Opponents PBP

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I made a round trip to the Milwaukee area this weekend and caught much of the Twins' games from Friday and Sunday on the radio from the Chicago play-by-play. The duo of Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson called the games, of course, overtly pulling for the White Sox. They provided plenty of nuggets, both positive and negative about the Twins. Here are some things I heard:

 

They like the way Suzuki handles the pitching staff and think he calls a very good game. They were beside themselves when Suzuki kept getting hits against Sale. I believe it was Farmer who said that Suzuki likes to swing at the first pitch, when in fact he earlier went over a month without swinging at the first pitch in an at-bat. They thought the Twins used Sale's domination of them just a week earlier as motivation in the game Friday.

 

Both guys were impressed by Vargas. In part, I'm sure, because of their strong series this weekend, Farmer and DJ had a lot of praise for Santana--live body, great speed, great approach at the plate. They pointed out Plouffe's doubles production and marveled at the Sox inability to get him out.

 

They weren't overly impressed by the Twins' bullpen. Of course, the bully didn't have a great weekend. They thought that Darnell was hittable (he was) and mentioned his high changeups. They routinely questioned the umps' judgment.

 

Finally, the play-by-play duo was very high on Gibson. They loved the sinker and also his mix of pitches. They spoke kindly of Gardy, as well.

 

It is always interesting to hear an outside opinion. Obviously, their view is influenced by both who their audience is and who they want to win, but these two former players offer a lot more analysis than I hear on the Twins PbP.