Twins/Yankee Notes: Santana was not sharp last night. His fastball was all over the place and he could rarely throw it for a strike. And for some reason, he did not throw his changeup as much as he normally does. He usually uses the changeup to setup his other pitches. Last night he threw a lot more fastballs and only mixed in the change. What was also strange is that Santana is a fly ball pitcher and he got 5 (5!) double-plays last night. That really bailed him out. Also, the Yankees swung at a ton of first pitches which helped keep his pitch count down as well.

On the other hand, I thought Mussina looked great last night. This is another typical start for him. He cruises through 7 or so innings, gives up a couple of runs and get left with the loss. The Yank's just don't hit when he is on the mound. Though I think it's clear he is the best pitcher the Yank's have right now, I'm not sure if he's completely health either. His fastball was only about 91 and he threw a ton of curves. Of which the Twins couldn't stop swinging at. They really do love to hack up there. If Orlando Hernandez get a start in this series I bet he could go 9 innings and only throw only about 80 pitches. He's the king of deception and the Twins don't like to take pitches to make a pitcher throw strikes.

Though Santana was off, I really didn’t think the Yankee hitters looked sharp last night. This is just a guess but it really did look like they were concerned with the change and were up there taking weaker hacks (except for Sheffield, wow, does he swing hard or what). Maybe that's why Santana was trying to mix in his fastball and slider more. The Twins looked just as bad though. They just couldn't get enough of Mussina's curve that was low and away.

Next game should be interesting, as I think Radke will be sharp and will continue to befuddle the Yankee hitters. But, there is just no way the Yankees will ground into 5 (5!!!) double-plays again tonight. If I was a Yankee fan I'd also have to worry about Lieber's pitching style, as he is a guy that is normally around the plate and throws a lot of sinkers. The Twins struggle when pitchers make them go outside the zone and chase. Lieber doesn't normally do that. I think we're looking at the potential of a low scoring game again tonight that the Yankees will pull off. But, with the potential the Twins tee off on Lieber and make it a route.

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I don't buy into all this Pedro's struggling thing. Yes, he did struggle towards the end of the season but my money is on him going out there and pitching 7 strong innings.