Twins Lose Rain-Shortened Game

In a game which featured more time spent in the dugout during 2 rain delays (1:48) than actually on the field (1:47), the Twins dropped their final divisional game of the year 9-4 to the Detroit Tigers. The loss also secured the Twins their first non-winning season since 2000, but they still have a chance, albeit unlikely, to finish at .500 if they are able to sweep the Red Sox in Fenway. For the Tigers, the win was not enough to keep them in the playoff hunt, as a Yankees win eliminated them from playoff contention. Johan Santana had trouble finding the strike zone, and neither his defense nor the weather was exactly helping him out. Alexi Casilla made 2 errors on the day (one while Santana was in) leading to 3 unearned runs, and a long delay after the 3rd inning prevented Santana from coming back out in the 4th. All in all, Santana's season finale was a 3 inning start in which he gave up 2 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 4. This start ended a streak of 123 straight starts for Santana in which he pitched at least 5 innings. The four strikeouts put Johan 2 ahead of Peavy, and the Padres' hurler only managed 1 K in his start today, so Scott Kazmir remains the only obstacle now to Johan capturing the major league strikeout title. However, Kazmir is only 6 behind Santana, and that is definitely an achievable mark in his start tomorrow at the Trop.

The Twins did take a 4-0 lead in the first inning after a Justin Morneau RBI single and a Rondell White 3 RBI double, but Johan coughed up most of the lead in the bottom of the 2nd, and Nick Blackburn struggled in his 5th career major league appearance, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits over 2 innings.

On Tuesday, Torii Hunter gave a radio interview, and though I like Torii a lot, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment and anger at Hunter once again bashing his teammates by saying this:

"Somebody needs to slap a couple people around and say, 'You've got to play no matter what."

When asked if he was referring directly to Joe Mauer's sitting out a few games once again, he denied that he was pointing out a specific player, but did go on to criticize the toughness of all the younger players by saying:

"It's a different breed. I don't know what's going on in the Minor Leagues, but it's different."

I've always liked Hunter as a player and liked his willingness to speak and provide a quote for the most part, but lately his habit of attacking fellow players in the media has gotten annoying.

On another baseball note, fans voted that Barry Bond's 756th home run ball be branded with an asterisk and then delivered to the hall of fame. That choice got just under half the votes, with the choice to deliver it to the hall of fame intact coming in 2nd, and the idea of blasting it into space coming in a distant 3rd. Apparently, the hall of fame has agreed to accept the ball in whatever condition it gets to them, which came as a surprise to me. Maybe they're planning on repairing the ball somehow once they get it, or maybe Cooperstown has really decided to display the ball with the asterisk as evidence of baseball history and the fans' take on the illegitimacy of the so-called 'steroids era.'