First Pitch: 7:37pm CDT
TV: TBS
Radio: Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy: Pinstripe Alley
Right. That cool graphic I used for games one and two has led to two losses at home. I have abandoned said graphic, because it is obviously the reason the Twins lost. Back to regular format.
Phil Hughes
#65 / Pitcher / New York Yankees
6-5
240
R
R
Jun 24, 1986
Hughes is a good pitcher. Thankfully, he's also right-handed, which should do the Twins a few favors after scuffling against southpaws Sabathia and Pettitte.
He throws a fastball, cutter and a curveball, and maybe a changeup. Even if that changeup is exceedingly rare and we shouldn't expect to see it more than twice tonight, it is there.
In fact, Hughes likes to go with his fastballs and his curve, with anyything else being little more than a "show me" pitch. About 75% of the time he's be going with some variety of his fastball, generally trying to set hitters up for his offspeed offering, although he will stick with that fastball if he falls behind.
Brian Duensing
#52 / Pitcher / Minnesota Twins
5-11
195
L
L
Feb 22, 1983
It falls to Brian Duensing to help the Twins stave off elimination for the 43rd time in a row. A lot of his success is due to his confidence (read: his willingness to throw inside to lefties), the effectiveness of his slider and his ability to throw any of his pitches (fastball, slider, curve, change) on the first pitch of a plate appearance.
He'll kill lefties with that slider while not showing it as often to right-handers, but he also loses his changeup against lefties as well. That's typical, but it does mean that he's almost a two-pitch guys against same-side hitters.
What Brian also does well: change speeds. His fastball rides in the low 90s and his curve in the low 70s, meaning that if he can get into a hitter's head he can really mess up his swing. While he won't get many swings and misses, he can get a great deal of miss-timed swings and, therefor, weak contact. If he can keep that going against the Yankees, he'll be just fine.
Twins
Span, CF
Hudson, 2B
Mauer, C
Kubel, RF
Young, LF
Thome, DH
Cuddyer, 1B
Valencia, 3B
Hardy, SS
Yankees
Jeter, SS
Swisher, RF
Teixeira, 1B
Rodriguez, 3B
Cano, 2B
Thames, DH
Posada, C
Granderson, CF
Gardner, LF