have to feel good about wrapping it up in three.
Three Keys
(1) Who is Brian Duensing? He’s a lefty with all of 22 starts of big league experience, and in his lone playoff start, he allowed five runs in 4.2 innings against the Yankees last year. He began 2010 in the bullpen but moved into the rotation in late July, posting a 3.08 ERA. The name of the game is groundballs. He can miss some bats, but he’s not a punchout pitcher. He’ll pitch lefties all over the zone, but against righties, he tries to hang around the low-away corner as much as possible. Duensing will need to stay down. He has a spacious home ballpark, but Yankee Stadium isn’t nearly as forgiving, and any fly ball is potentially dangerous. He needs to have that feel for his sinker and his changeup. If he ends up behind in counts, neither he nor the Twins will last long.
(2) Phil Hughes’ numbers have gotten progressively worse since the middle of June, but his pitches have remained pretty much the same, suggesting that it’s less fatigue, and more statistical fluctuation. He lives primarily off of his fastball and cutter, mixing in a handful of curves for good measure. He likes to start righties off with a fastball or cutter over the plate. Against lefties, he’ll also start off with heat rather often, but he’ll also try to catch hitters off guard with a backdoor curve. Whether Hughes shows an early feel for that curve will be important. Eliminate that pitch and he’s down to two that look an awful lot alike.
(3) Minnesota’s entire bullpen thrives on its ability to throw strikes, but pounding the zone is a strategy that works an awful lot better in a big park than a little one. It is not that much of a strikeout bullpen. It is more of a contact bullpen, and that’s dangerous. Given the very real possibility that Duensing will have to make an early exit, the Twins won’t be able to count on stadium dimensions keeping them close. They’ll need to count on perfect spots and mis-swings, which is clearly a gamble. They just weren’t built for this environment.
