Know Thine Enemy: Bless You Boys
Baker had a pretty damn good August, in case anyone missed it: five starts, 32.1 innings and a 2.78 ERA as opponents hit just .230/.290/.392. Let's hope he can continue that fantastic trend as we head into the stretch. Considering the health of this offense and how the White Sox continue to hang around, every win the Twins put in the bank is vital at this time of year. Minnesota needs a sweep tonight, and it's up to Baker to give his team a chance.
It's unfortunate that the Tigers aren't having the year they envisioned, at least from a baseball fan's standpoint, because Verlander is being overlooked. He's having another good year, and nobody should be surprised.
In spite of his amazing fastball he doesn't like to come inside. Instead he'll still work you away, keeping you off balance by showing the changeup and slider early in the count. Once he's ahead the fastball is impossible to sit on, which means you do NOT want to get into pitcher's counts. Even when Verlander is behind and throws the fastball about 78% of the time, that changeup is a weapon.
Tonight would be a good time to score more than two runs for a win, and it should't be easy.