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:
LiveBlog: Double header @ DET
TWINS @ TIGERS
Double-header!
11:05 pm CT
1B: Cuddyer
2B: Punto
3B: Tolbert
SS: Cabrera
RF: Kubel
CF: Span
LF: Young
C: Mauer
PITCHING:
- Blackburn (7 inns), Mijares, Rauch, Nathan
PRE-GAME:
I’ve never seen a double-header involving the Twins before. Kinda excited, kinda scared … these games today are a BIG deal.
Porcello vs. Blackburn, eh?
TOP OF 1st:
I hate that weird little dirt path from home to the mound.
Mauer 20 points ahead of Ichiro … can we say MVP?
1-2-3 inning. BOO.
BOTTOM OF 1st (0-0):
Tigers lead off with a double. Oh, splendid!
Blackie, rockin’ the scruffy beard. Me likey. I’m hoping it can stop him from sucking like he is now … just walked a dude, players on the corners and two out.
Okay, sweet, 3 outs and no score.
TOP OF 2nd (0-0):
Kubel nails the pitcher. TAKE THAT, DETROIT.
Oh look, a double play. I never would’ve thought the TWINS would hit into a double play. I may pass out from shock.
Another 1-2-3-ish inning.
BOTTOM OF 2nd (0-0):
OHHHH, Blackbeard nails Laird! That’s terrible.
Inge. Runners on the corners again. One out. I may vomit.
One run scores after the ball bounces off the glove of Cuddyer.
I have a feeling this game is going to be a dirty little battle, eventually resulting in a huge brawl sometime after the 6th.
Again, runners on the corners. Hope I don’t have to type that anymore this game, BLACKBURN. And the inning ends with the hit bouncing right to him.
TOP OF 3rd (0-1, Tigers):
Someone just posted on Twitter Chuck Knoblauch has been accused of beating his wife. Oh, no bueno.
LITTLE NICKY WITH A HIT??! Holy F, Span and Nicky are keeping the inning alive!
2 outs, Cabrera is up, aaand … pops one up for the last out. But hey, we’re showing proof we’re still alive in this thing.
BOTTOM OF 3rd: (0-1, Tigers):
C’mon, Blackbeard. He’s been shaky today, and I hope he can pull it together before I start to cry tears of blood over this game.
Nope, two on and no outs. If I could reach through the TV and slap Blackie right now, that’d be great.
OH SNAP, good throw to Mauer to get the out at home! MOAR OUTS PLZ!
Blackburn’s first strikeout in the 3rd? Oh, man. It’s gonna be a long game.
BEASTY throw and catch by Cabrera and Cuddyer to end the inning!
TOP OF 4th (0-1, Tigers):
Cuddyer nailed in the right elbow. That brawl seems more and more realistic … but seriously, can you IMAGINE the craziness of a Twins vs. Tigers baseball fight? Oh man.
Agh, we had a chance there with two on base and Morales up, but it didn’t work out. We need some serious hits, and soon.
BOTTOM OF 4th (0-1 Tigers):
Why can we hit into a million double plays but can’t seem to make them when it counts?
Nice – Tolbert gets the foul territory pop-up for the 2nd out. Good job Tolbert, but I wish you were Crede.
Blackie wiggles his way out of trouble again … thanks for the three heart attacks! Strikes out POLANCO, of all people, swinging.
TOP OF 5th (0-1, Tigers):
Beasty double by Tolbert, AKA Baby Morneau.
Denard Span is super adorable. At bat, and he hits a sac fly to bring Baby Morneau in – GAME TIED!
BOTTOM OF 5th (1-All):
Little Nicky snatches a pop-up right in front of Kubel for the first out.
Tolbert grabs a liner, two outs!
Whoa. QUICK 1-2-3 inning.
TOP OF 6th (1-All):
Aw, Mauer! Stop popping up, Dreamyburns!
Cuddy keeps it alive with a base hit and two outs.
And then Delmon gets the third out. Ouch.
BOTTOM OF 6th (1-All):
There is a TERRIBLE heckler in Detroit. Baseball hecklers (except ones for Pierzynski) should have a special place in Hell.
Blackbeard strikes out Guillen. That’s the Blackie I like to see.
ANOTHER 1-2-3 inning, and Blackie is finding his footing. Love it!
TOP OF 7th (1-All):
Polanco misses a roller by Morales … I love the annoying tenacity of the Twins right now!
Whoa, hey, Casilla’s pinch running? Tolbert gets him to 2nd with a sac bunt.
Some obnoxious heckler, again, is chanting “YOU SUCK” at Punto. And then Porcello walks him. Shut you up now, huh? Leyland comes in to make a pitching change.
Padre Orlando up with runners on 1st and 2nd … the crowd is on their feet and … SWINGING STRIKE? Craaaaap.
BOTTOM OF 7th (1-All):
Two outs already, and The Beard has 2-2 on Polanco. Super happy Gardy’s kept him pitching this deep into the game … well, for now.
3-2 … Tolbert nabs his hit and throws him out at 1st. Well done, Blackkkkburn.
TOP OF 8th (1-All):
Hey Mauer – you’re in a really important game. You should, uh, probably start going back to being awesome now. THANKS!
So is Detroit just full of a-holes? The same d-bag was heckling Mauer and then Kubel. Oh, and now Cuddyer.
Two outs, and Delmon’s up … and he pops up. Ew.
BOTTOM OF 8th (1-All):
Mijares is pitching now, Gomez is in center, Kubel is taken out and Span moves to right.
And they take Mijares out for Huge Mr. Rauch. Eh, 1-2-3 inning works for me.
TOP OF 9th (1-All):
I would love to see some hits this inning. Hear that, Twins? I HAVE A FEVER. AND THE ONLY PRECRIPTION – IS MOAR HITZ!
O HAI, Casilla. Cracks a sweet, sweet double off of the fence! AHHHHH!
Sac bunt by Tolbert makes me happyyyyy - Casilla moves to 3rd!
NOOOOO! Failed squeeze by Punto results in a double play! WHAT NOW??
BOTTOM OF 9th (1-All):
Punto, full of fail. Please, please, please Rauch, stop this insanity.
Winning run in scoring position. I might be having a stroke and a heart attack at the same time.
Inge is up. I hate this dude.
TWO OUTS TWO OUT C’MON C’MON C’MON PLEASE TWINS GET THE WIN!!!!
SPAAAAN! GETS THE FINAL OUT! EXTRA INNINGS!!
TOP OF 10th (1-All):
CockerSpaniol leads off with a dribbler up the middle. I pretty much am in love with him. That’s it, I’m buying his jersey tonight. Or proposing.
Ball gets away form the catcher and my future husband scurries to 2nd.
HAPPENS AGAIN and Span hits 3rd!
O-CAB HITS SPAN IN! 2-1! I JUST SEIZURED! WEEE!
C’mon, Dreamyburns, you’re due for a nice hit! And he’s WALKED?
IW Cuddyer, for some reason. Young is up with bases loaded … oh, that’s why.
AND YOUNG SAC FLIES A RUN IN! 3-1, GET SOOOOME!
BOTTOM OF 10th (3-1, TWINS!):
Holy F. J-Nate’s in the game. AND THE LEADOFF BATTER HOMERS.
PLEASE JOE NATHAN, DON’T BLOW T
HIS SAVE!
Oh, Gomez with a sick sick sick catch! One out!
YES! DELMON! Another catch and two outs!
COME ON JOE NATHAN, GET CABRERA OUT! AND HE DOES!!!!!!
FINAL: Twins 3, Tigers 2, Heart-attacks 2, Strokes 5.
VERDICT: Wow. This is gonna be some serious battle the next three games. So excited for tonight. Although I don’t know if m heart can take it …
Thank you, helmet.
Well, I suppose the bright side is that the Twins, 2.5 back from the Tigers, won 7 of their last 8 games, including a 7-0 shutout last night against the White Sox.
The bad? Poor Denard Span. Watch this video and tell me that’s the grossest sound to hear in conjunction with a pitch hitting someone’s head:
http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/_35168/uiconf_id/1002330
As the title of this post indicates, I am a big fan of batting helmets. Although not those creepy new ones.
Luckily Numero 2 has just a mild concussion and is listed as day-to-day. And on a another side-note, it sorta melted my icy little heart to see none other than A.J. Pierzynski rush over to make sure Span was okay. Well, I mean granted the guy was right behind him when the pitch nailed Span, but my usual searing hate for AJP subsides a little when I see that on the video. He’s not ALL bad, folks.
Anyway, hang in there Denard. Hopefully our lead-off hitter can be back in ship-shape soon.
EDIT:
Well THIS is disheartening.
Five words or less.
The 2009 active Twins roster in five words or less:
Scott Baker: Shake ‘n’ bake
Nick Blackburn: Other dreamy sideburned player
Jesse Crain: Ichabod needs improvement
Brian Duensing: Cute new pitcher
Armando Gabino: Who?
Matt Guerrier: That means “warrior” in French
Bob Keppel: Bald can be beautiful
Francisco Liriano: Tommy John didn’t help things
Ron Mahay: Say ma-hey-hey!
Jeff Manship: Sorta looks like Duensing
Jose Mijares: Wife just had a baby
Joe Nathan: Horse mouth twitches into hearts
Carl Pavano: Serious scowler
Jon Rauch: Holy Jesus, tall tattooed man!
Joe Mauer: Pretty ‘burns, hometown hero, MVP
Jose Morales: Cute as an effin’ button
Mike Redmond: Fiercely awesome Reddy
Brian Buscher: Love/hate relationship
Orlando Cabrera: Padre Orlando helps the kiddies
Alexi Casilla: Little Dominican badass
Joe Crede: Knee socks; I’d do him
Brendan Harris: Cute … for a Republican
Justin Huber: Who-ber?
Justin Morneau: Canadian heartthrob and big guns
Nick Punto: Dynamite comes in small packages
Matt Tolbert: Tip: Toll-bert, not Toll-bear
Michael Cuddyer: Surprisingly awesome sometimes
Carlos Gomez: Ese might be loco
Denard Span: Pretty eyes, great catches
Delmon Young: Just may get way better
Jason Kubel: DH JK, FTW!
Also, we finished off a sweep of the Cleveland Indians today, finishing them off 7-3. Moving on, we play the Detroit Tigers this weekend. My only hope is not losing any more ground to them, so hopefully having tomorrow off will give the boys time to think and rest.
Little Nicky.
Reasons why I love Nick Punto:
1. He helped us win the game today, 5-4, with a few doubles and other nice hits.
2. His last name is Punto.
3. He’s like 4 feet tall.
4. He played for Italia in the WBC. Everyone loves Italians!
5. His head-first slides into bases are pretty dangerous. And danger can be fun!
6. He makes crazy-weird airborne catches.
7. I enjoy referring to him as “Little Nicky“
8. He smells good.
9. He’s a family man.
10. He (allegedly) rides unicorns in his dreams:
Neede Crede? Just say ‘Neau.
Despite our last two (AMAZING) wins against the A’s and Indians, respectively, some bad news came last night from the illustrious Gard-Dog, aka Ron Gardenhire.
Okay, deep breath, aaaaand …
JOE CREDE IS DONE FOR THE SEASON.
Alright, this one was fairly obvious. Crede had been battling various injuries during the season, keeping him out of a fair amount of games. But the biggest injury of them all – his recently re-built robot back – just couldn’t hold up.
After his performance Sunday, during which he struck out four times as the Twins‘ DH, it was obvious Joe just couldn’t do what he needed to do anymore. He told Gardy after the game that he couldn’t get the bat where it needed to be. So, that’s that for Crede.
My question is: is that it for Crede and the Twins, just like that?? I’m surprised, if so. Granted, we signed a one-year free-agent deal with him last summer, but I thought maybe after some of the great things he managed to do for us (look up Tigers v. Twins, May 13 for a refresher), we might try to keep him on for a little more time. But so far, I haven’t read what Crede’s fate will be after the season ends for the rest of the Twins.
Second announcement:
JUSTIN MORNEAU IS DONE FOR THE SEASON.
This one was a tish more shocking. What could possibly have knocked Justin “Just Say ‘Neau” off the team? Oh. I see.
Justin Morneau will miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his lower back. The hard-hitting Morneau had been battling back pain for weeks, but a CT scan and an MRI on Monday revealed the fracture.
“It’s one of those things that’s been nagging for a while,” said Morneau, who also fought through back problems a season ago. “I just wanted to go in and see if it was anything different than last year.”
Recovery for Morneau is expected to take three months, and he has been instructed by doctors to not do any running or heavy lifting during that time. Morneau added that he won’t need surgery, saying the fracture should heal on its own.
MY MIND IS BOGGLED. One good thing, though: Cuddyer has been surprisingly strong when he has taken over 1st base for an ailing Morneau recently, and Gardy says he’ll be there for the rest of the season.
So, there’s that. What a weird season. Who knows how it’ll end, since our hopes of the AL Central title are painfully slim. But there’s always next year …
PS. CUDDYER! KUBEL! COMEBACK IN THE 8TH! Things like that renew my faith in the Minnesota Twins.
FLASHING LIGHTS.
YO MICHAEL CUDDYER, I KNOW YOU JUST HIT THE GAME-TYING HOME-RUN AND ALL, AND I’MA LET YOU FINISH RUNNING THE BASES … BUT MAUER’S HOME RUN YESTERDAY WAS THE BEST ONE THIS YEAR!
Agony: A feeling all too familiar to Twins fans
1b: Cuddyer 2b: Punto 3b: Harris SS: Cabrera
RF: Span CF: Gomez LF: Young C: Mauer
Pitching:
- Duensing (7 shutout innings), Keppel (1 shutout inning), Nathan
TOP OF 1ST:
Kubel out with a sore neck, and Morneau out with a sprained ovary. I mean sore wrist, or something. Cuddyer takes over 1st and CREDE is the DH … !
Quick top of the inning, thanks to Duensing, who hopefully will not choke.
BOTTOM OF 1ST (0-0):
So seriously, Crede is back, sorta?
Bases loaded, and Cuddy manages to bring in two runs. Maybe I speak too soon when I say: WHAT IS HAPPENING WE’RE PLAYING WELL WTF I DON’T GET IT!
We are amazing at double plays … well, batting into them. 133 of them to be exact – the most in the AL. WE’RE #1! WE’RE #1!
Another run batted in, making it 3-0 for us.
TOP OF 2ND (3-0, Twins):
WHAT. Did I just hear “Garciaparra?” How did I not know NOMAAAAH was with the A’s??
I still can’t really tell Manship and Deunsing apart when I look at them. Observe:
Differences: uhhh, one smiles?
And after loading the bases, one of the guys above ends the inning with no damage done. Good job, Man … sing? Duenship?
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