Piggy backing from the last thread. I believe if Burnett can't wrap his head around pitching to Posada, then it's too big a gamble to have him behind the dish. By all means have Molina catch him in all 3 rounds. : ) I don't want to see a constant stream of shake offs, mound visits, and batters reaching first on dropped 3rd strikes. They Yanks survived 96 and 98 with some light hitting catcher catching most of the time. What was his name? Oh yeah, Joey Joe Joe.

[1] Well, Girardi had a career .666 OPS, and in 1996 and 1998 he was over .700. And he started a considerable number of games. Molina, on the other hand is a career .609 OPS hitter, and the last two years he is below .600. There is light hitting, and there is light hitting. Molina takes it to the next level of awful.

[2] I hear ya'. My point though is this. Whether Burnett is facing Maglio or Morneau, I want his head on straight. If he can't accomplish that with Posada, I think you have to go with Molina. There are 8 other spots in the lineup. Now if he shits the bed today.......well who the hell knows.

[3] I hear what you're saying. But like Ms October (referring to last thread), I don't really believe that Molina has been AJ's tonic. AJ has always been inconsistent; I suspect that his success with Molina has been coincidence.

[4] Well why mess with coincidence? : D I had two Varsity catchers in high school. One was a short squat kid with no bat and an awful throw to second. Great target and good defense beyond that. The other was a big hulking kid with a big bat and rocket arm. I much preferred pitching to the former for what it's worth. Which is nothing.......But the mind is a funny thing.

[5] Why mess with coincidence? Because relying on coincidence--confusing coincidence with causation--can blow up in your face. If Burnett really has pitched better *because* of Molina And that was not the case on, say, Sept. 12) then start Molina. But if Burnett is simply pitching better because he's, well, pitching better...then put the best line up out there and maximize the chances of winning.

Twins season comes down to Pavano!!!

This note on LoHud first cracked me up and then scared me: "Sergio Mitre has biceps tendonitis. He won’t pitch today. Girardi admitted it may be a factor in whether or not he is considered for the postseason roster."

They couldn't have really been considering Mitre for the roster, could they have?

[7] ...and I thank the Good Lord I am not a Twins fan.

[8] The mind boggles...at just how unlucky Mitre is. Just when he has pitched his way on to the post season roster, an untimely injury might knock him off.

That was a bomb.

[9] Poor guy.

Boy, the Rays would've got 5 runs that inning if Posada was catching.

Wow, it really looks like the Central will get a Tuesday playoff game.

Go Twins! Go Tigers!

hola people! can't believe it's the last day of the regular season. where the hell did the last 6 months go?!

End Game, is the name of the new Megadeth album!

Verlander pitching into the 8th. Mags 4-4, Cabrera not playing due to some mysterious cuts and bruises on his punim. huh. Justin finally breaking in the 8th. from 5-0 to 5-3.

Twins up big, early. 7-0. at this point, they might be the scarier team!

[12] Go strange foods!!!

verlander at 116 pitches.

wow, miguel cairo homered for the Philthy's! his BFOG+ leads the world, haha!!!

[15] Whoa, and then the next four are all balls...

verlander out after a 4-pitch walk. 120 pitches. 7.2 innings. tying runs on 1st & 2nd, 2 outs, Rodney comin' in...

Looks like it'll be a four out save for Rodney.

[17] ancient Chinese proverb: man with 4 balls cannot walk!!!

[19] or 4-out implosion

And Verlander is done.
But actually, I really hope the Tigers hang on now.

i would not be surprised for Quen'in to hit a 3-run bomb...

i like curtis granderson.

old friend, tyler clippard pitching here in atlanta just a few miles from me...

Posada coulda done that!!!

[21] Yup, though I would have been more confident in that if Todd Jones were still pitching.

Mean while, the Royals begin to rally against Pavano.

[22] I'm not as worried about the Twins (despite their Momentum™) as the Tigers in a short series, so I'd be perfectly happy of the Tigers lost today. But a playoff would be nice too...and fun!

[29] I'll take either team after the one-game playoff rather than either team without it.

Clutch-Rod!

(even though it's a meaningless game.

Repost:
Po makes $13m and AJ $16m. Don’t these guys both want to win? I mean, they can’t work out their differences for the sake of the team? How about a meeting(s) where Girardi lays doen the law… and if that doesn’t work, you have The Boss sit in?

Do we really have to compromise our offensive lineup because $29m worth of employees can’t get on the same page for the sake of the TEAM???

If I were Girardi, I would rip them both a new asshole and make sure they would rather blow each, rather than not get along as a productive battery.

And it looks like ARod will fall one good game short of both 30 HRs and 100 RBI.

i would really like to win this last game. would be nice!

oh, hell yeah!!! i didn't know that happened when i wrote [33].

coolio!!!

And I assume we ALL believe that after losing 3 in a row, that this is NOT a meaningless game.

most homers in franchise history!

royals rally yielded them 1-run. 7-1 Twins, bot 4, in Minny.

3 outs to go in the Motor City.

[25] Actually, I think this is pretty much a meaningless game.

[35] [38] Me too (raises hand).

“Between playing Friday and Saturday nights against Chicago, Cabrera’s face took the brunt of something.

“I have had a conversation with Miguel,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski wrote in an e-mail. “It is a personal situation and I am not at liberty to discuss it further.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland didn’t want to talk about it and refused to acknowledge the situation was unfortunate.”
———————————————-
Did the old lady try to scratch his eyes out?
He’s missing, literally, the most important game of the year???

Meanwhile, Detroit rallying in the 8th.
KC scores only 1. Now 7-1 Minn.

leadoff man on for pale hose.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Fernando Rodney, Closer.

detroit 2 outs away from winning.

[42] definitely rather face him than Nathan.

DP, game over. i'm guessing Game #163 will be Tuesday.

i'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!!!

I wonder if Tuesday's game between Minn and Detroit will be nationally televised. That will be a tense game.

And the Tigers win!

Now the Twins must must win.

[46] Yep, on espn.

[45] Ah, poetry and music! Sir, you are an artist.

And you guys make fun of Molina!

Ooopsie!

[49] yes. a starving one! though i am eating a bowl of Cheerios right now! : )

i'll miss most of Tuesday's game, due to teaching. should be able to catch the end...

[49] btw, i do actually write poetry/lyrics/songs/etc...

JD IS BAAAAAAAACK!!!

damn. Nancy has 2 homers on the day.

It's amazing how much can change with a 45 minute walk with the hound. 1-0. to 6-2. Good times. Okay A-Rod, shove it up Maddon's ass.

F.U. Tampa.

Store this one away over the winter, fellas.

AWESOME!!!!!

Ha ha!

wha happened?

YES!
YES!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
30 HRs!
100 RBI !

I LOVE IT!!!!!

Look at A-Rod hitting the nice round numbers! Holy shit.

oh, intentionally walking Tex, so he couldn't pass Pena?

hopefully Alex gets to 30-100 with one swing!

gamecast is frozen. i have no clue what's going on...

[61] [32] I feel you gave him a little boost.

[63] See [61]

A-Rod is good at baseball.

[63] he heee heeee heee!

HAHA, he did it!!!!

that's "teh" awesome!!!!

is it 100 ribbies for alex?

wow, a nice 10-spot in the inning.

i loves it!!! : )

[65] nice! thanks!!!

Ha, man that was glorious ... What a dickish thing to do, walking Teixeira there. They sure got what they deserved.

prince just hit his 45th. howard hit his 45th yesterday...

He missed more than a month of the season, and still hit 30 HR, with 100 RBI, 14 SB and 80 BB. Just 124 games played! Slowed down by his hip my ass.

HA!

Delmon Young! 8-1 Twins.

ARod for the seaon: .286 30 100 .402 .532
and his 12th consecutive year of 30/100.

ah, McLouth will end up finishing 1 stolen base shy of 20-20. he hit his 20th homer earlier today.... wait, we might go to extra innings here in the Atl. hopefully Nate gets it!

Ryan Braun, is also 1 SB away, but still has a chance to get there.

I like Dave Robertson.

After ARod's 1st homer, he had (probably) 1 AB left and needed a GRAND SLAM for 30/100.
And he got it!
Really.... what were the odds of that happening?

Jeter finishes at .334.

Melky finishes the year with: .274 .336 .418 .754
So this winter, I guess the great Is-Melky-good-enough-to-man-CF-for-the-Yankees debate will continue.

[78] thelarmis...
you KEEP INTERRUPTING my continuous posts.
Have you no respect for your elders?
(I got drumsticks older then you boy!)

So....Minnesota gets to host (if they hold on) Tuesday b/c they went 11-7 vs. Detroit, right? Or is it a flip of the coin?

pavano out. 8-4 minny.

[80] HAHA!!! i'm getting old myself... : /

[81] yup. game is in Mini Soda. Detroit is 2-7 there this season, i believe...

the Baggy Dome won't die!!!

Carlos Pena speaks very well and seems like a really good guy.

[81] You know, I'm not sure.

But the Idle is trying to make things interesting: now 8-4 Twins, after Gordon homers, and someone named Bobby Keppel is trying to get the elusive 3rd out of the 6th.

Cripes, I know its the Royals, and they have a 4 run lead, but who is this guy? And why is Gardenhire trusting his season to him?

[81] Correct. No coin flip. Minny plays host.

i've been seeing this Ian Desmond kid this weekend here against atlanta. Washington has a good lookin' player at shortstop...

ugh. chip caray and buck martinez. i really can't stand caray...

[81] Etc. I think it was indeed a coin flip. Done a week ago.

Joba in to pitch the...seventh?! Hughes = 8th inning guy! ; )

FWIW... Minn. gets to throw their 'Ace' on Tuesday:
Scott Baker : 4.36, 15-9, 160, 1.19
(I really don't know how Minn. is still in this)

Atta boy, Joba. Was that his best inning of the year? : D
Oh, and Dear TBS, please deep six Caray and have Cone work with Darling. Now that's entertainment.

No, my mistake, it wasn't determined by coin flip. That was the old way. It was indeed the head-to-head record that determined the playoff site.

http://tinyurl.com/yco6aqy

Keppel doing his best to prove me right to question Gardenhire - runners on the corners, still two out.

DAMN. I was so hoping for a Molina triple. Just for shits and giggles.

[90] Porcello goes for the Kittens on Tuesday. should be a good game!

So.... the Great Pavano motivates his team to score 8 runs.
The guy is really talented.

KC w/bases loaded, 2 out.

shit sox have scored 12...

Wow.... Twins get out of it. 8-4 after 5.5.

The great Jon Rauch puts out the fire.