October 2009
A rollercoaster – and not the fun kind.
Wow. Rollercoaster, much? I think all Twins fans have been so up and down in the
weeks leading up to Tuesday’s tiebreaker that after it was over (HELLO, WIN!),
the game against the Yankees Wednesday was almost unenjoyable.
Reasons I found it to be more annoying than exciting:
Our poor, poor tired players. Michael
Cuddyer wrote in his
blog, ‘We didn’t get into New York until very early this morning. I think I got
to sleep around 4:30, 4:45 a.m. — somewhere in there. It was a tough
turnaround.” Um, gross. No wonder everyone seemed listless and worn
out.
The announcers are truly the WORST. Not
at their jobs, but at slobbering all over the Yankees and knowing nothing legitimate about
the opposing team. I mean, is it normal practice during a Yankees game to zoom in on Derek Jeter just standing there while someone
like Joe Mauer or
Cuddyer take like
four pitches? Literally, it was Jeter motionless with a blank face. HOW
THRILLING! And the constant bragging about the Yankees – duh, they’re a great team. But
when all you got on the Twins is “Man, that Metrodome was loud on Tuesday” or “Justin
Morneau is injured,
and the team is covering for that,” that just shows favoritism and
disinterest, which is unprofessional.
It doesn’t help that we lost. But
hey, we did the best we could do. But it just made all those taunts from Tiger fans, Yankee fans, or whomever, “The Twins can’t beat the Yankees! EVERRR!” more
aggravating. Those missed double plays and lack-luster at-bats … aww. I
don’t like it when haters feel vindicated.
I hate that we had to start at New
Yankee stadium. HATE.
The magic of the Dome is gone, and there we were, at the most sterile place on Earth.
I’d like to go there and see if I can prove myself wrong, but … not a
fan. I hope the Metrodome on Sunday and it’s raucous fans can spook the Yanks a bit.
Can I just refer to the Yankees as the Skankees from here on out? Thanks.
Whining
aside, I hope that with rest and, more importantly, mental re-grouping, the
boys can pull out a split series tonight. I want to see these guys fight
like I’m used to – the word “scrappy” comes to mind – and I want to
see fight and heart beat money and more money.
Good luck,
and do work, Twins!
LIVE: Game 163 Tiebreaker!
Tigers @ Twins
1B: Cuddyer
2B: Punto
3B: Tolbert
SS: Cabrera
RF: Kubel
CF: Span
LF: Young
C: Mauer
DH: Morales
PITCHING: Baker
PRE-GAME:
I don’t think there’s really anything I can say right now that would properly describe my excitement and the feeling in general among Twins fans.
TOP OF 1st:
HERE WE GO!
“He’s very sneaky-fast,” Baker that is, according to announcer dude. #3 in the league? NICE!
One out!
That crowd in the dome is NUTS. And two outs!!
Lowest amount of walks in the league? Oh man. I love this team.
Thanks Kubel, for the third out!
BOTTOM OF 1st (0-0):
Looks like CJ Wilson has our back, too: (via Twitter)
@chopper63 don’t worry man I’m sure you guys are reppin the AL in the world series! how awesome is the twins vs tigers gig? go twinkies
from mobile web
Ohhhh, yes.
Span lines one to 1st. Aw.
Cabrera: “Latin Liason.” I think Gomez and Casilla can agree.
M-V-P! M-V-P! MAUER HITS A DOUBLE! M-V-P! M-V-P!
Aw damn, three outs and no score.
TOP OF 2nd (0-0):
All this batting champ talk is making me swoon. Oh, Mauer.
Frick, lead-off double by M. Cabrera.
Span grabs a fly by Guillen; Cabrera can’t move up.
Oh no, runners on the corners …
SICK catch by Cabrera for the second out – runner’s can’t advance. AND HE GETS THE CATCH FOR THE THIRD OUT!!!!
BOTTOM OF 2nd (0-0):
Dude, these announcers are bragging up Cuddyer a LOT. No errors since he moved to 1st, apparently.
DELLLMOOONNNNN! Oh cute, he and Kubel were co-players of the week in the league last week! Rightly so.
1-2-3.
TOP OF 3rd (0-0):
Span with another catch for an out. DENARDED, FTW!
My God, I wish I was at that game right now.
WHAT? Baker walks Granderson??
And the Tigers score. There will be blood.
NO EFFING WAY. 2-RUN HOMER.
Baker gets the last out, and we better do some serious damage this inning.
BOTTOM OF 3rd (0-3, Tigers):
Walk Tobert, Porcello. I dare you. Nope, but T gets an infield hit. Hello, 1st base.
Hope someone can hit a double or better; Tolbert can tear through the bases.
OHHHH, SPAN! Moves T to 2nd, takes 1st. Getting Denarded? Don’t mind if we do.
Sac fly from Cabrera moves Tolbert to 3rd. And here comes MVP …
TOLBERT SCORES ON A WILD THROW! But, sadly, nails 1st base coach Jerry White. I’m sure he’ll understand … 3-1! GO T! SORRY, JERRY!
Mauer’s walked. Shite is hitting the fan, yo!
Aw, two left on base.
TOP OF 4th (1-3, Tigers):
Shake-N-Baker is looking a little … spooked out there.
Cuddy gets the first out in foul territory. And a double play for the rest!!
BOTTOM OF 4th (1-3, Tigers):
Dear Delmon Young,
I know you’ve been really good lately, and you even hit two homers on Sunday, but I think tonight is the time to definitely hit another one. Preferably a grand slam.
Best wishes and Godspeed, AM Neubs.
Ugh, 1-2-3.
TOP OF 5th (1-3, Tigers):
I don’t like the feeling of being behind on the second tie-breaker game in two years. Hey Twins: change that.
Two pop-ups, two outs.
Nice, quick-ish inning.
BOTTOM OF 5th (1-3, Tigers):
Two up, two down. SAVE US, BRETT FAVRE!
And Span for the third. WHYYYY?
TOP OF 6th (1-3, Tigers):
Eh.
BOTTOM OF 6th (1-3, Tigers):
KUBEL HOMERRRRS! Porcello is taken out, replaced by Miner.
HARRIS BEANED! WALKED! BASES LOADED! CAPS LOCK!!!
Two outs, and Tolbert pops up. NOOO!
TOP OF 7th (2-3, Tigers):
Rauch is brought in after Shake-N-Bake falters.
Two OUTS! And … MIJARES is brought in??
Urge to kill rising … rising … RISING … falling … RISING QUICKLY, AS HE PUTS RUNNERS ON THE CORNERS.
Oh nice, Guerrier gets the last out. Mijares: good luck staying with the team.
BOTTOM OF 7th (2-3, Tigers):
LET’S GET SOME RUNS!!!!
AHHH! LITTLE NICKY GETS A SINGLE ON A 3-2 PITCH!
O-CAB! TWO RUN HOMER! AHHHHHHH!
Mauer for a single, and trips when he runs through the base, ADORABLE!
Cuddy ends the inning.
TOP OF 8th (4-3, TWINS!):
Gomez takes over center, Span moves to right, Kubel out.
NO. TIGERS TIE IT. NO NO NO NO NO!
J-Nate is warming up … scary.
And they bring him in with 1 out and 2 on. Uhhh …
GETS THE OUTS!!
BOTTOM OF 8th (4-All):
Time for some hits – this game is srs business.
Um, two down, and Tolbert is up. And down.
TOP OF 9th (4-All):
Leadoff bunter takes 1st.
Two on.
Nathan gets 1st out. I’m about to cry from al the stress.
DOUBLE PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BOTTOM OF 9th (4-All):
Span sac-bunts Punto to second. It’s honestly impossible to blog this right now.
AHHHH 10TH INNING???
TOP OF 10th (4-All):
CRAIN. WTF. At least he got the first out.
BOTTOM OF THE 12th (5-All):
TWINS WIN THE AL CENTRAL!
I can’t even believe this just happened – so very very proud!
Here’s to our boys.
I’m so proud of us this year.
- Mauer is about to become the AL batting champ for the third time, and is probably gonna break a lot of other records and take home a lot more trophies (he also might be a platinum-selling rapper one day, but shhhhh!).
- Morneau put up good numbers until his injury; Joe Crede was my break-out favorite this year. My hope is that he’ll come back next year, but with his back trouble, who knows.
- Orlando Cabrera has proven not only is he great in the batter’s box and out in the field, but he truly cares about his teammates.
-Carlos Gomez has become an asset; and his counterpart Alexi Casilla has come back from a bad start to show us he’s not going back down to AAA anytime soon.
- Denard Span is quickly becoming a fan-favorite for good reason, as is hard-hitter Jason Kubel.
- Delmon Young has taken the past month and turned it all around after the death of his mother and the resulting difficulties on the field – I’m so proud!
- Little Nicky Punto has done some things out on the field I can’t even believe are humanly possible, and his scrappy at-bats have helped us win otherwise hopeless games.
- Michael Cuddyer has stepped up at 1st base in the absence of Morneau so fast, I almost don’t notice he’s gone. He’s become a power-hitter OUT OF NOWHERE, and has saved us in some serious clutch situations.
- Our pitching staff has had a hard year, but hey: Scott Baker can still hold it down; Nick Blackburn gave us a huuuuge win on Sunday and is a force to be reckoned with; Carl Pavano has helped a lot here and there; Duensing has done so well in a short amount of time; and of course, All-Star Joe Nathan, although in the habit of making fans have heart-attacks here and there, has just been all-around amazing.
I think a lot of other teams are scratching their heads and thinking, “Minnesota in a tie-breaker? They actually caught up to the Tigers in like two weeks? HUH?” Yeah. I can safely say Twins fans feel the same way. But we’re thankful for this scrappy little team from up north near all those lakes and stuff. We had a tough second half, up until September. We don’t quit, because we can’t. There’s too much potential, too much talent, too much under-dog quality to this team to give up with the end in sight.
WE MADE IT HERE. And not because the Tigers don’t put up a fight – sweet Lord Jesus, they do! – but because we refused to lay down and die. We bunted, chased down hits, back-hand caught, homered, stole bases, and fought until we made it here: Game 163. And really, who would’ve thought around early August?
So here’s to the Minnesota Twins, to the fight, to the Metrodome, to the fans, and to all those players that have put on our uniform. Let’s keep the fight going.
LIVE: There will be blog.
ROYALS @ TWINS
3rd to last game (or not?)
1B: Cuddyer
2B: Punto
3B: Harris
SS: Cabrera
RF: Kubel
CF: Span
LF: Young
C: Mauer
PITCHING: Manship, Crain, Mahay, Guerrier, Nathan
PRE-GAME:
As of the top of the 4th, the White Sox are ahead of the Tigers, 2-0. YES, PLEASE.
I am gonna miss the Dome. Even before my family ever moved to Minnesota, back when I was just a tadpole, my first memories of this state are of the Metrodome. Wish I could be at that last game.
My dad just ultra-depressed me by saying “I wish Kirby could be here to enjoy all this.” Excuse me, something in my eye …
On a lighter note: MANSHIP???????
TOP OF 1st:
But seriously. Manship? Oh, boy. But at least I can tell him apart form Duensing now: Duensing is pretty good and a looker. Manship is eeuuhhh and has a huge neck.
And with a runner on third and one out, we get a beasty double play. Heyooo.
BOTTOM OF 1st (0-0):
DiNardo pitches to Denard. MY HEAD JUST EXPLODED.
Oh hey, Sox up 3-0. I love you, A.J.!
HAHAH, FAKE SIDEBURNS! I ask for them every Christmas, and apparently no one thinks sideburns are a good gift for a young lady. Squares.
1st and 3rd with one out, and Kubel’s at bat. HITS IT! TWINS SCORE!
Dicky B just called Cuddyer hitting a 3-run homer. Um … no. Walked.
DELMON YOUNG HITS HIS FIRST GRAND SLAM!
I guess Dicky B was off by one batter. So awesome!
TOP OF 2nd (5-0, Twins):
Hilarious, Teahen has “Circle Me Bert” on the wrists of his batting gloves!
7-0, White Sox? Am I in Heaven?
BOTTOM OF 2nd (5-0, Twins):
Commercial break and the Sox score one more.
Um, bases loaded, new Royals pitcher, and they still walk Cuddyer. Well, uhh, whatever you gotta do, guys.
Oh look, another two runs.
TOP OF 3rd (7-0, Twins):
Oh. I forgot there’s a game going on.
BOTTOM OF 3rd (7-0, Twins):
“Just keep winning ballgames and hope you get some help from the White Sox,” says Bert. So far, I’d say we’re doing just that.
1-2-3 inning.
BOTTOM OF 4th (8-0, Twins):
Kubel cranks a huuuuge homer – very deep and very high. Wow.
Sweet Jesus, Delmon drove in 5 of the 8 runs? I guess we have to get Mijares to piss him off more often.
Um, hello Harris. Hits a double of the Stanley sign, drives in Cuddyer. Sexual Harris-ment, FTW!
Another run hit in by De
lmon. I’m pretty sure he’s making up for the suckitude earlier.
Awesome, just awesome.
TOP OF 5th (10-0, Twins):
Oops, KC scores one run. EVERYBODY PANIC!
Oh, and another run. Hope we don’t get careless now.
BOTTOM OF 5th (10-2, Twins):
Eh.
TOP OF 6th (10-2, Twins):
Unfortunately, this game is getting less interesting since we’re pretty much assured a win.
The ‘Ship sets sail into the sunset, hopefully picking up his first Major League win. But OH SNAP, CRAINWRECK?!
Yeah, and he’s choking pretty well. Bases loaded. Oh cool, and two runs scored.
Hahaha, the foul ball landed in this dude’s cup, and he gave a cheers and took a drink.
Oh cool, more runs! 10-5.
And Ma-hay-hey gets the final out. Gross.
BOTTOM OF 6th (10-5, Twins):
At this point I gotta give a shout-out to by partner in crime, J-Schoon, who last weekend drew my attention to why “K” stands for a strikeout. Not so much that, but why there’s backwards K’s and regular K’s. So, three K’s would be rather offensive to a lot of people, so is that why there’s backward ones, we wondered? Nope. Turns out, a friend told J-Pain that a backwards K means caught them looking. DUH.
1-2-3 inning.
TOP OF 7th (10-5, Twins):
I feel weird longing for the innings when Manship was pitching. But now Keppel is in, and so far so good.
BAM, inning over.
BOTTOM OF 7th (10-5, Twins):
WOW, Tolbert with a triple.
But a 1-2-3 inning? WHUH?
TOP OF 8th (10-5, Twins):
Okay, things are unraveling quickly, and they put in Mijares. Yes, that pitcher that fired up Delmon, who was fined $500 for last night, who almost started WWIII: Midwest Edition.
NO WAY. MIJARES HITS THE BATTER. And then almost beans the next. Wow. Just wow. Guerrier is warming up, bases are loaded.
And Mijares gets the first batter out. Cool, because I just had a stroke.
And he lets two go. 10-7, and two on base. Wow.
BOTTOM OF 8th (10-7, Twins):
SO, uhh … this is not what I pictured in the 5th.
The crowd chants “MVP” as Mauer takes the plate. Love it.
1-2-3 inning, though. And J-Nate returns. Please, I already went into cardiac arrest today; no funny business.
TOP OF 9th (10-7, Twins):
2 outs, 0-1 to the batter … 2-2 … 3-2! … and TOLBERT CATCHES IT FTW!
FINAL: 10-7, Twins
VERDICT:
Why must our bullpen constantly give me a vapors? Why must we almost blow a 10-0 lead? Oh well. The point being, WE WON. TIGERS LOST. Love it!
It’s do or die time.
Twins @ Tigers
Game 4 of 4
1b: Cuddyer
2b: Punto
3b: Harris
Ss: Cabrera
RF: Kubel
CF: Span
LF: Young
C: Redmond
Pitching: Baker, Rauch, Mahay, Guerrier, Mijares, Nathan
PRE-GAME:
Already having a heart attack. Hoping to not let Detroit clinch their first title in 22 years, since I’m stingy and don’t like to share things. Like ALC titles from year to year.
TOP OF 1st:
Span is out very quicky. Ohhhh, no.
Joe “Apparently I Tip Pitches” Mauer is the DH today. Um. Pops up for the 2nd out.
Uh, 1-2-3 inning. I’m scared.
BOTTOM OF 1st (0-0):
Jim Leyland cracks me up. My dad tells me stories of back in the day when you could smoke in the dugouts, and if the Tigers were down, he’d be chain-smoking pack after pack and screaming at the players. MY HERO!
The sun in Detroit is insane today. Hopefully it blinds all the Tigers in the outfield. I mean, GOOD GAME! BEST WISHES! SPORTSMANSHIP!
Okay, so MLBlogs censors your naughty-talk, so I’m going to have to come up with some substitutions for swears. Such as: SON OF A BENCH, why has Baker given up two hits and let runners get on the corners?
Eh, Baker strands the runners. Okay, Shake-N-Bake, keep that up.
TOP OF 2nd (0-0):
Agh, Kubel’s thrown out at 1st.
I’m wearing my Crede shirt, which makes me miss my little ginger-snap. He was one of my favorite Twins … all five games that he actually played.
And Harris doesn’t even put up a fight. Oh and then Granderson, AKA The Beast, catches Reddy’s hit. I may need to just pretend this game isn’t happening.
BOTTOM OF 2nd (0-0):
WOW. Looks like we picked up some Little League player named “Young” for the outfield. Nice.
So far it looks like Baker’s trying to give away the game.
Wow, the hecklers in Detroit are INTENSE.
Tigers score the first run, unsurprisingly.
TOP OF 3rd (0-1, Tigers):
Oooh, Span nailed by a pitch. He looks PIST.
“You gotta know that Punto can fly.” On the back of a unicorn, perhaps?
Mauer bats in Little Nicky and ties the game.
Whoa, Cuddy bats another in … do I smell a rally?
Fly ball brings in Dreamyburns.
Aw ship, Cuddy’s thrown out at third. But hey – hello lead?!
BOTTOM OF 3rd (3-1, TWINS):
Everyone looks like a super-dork with both eye-black and sunglasses. I’m looking at you, Kubel and Punto.
I’m still laughing at all these stories about Mauer stealing signs. I think that these two stories have a pretty good rebuttal to all of it.
Uneventful.
TOP OF 4th (3-1, Twins):
Throw gets by Inge and Harris takes 1st. And Reddy gets a hit! And Baby Nick moves them to 2nd and 3rd with a sac bunt! WORD!
Oh, nice, Span hits Harris in from 3rd. 4-1!
BOTTOM OF 4th (4-1, Twins):
Baker nails Thames with a pitch. Only his arm, but I don’t see Bake do that sort of thing often.
Thames takes out his slide on Cabrera – O-Cab and Thames are having words. Oy. Replay shows he obviously misses the bag and tries to slide into Cabrera.
Bases loaded with two outs. PUT HIM AWAY, BAKE! And Reddy catches a straight-up pop! LOVE IT.
TOP OF 5th (4-1, Twins):
Apparently Cabrera is still upset in the dugout, explaining what happened. In reality, watching that replay a few times, Thames is blatantly trying to slide nowhere NEAR the bag and HARD into O-Cab. Luckily he hopped over Thames‘ body on time.
Whoa, very quick 1-2-3 inning.
BOTTOM OF 5th (4-1, Twins):
Double-play, babies!
And Thames comes up for another piece from Baker. The funny part is Bert was hinting that maybe Thames needs to get nailed by a pitch again … haha. Another pitch sails by his face … Redmond has to tell him it was off-speed.
If Baker so much as taps Thames‘ cleat with a pitch, there will be blood. But he gets him looking, so uh, no brawls this inning.
TOP OF 6th (4-1, Twins):
I have a feeling some Twin is gonna get beaned this inning.
Or not.
BOTTOM OF 6th (4-1, Twins):
O HAI BIG RAUCH. OK BYE BIG RAUCH.
Ma-hay-hey? Jesus. But he holds it down for a scoreless inning.
TOP OF 7th (4-1, Twins):
Little Nicky spanks one into left. HELLO.
Oh, nice. Span drills it into right for a double and Punto moves to 3rd. Jim Leyland out to the mound again … haha.
Heard some heckler yell, “Cuddyer with a K, baby!” Kuddyer? That IS mildly amusing. And he does strike out.
Now’s the time to shine, Kubel. Bases loaded!
AHAH. Some guy on Twitter: “I’m certain Cuddyer struck out because of the guy yelling ‘Cuddyer with a K, baby…Cuddyer with a K!‘”
Aw, Kubel with a K strikes out.
BOTTOM OF 7th (4-1, Twins):
Whoooaaa, Le Warrior, what are you pitching here?
Oh you’re KIDDING. Guerrier, Harris, and Cuddyer go after a pop up over the mound – Harris and Cuddyer call Guerrier off, he doesn’t hear and Harris grabs for it, DROPPING IT.
Oh boy Leyland on the field after a double play where Santiago gets doubled off.
TOP OF 8th (4-1, Twins):
Young gets a nice single to start the 8th.
Span up with two runners on. I like where this is going … and Leyland makes a pitching change, putting Seay in. WHO?
Full count, aaaand … WALKED!
Bases loaded for Cabrera. AND HE HITS IT OFF THE WALL! THREE RUNS SCORED!
OH MAN, Mauer bats Cabrera in. Seven run lead? If we gotta …
So all the bad things I’ve said about the White Sox? Yeah I take it all back. Sweep the effing Tigers this weekend. Win your faces off.
BOTTOM OF 8th (8-1, Twins):
So you’re SAYIN there’s a chance!
…
A chance of another error despite Harris taken off of 3rd and replaced by Tolbert? Yes.
Mijares replaces Le Warrior.
Oh boy … Leyland in the ump’s face about Mijares almost nailing a batter and getting a warning. This should end well …
He’s ejected, and the Tigers are crawling back with 2 unearned runs.
TOP OF 9th (8-3, Twins):
Young gets nailed in the knee by the first pitch! Laird is ejected. Delmon is PISSED, and points angrily toward the Twins‘ dugout.
BENCHES CLEAR! But no punches thrown. God, I’d give it all to see Joe Nathan punch out Verlander or Nick Punto headbutt ANYONE.
BOTTOM OF 9th (8-3, Twins):
J-Nate up in this weird game. Shut it down.
A walk. Oh, God. I think Nathan needs a vacay.
And with a fly ball caught by Young, we win!
FINAL: 8-3, Twins
VERDICT:
Double you tee eff. This is probably one of the most tense, weird games I’ve EVER seen involving the Twins.
I offer this gem from Journey:
DOOOON’T STOP, BE-LIEEEE-VIN!
Ahh, nostalgia:
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