This is simply a video I created to go along with my 2010 Twins Highlights post. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label highlights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label highlights. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
2010 Highlights
Somehow, despite how late in posting these I am every year, I top myself the next year. Now's a good time to look back at the highlights of the 2010 season, however, considering the lack of highlights the 2011 Twins are currently producing. Without further ado...
Honorable Mentions
4/12- Twins win first game in the history of Target Field
5/21- Twins score 7 runs in the first and lead 15-0, but Carlos Gomez still admires his 3-run homer in the eighth inning
6/26- Johan Santana pitches his first game against Minnesota, but Carl Pavano bests him with a complete game shutout
8/10- Twins hit five homers to beat White Sox and take over first place
9/4- Michael Young makes the last out when he contacts his third base coach, giving the Twins the victory
10. Liriano strikes out 7 straight hitters in outdueling Tim Hudson (June 11th vs. Atlanta)
It was a magical night during a fantastic season for Francisco Liriano. Having given up a run in the second inning to put the Twins down 1-0, Liriano came back with a vengeance in the next frame. Melky Cabrera started it with a groundout, but following that Liriano struck out seven consecutive Braves batters. Martin Prado, Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones, Troy Glaus, Brian McCann, Yunel Escobar, and Omar Infante all went down on strikes before David Ross grounded an 0-1 fastball to second base for an out. By then, Liriano had tied a Twins record with the 7 consecutive strikeouts, a feat accomplished once before in 1966 by Jim Merritt. All except Escobar struck out swinging, and five of them went down on sliders while two were victims of Liriano's changeup. When all was said and done, Liriano had pitched 8 innings of 1-run ball to go with 12 strikeouts, leading the Twins to victory over Tim Hudson and the Braves.
9. Valencia hits a walk-off single against the Tigers (September 1st vs. Detroit)
Francisco Liriano battled Max Scherzer in a pitcher's duel that saw the score tied at one after a full slate of nine innings. Liriano threw seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen, which gave up the game-tying run in the eighth inning. Scherzer, meanwhile, tossed a career-high nine innings and racked up nine punchouts, but did allow one run. That set the stage for Danny Valencia to come to the plate facing Tigers reliever Ryan Perry in the bottom of the tenth with one out and Michael Cuddyer on second base. And Valencia delivered, lining a game-winning single to left-centerfield that scored Cuddyer. The Minnesota victory, their second one-run win over the Tigers in two days, put the final nail in Detroit's coffin, pushing them 12 games behind the Twins in the division.
8. Kubel's pop up hits a catwalk at Tropicana Field, scoring the deciding runs (August 5th at Tampa Bay)
It looked like the Twins would grab an easy victory over the Rays. As the eighth inning rolled around, the Twins led 6-0 and Kevin Slowey was cruising. B.J. Upton led off the inning with a solo homer, however, and after a hit batter, single, and a walk--and getting two outs--Slowey was removed from the game. Jesse Crain and Ron Mahay offered no relief whatsoever, though, walking in a run and allowing a game-tying grand slam, respectively. In the next half-inning, the Twins were threatening with runners on the corners and two outs. That's when Jason Kubel hit a sky-high pop up that looked to be the end of the Twins' scoring chance; instead, the ball glanced off the highest catwalk at Tropicana Field, which is referred to as the A ring and sits about 190 feet above the playing field. Kubel, only the second player ever to have hit the A ring, chuckled as he stood at first base having earned an RBI for driving in the go-ahead run. Cuddyer singled to follow him, adding an insurance run that turned out to be unnecessary as Matt Capps closed out the 8-6 victory.
7. Span hits 3 triples in one game, helping the Twins beat the Tigers (June 29th vs. Detroit)
Having relinquished first place the night before to Detroit, the Twins were looking for a reversal of fortune on this Tuesday afternoon. Denard Span got them off to a good start, lacing a ball into the gap that rolled to the deepest crevice of Target Field, right at the 403 foot sign, and racing into third base for a triple. In the fourth inning, following a single in the third, Span hit a deep drive over the head of Magglio Ordonez, whose attempt to catch it was vaguely reminiscent of Delmon Young. It then bounced back past him after hitting the wall, allowing Span to scamper in for an easy triple. The very next inning Span came up again, blasting a pitch deep into right field, looking like it was a sure homer. It hit high off the wall, though, and bounced over Ordonez's head; it was actually misplayed so badly by Ordonez that first baseman Miguel Cabrera ended up fielding the ball, giving Span another easy triple. He had a chance to set the modern era record with 4 triples in a game, but instead drew a four-pitch walk, settling for becoming the 29th player to hit 3 triples in a game since 1919, the third since 1990, and the second Twin ever to do so. His five RBIs also helped the Twins take over first place with an 11-4 victory.
6. The Twins steamroll the Royals 19-1 (July 26th at Kansas City)
It was just one of those days where everything went right for the Twins. And, once more, it was Francisco Liriano pitching a great game, as seems to be becoming a pattern in these highlights. He threw seven scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and walking no one. But obviously the bats were the real story on this day, as the Twins set a season-high with 19 runs, the most since their 20-run outburst against Chicago the previous July. Danny Valencia set the tone by smacking a 2-out grand slam off Zack Greinke in the first inning to put the Twins up 6-0. Joe Mauer was the star of the show, though, collecting five hits in as many at bats, doubling, homering, and driving in 7 runs. Valencia and Delmon Young also had four hits apiece, making this one of three times during the 2011 that three teammates had at least four hits. The team combined for 11 extra base hits, the most in one game for the Twins since 2002, and tying the most since 1979. All in all, it was a fun day to be a Twins fan.
5. The Twins clinch the AL Central division title (September 21st vs. Cleveland)
Unlike the 2008 and 2009 season, the Twins had a relatively comfortable September, locking up the division title with 11 games to go in the 2010 season. On this day, it was Scott Baker who started and gave the Twins five solid innings. Still, Minnesota trailed until late in the game, when a 4-run eighth inning put the Twins up 6-4 on the Indians. Denard Span drove in the go-ahead run with a single, and Orlando Hudson brought Span in with a double to stretch the lead to two. Matt Capps came on for the ninth and picked up the save, ending the game with a strikeout of Michael Brantley. The win meant the White Sox would have to win every remaining game on their schedule, along with the Twins having to lose all of their remaining games, to even achieve a tie in the division. When Chicago lost later that night, it was official: the Minnesota Twins were the 2010 American League Central Division Champions!
4. The Twins score 4 runs in the ninth to walk-off against the White Sox (July 18th vs. Chicago)
Coming into this four-game series with the White Sox, the Twins were 3.5 games out of first place. After a tough series-opening loss, they trailed Chicago by 4.5 games. They won the next two, however, giving themselves a chance to cut the lead to 1.5 games with a victory in this one. That didn't look all that likely when the ninth inning arrived, given that Minnesota was down by the score of 6-3. Bobby Jenks was in to close the game, but he didn't even manage to get an out. Walks to Orlando Hudson and Joe Mauer and singles by Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer brought Jenks' night to a quick end with the White Sox clinging to a 6-5 lead. Sergio Santos came in and promptly walked Jason Repko, loading the bases for Delmon Young, who hit a shallow fly ball to center. It dropped in front of Alex Rios, bringing in the tying and, after Rios threw the ball in the vicinity of the third base dugout, the winning run. With that, the Twins had scored four runs in the ninth to win in walk-off style without making an out in the inning.
3. The Twins make up 5 runs in the ninth before beating the Phillies in 11 innings (June 19th at Philadelphia)
It was a wild night in Philadelphia, as the Twins and Phillies had more combined players hit home runs than in any other game in either 2009 or 2010. Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, and Drew Butera all homered for Minnesota, while Philadelphia had five players each hit one, for a total of 9 different players. Down 9-4 in the ninth, the Twins looked dead to rights in the final game of the series. But four of those homers were yet to come, as Jim Thome followed an inning-opening single by Delmon Young with one of them. With a Nick Punto walk and a Denard Span single, the Twins trailed by just two with a man on and Mauer coming to the plate, but the Phillies had also gotten two outs in between. No matter, though, as Mauer tied the game with a 2-run blast. In the tenth, Butera and Ross Gload traded solo shots, keeping the game even at 10. An RBI infield single and a 2-run double by Young and Matt Tolbert, respectively, finally stretched the lead to 13-10 and gave the Twins the victory once Jon Rauch had taken care of business in the bottom of the inning.
2. Kubel's grand slam off Mariano Rivera lifts the Twins over the Yankees (May 16th at New York)
It was the Yankees again. You knew the story. The Twins go to Yankee Stadium, they get beat. Blowout, walk-off, it could have been either, but you knew they would lose. They lost all 10 games against the Yankees in 2009 (including playoffs), and lost the first 2 of this series. Since 2007, they had run up 11 consecutive losses at Yankee Stadium. So when the eighth inning opened with the Twins trailing 3-1, no one would have blamed you for turning the game off. Even when the Twins loaded the bases with two outs, it still seemed a foregone conclusion that they would lose, especially with Mariano Rivera about to enter the game. Then Jim Thome drew a walk, forcing home a run; but how many times had the Twins come close against the Yankees, only to lose in painful fashion? Well, Jason Kubel changed that pattern when he drilled a 1-0 pitch from Rivera into the seats in the right field corner for a grand slam. All of a sudden, Minnesota led New York, 6-3. After Brian Duensing, Matt Guerrier, and Jon Rauch combined to end the game with two scoreless innings, Twins fans could finally celebrate a win in Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2007.
1. Thome hits a walk-off homer against the White Sox (August 17th vs. Chicago)
The White Sox rode into Minneapolis as losers of six of their last eight games. The Twins opened the series on the heels of a 4-game winning streak. Minnesota's division lead was up to 3 games. A good series against the White Sox could utterly deflate them, whereas a bad series could have the opposite effect. After Matt Capps blew the save, allowing a game-tying solo home run to Alexei Ramirez, Jon Rauch gave up a go-ahead RBI single to Ramirez in the tenth inning. The Twins weren't done though. Delmon Young opened the bottom half of the frame with a single, and then Jim Thome strode to the plate. Matt Thornton delivered an 0-1 fastball that Thome absolutely crushed for the first walk-off home run in Target Field history, a no-doubter that gave the Twins a 7-6 victory. As Thome circled the bases, the rest of the team circled home plate, awaiting his impending arrival with gigantic grins on their faces. With the benefit of hindsight, it sure seemed like a turning point in the season for both teams.
Honorable Mentions
4/12- Twins win first game in the history of Target Field
5/21- Twins score 7 runs in the first and lead 15-0, but Carlos Gomez still admires his 3-run homer in the eighth inning
6/26- Johan Santana pitches his first game against Minnesota, but Carl Pavano bests him with a complete game shutout
8/10- Twins hit five homers to beat White Sox and take over first place
9/4- Michael Young makes the last out when he contacts his third base coach, giving the Twins the victory
10. Liriano strikes out 7 straight hitters in outdueling Tim Hudson (June 11th vs. Atlanta)
It was a magical night during a fantastic season for Francisco Liriano. Having given up a run in the second inning to put the Twins down 1-0, Liriano came back with a vengeance in the next frame. Melky Cabrera started it with a groundout, but following that Liriano struck out seven consecutive Braves batters. Martin Prado, Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones, Troy Glaus, Brian McCann, Yunel Escobar, and Omar Infante all went down on strikes before David Ross grounded an 0-1 fastball to second base for an out. By then, Liriano had tied a Twins record with the 7 consecutive strikeouts, a feat accomplished once before in 1966 by Jim Merritt. All except Escobar struck out swinging, and five of them went down on sliders while two were victims of Liriano's changeup. When all was said and done, Liriano had pitched 8 innings of 1-run ball to go with 12 strikeouts, leading the Twins to victory over Tim Hudson and the Braves.
9. Valencia hits a walk-off single against the Tigers (September 1st vs. Detroit)
Francisco Liriano battled Max Scherzer in a pitcher's duel that saw the score tied at one after a full slate of nine innings. Liriano threw seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen, which gave up the game-tying run in the eighth inning. Scherzer, meanwhile, tossed a career-high nine innings and racked up nine punchouts, but did allow one run. That set the stage for Danny Valencia to come to the plate facing Tigers reliever Ryan Perry in the bottom of the tenth with one out and Michael Cuddyer on second base. And Valencia delivered, lining a game-winning single to left-centerfield that scored Cuddyer. The Minnesota victory, their second one-run win over the Tigers in two days, put the final nail in Detroit's coffin, pushing them 12 games behind the Twins in the division.
8. Kubel's pop up hits a catwalk at Tropicana Field, scoring the deciding runs (August 5th at Tampa Bay)
It looked like the Twins would grab an easy victory over the Rays. As the eighth inning rolled around, the Twins led 6-0 and Kevin Slowey was cruising. B.J. Upton led off the inning with a solo homer, however, and after a hit batter, single, and a walk--and getting two outs--Slowey was removed from the game. Jesse Crain and Ron Mahay offered no relief whatsoever, though, walking in a run and allowing a game-tying grand slam, respectively. In the next half-inning, the Twins were threatening with runners on the corners and two outs. That's when Jason Kubel hit a sky-high pop up that looked to be the end of the Twins' scoring chance; instead, the ball glanced off the highest catwalk at Tropicana Field, which is referred to as the A ring and sits about 190 feet above the playing field. Kubel, only the second player ever to have hit the A ring, chuckled as he stood at first base having earned an RBI for driving in the go-ahead run. Cuddyer singled to follow him, adding an insurance run that turned out to be unnecessary as Matt Capps closed out the 8-6 victory.
7. Span hits 3 triples in one game, helping the Twins beat the Tigers (June 29th vs. Detroit)
Having relinquished first place the night before to Detroit, the Twins were looking for a reversal of fortune on this Tuesday afternoon. Denard Span got them off to a good start, lacing a ball into the gap that rolled to the deepest crevice of Target Field, right at the 403 foot sign, and racing into third base for a triple. In the fourth inning, following a single in the third, Span hit a deep drive over the head of Magglio Ordonez, whose attempt to catch it was vaguely reminiscent of Delmon Young. It then bounced back past him after hitting the wall, allowing Span to scamper in for an easy triple. The very next inning Span came up again, blasting a pitch deep into right field, looking like it was a sure homer. It hit high off the wall, though, and bounced over Ordonez's head; it was actually misplayed so badly by Ordonez that first baseman Miguel Cabrera ended up fielding the ball, giving Span another easy triple. He had a chance to set the modern era record with 4 triples in a game, but instead drew a four-pitch walk, settling for becoming the 29th player to hit 3 triples in a game since 1919, the third since 1990, and the second Twin ever to do so. His five RBIs also helped the Twins take over first place with an 11-4 victory.
6. The Twins steamroll the Royals 19-1 (July 26th at Kansas City)
It was just one of those days where everything went right for the Twins. And, once more, it was Francisco Liriano pitching a great game, as seems to be becoming a pattern in these highlights. He threw seven scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and walking no one. But obviously the bats were the real story on this day, as the Twins set a season-high with 19 runs, the most since their 20-run outburst against Chicago the previous July. Danny Valencia set the tone by smacking a 2-out grand slam off Zack Greinke in the first inning to put the Twins up 6-0. Joe Mauer was the star of the show, though, collecting five hits in as many at bats, doubling, homering, and driving in 7 runs. Valencia and Delmon Young also had four hits apiece, making this one of three times during the 2011 that three teammates had at least four hits. The team combined for 11 extra base hits, the most in one game for the Twins since 2002, and tying the most since 1979. All in all, it was a fun day to be a Twins fan.
5. The Twins clinch the AL Central division title (September 21st vs. Cleveland)
Unlike the 2008 and 2009 season, the Twins had a relatively comfortable September, locking up the division title with 11 games to go in the 2010 season. On this day, it was Scott Baker who started and gave the Twins five solid innings. Still, Minnesota trailed until late in the game, when a 4-run eighth inning put the Twins up 6-4 on the Indians. Denard Span drove in the go-ahead run with a single, and Orlando Hudson brought Span in with a double to stretch the lead to two. Matt Capps came on for the ninth and picked up the save, ending the game with a strikeout of Michael Brantley. The win meant the White Sox would have to win every remaining game on their schedule, along with the Twins having to lose all of their remaining games, to even achieve a tie in the division. When Chicago lost later that night, it was official: the Minnesota Twins were the 2010 American League Central Division Champions!
4. The Twins score 4 runs in the ninth to walk-off against the White Sox (July 18th vs. Chicago)
Coming into this four-game series with the White Sox, the Twins were 3.5 games out of first place. After a tough series-opening loss, they trailed Chicago by 4.5 games. They won the next two, however, giving themselves a chance to cut the lead to 1.5 games with a victory in this one. That didn't look all that likely when the ninth inning arrived, given that Minnesota was down by the score of 6-3. Bobby Jenks was in to close the game, but he didn't even manage to get an out. Walks to Orlando Hudson and Joe Mauer and singles by Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer brought Jenks' night to a quick end with the White Sox clinging to a 6-5 lead. Sergio Santos came in and promptly walked Jason Repko, loading the bases for Delmon Young, who hit a shallow fly ball to center. It dropped in front of Alex Rios, bringing in the tying and, after Rios threw the ball in the vicinity of the third base dugout, the winning run. With that, the Twins had scored four runs in the ninth to win in walk-off style without making an out in the inning.
3. The Twins make up 5 runs in the ninth before beating the Phillies in 11 innings (June 19th at Philadelphia)
It was a wild night in Philadelphia, as the Twins and Phillies had more combined players hit home runs than in any other game in either 2009 or 2010. Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, and Drew Butera all homered for Minnesota, while Philadelphia had five players each hit one, for a total of 9 different players. Down 9-4 in the ninth, the Twins looked dead to rights in the final game of the series. But four of those homers were yet to come, as Jim Thome followed an inning-opening single by Delmon Young with one of them. With a Nick Punto walk and a Denard Span single, the Twins trailed by just two with a man on and Mauer coming to the plate, but the Phillies had also gotten two outs in between. No matter, though, as Mauer tied the game with a 2-run blast. In the tenth, Butera and Ross Gload traded solo shots, keeping the game even at 10. An RBI infield single and a 2-run double by Young and Matt Tolbert, respectively, finally stretched the lead to 13-10 and gave the Twins the victory once Jon Rauch had taken care of business in the bottom of the inning.
2. Kubel's grand slam off Mariano Rivera lifts the Twins over the Yankees (May 16th at New York)
It was the Yankees again. You knew the story. The Twins go to Yankee Stadium, they get beat. Blowout, walk-off, it could have been either, but you knew they would lose. They lost all 10 games against the Yankees in 2009 (including playoffs), and lost the first 2 of this series. Since 2007, they had run up 11 consecutive losses at Yankee Stadium. So when the eighth inning opened with the Twins trailing 3-1, no one would have blamed you for turning the game off. Even when the Twins loaded the bases with two outs, it still seemed a foregone conclusion that they would lose, especially with Mariano Rivera about to enter the game. Then Jim Thome drew a walk, forcing home a run; but how many times had the Twins come close against the Yankees, only to lose in painful fashion? Well, Jason Kubel changed that pattern when he drilled a 1-0 pitch from Rivera into the seats in the right field corner for a grand slam. All of a sudden, Minnesota led New York, 6-3. After Brian Duensing, Matt Guerrier, and Jon Rauch combined to end the game with two scoreless innings, Twins fans could finally celebrate a win in Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2007.
1. Thome hits a walk-off homer against the White Sox (August 17th vs. Chicago)
The White Sox rode into Minneapolis as losers of six of their last eight games. The Twins opened the series on the heels of a 4-game winning streak. Minnesota's division lead was up to 3 games. A good series against the White Sox could utterly deflate them, whereas a bad series could have the opposite effect. After Matt Capps blew the save, allowing a game-tying solo home run to Alexei Ramirez, Jon Rauch gave up a go-ahead RBI single to Ramirez in the tenth inning. The Twins weren't done though. Delmon Young opened the bottom half of the frame with a single, and then Jim Thome strode to the plate. Matt Thornton delivered an 0-1 fastball that Thome absolutely crushed for the first walk-off home run in Target Field history, a no-doubter that gave the Twins a 7-6 victory. As Thome circled the bases, the rest of the team circled home plate, awaiting his impending arrival with gigantic grins on their faces. With the benefit of hindsight, it sure seemed like a turning point in the season for both teams.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
2009 Highlights
Deadlines. Timeliness. Two words that don't really exist on this blog.
Twin #2. A writer who seemingly doesn't exist on this blog. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
But nonetheless, I have completed one of my favorite entries of every year, even if it wasn't in the most timely of manners. Today I will count down the top ten moments of the Twins' 2009 season. There were many tough choices this year, as the Twins received remarkable individual performances and had a stunning September rally to capture the division crown. Unfortunately many of the highlights were negative, which I usually try to avoid, but they were just too memorable to avoid choosing them. Without further ado, the list...
Honorable Mentions:
5/13- Crede hits walk-off Grand Slam in 13th inning
5/22- Michael Cuddyer hits for the cycle
6/5- Twins win in extras even after Kubel is robbed of home run
8/14- Baker pitches two-hit shutout in 11-0 win
9/19- Twins rally in 8th against Tigers to win sixth in a row
9/29- Twins win first game of doubleheader and series against Tigers in 10th
10. Joe Mauer homers in his return from the Disabled List (May 1st vs. Kansas City)
Joe Mauer had followed up his disappointing 2007 season with another excellent year in 2008, leading the American League in batting average for the second time in three years. The 2009 season, however, didn't seem like it would bring more of the same, as Mauer spent the first month on the DL after offseason surgery. Jose Morales and Mike Redmond filled in and, despite their best efforts, they had no chance of replacing Mauer's contributions. Sitting at 11-11, and middling in the always-winnable AL Central, Mauer's return was a very welcome sight. Facing the Royals and Sidney Ponson, Joe Mauer came to the plate in the bottom of the first inning with two outs and nobody on base. After taking the first two pitches for balls, Mauer uncoiled his first swing of the 2009 season, connecting for a home run to left-center. It was a sign of things to come, as Mauer set career highs in just about every offensive category, including home runs (28), RBIs (96), batting average (.365), OBP (.444), SLG (.587), and OPS (1.031). He was also tops in the league in the last three categories on his way to being named American League MVP.
9. Twins slaughter White Sox 20-1 (May 21st at Chicago)
It was a rough patch for the Twins. Coming into this game, they'd suffered six consecutive losses. The first four were in heartbreaking fashion, all to the hated Yankees, as you just might read more about later in this countdown. Following that, they lost the first two games of their series against the rival White Sox. Of those six games, they had leads in five of them. They lost all six by a total of twelve runs. For all those reasons, this game was the perfect antidote. The Twins banged out 7 runs in the second innings to take an 8-0 lead. They would score at least 4 runs in two other innings. They had 20 hits. They scored 20 runs. Five Twins had at least three hits. Joe Mauer hit a grand slam. Even Matt Tolbert added a three-run homer. The White Sox did manage to push a run across in the eighth inning, which unfortunately prevented the shutout, but it was a perfect evening otherwise.
8. Twins beat Greinke to tie Detroit atop division (October 3rd vs. Kansas City)
Trailing the Tigers by 1 game with two to play, the Twins faced a tall task on this saturday afternoon. Sure, they were playing the Royals, but Zack Greinke would be starting for Kansas City. The same Zack Greinke who would win the 2009 AL Cy Young. Who had a league-leading 2.06 ERA and 1.07 WHIP at the time. Who had allowed 2 earned runs over his last 6 starts (42 innings), good for a 0.43 ERA. Who had just handled the Twins 5 days ago in his previous start, giving up a sole run over 7 innings. Through 5 innings, that storyline continued, as Greinke and Nick Blackburn traded zeros. In the bottom of the sixth, however, the Twins broke through, scoring 4 runs and seemingly putting the game out of reach. Blackburn pitched one more inning, and allowed a solo home run, before being removed after giving up a lead-off double in the eighth. The relief corps of Jose Mijares and Jon Rauch fell flat on their faces, as they permitted the Royals to tie the game by the time the inning was over. Tied at 4, the Twins desperately needed a hero. And Michael Cuddyer did just that, putting the Twins ahead for good with a solo home run of his own in the bottom half of the inning. After Joe Nathan closed it out, the Twins knew they would not be eliminated regardless of the outcome of Detroit's game that night. When Detroit lost, and the Twins pulled even atop the Central with just one day left in the regular season, it was even better.
7. Cuddyer hits two home runs in one inning (August 23rd at Kansas City)
Again the Twins met the Royals for a day game, but this time it was a late-August matchup which saw the Twins struggling to stay afloat in the division race. Mired 3 games below .500, at 60-63, even the most die hard fans were grasping for reasons why they shouldn't give up hope. Tied at one apiece entering the seventh, the game looked like it would be a nail-biter. Instead, the Twins exploded in the inning, scoring 8 times on 8 hits, and putting the game well out of reach. Michael Cuddyer led the charge, as he became the first Twin ever to homer twice in one inning. He started the inning with a solo shot off starter Brian Bannister, and was followed by a double, three singles, a triple, a sacrifice fly, another single, and a strikeout. Then it was Cuddyer's turn again, and he connected a second time, this one coming off reliever Kyle Farnsworth, making Twins history in the process.
6. Kubel leads comeback by hitting for the cycle (April 17th vs. Los Angeles)
Games in April have a hard time making this list for an obvious reason: they offer none of the pennant race excitement that games in September and October do. But when a huge comeback combines with a special individual performance, it's enough to slot in at #6. In this case, Minnesota trailed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 9-4 with six outs to go. The Twins had already scored 3 runs in the eighth inning before Justin Morneau came to the plate with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd. The Angels wanted nothing to do with Morneau, walking him intentionally and bringing Jason Kubel to the plate with the bases loaded, 2 outs, and the Twins behind by 2 runs. Kubel already had a single, a double, and a triple in the game, so he just needed a home run for the cycle. But to tie the game, all he needed was a single. Of course, you know what happened: Kubel launched a grand slam into the right field bleachers, giving the Twins a 2-run lead and an eventual victory, and completing the ninth cycle in Twins history.
5. Twins lose on third straight walk-off at Yankee Stadium (May 17th at New York)
On Friday it was Joe Nathan surrendering a 2-run lead in the ninth, capped by a 2-out, 2-run walk-off single by Melky Cabrera. On Saturday it was Craig Breslow serving up a walk-off 2-run homer to Alex Rodriguez in the 11th inning. And on Sunday it was Jesse Crain allowing a walk-off homer from Johnny Damon in the 10th inning. (Oh, and just to be cruel, they threw in an extra game on Monday, which the Twins would also lose by one run, albeit not on a walk-off). The Twins' troubles at Yankee Stadium had been well documented, and this was their first opportunity to prove New Yankee Stadium would not give them the same problems. So much for that. It was only the precursor, though, as they would go on to lose all 10 games they played against the Yankees in 2009, including 3 high-profile games that you might remember, and that will certainly appear a little later on this list.
4. Twins blow 10-run lead and lose when Cuddyer is thrown out at home (July 20th at Oakland)
This was a laugher. The Twins scored 3 in the first, 5 in the second, and 4 in the third. They led 12-2 after two and a half frames. Justin Morneau had already homered twice, including a grand slam, and driven in 7 runs. As a team, the Twins had already smashed four home runs. Oakland did respond with 5 runs combined in the third and fourth, but another insurance run on a Delmon Young sacrifice fly put the Twins up 13-7. The A's win probability had moved from 1.1 % (before the bottom of the third) to 2.1 % following the top of the seventh, but it was still a miniscule chance of victory. And then, all of a sudden, it wasn't, as Matt Guerrier and Bobby Keppel gave it all back in a hurry. Orlando Cabrera drove in two runs with a double and Matt Holliday tied the game with a grand slam, before Jose Mijares was brought in. He fared no better, as he allowed a go-ahead home run to the next batter, Jack Cust. The score remained there, 14-13, until the tninth inning rolled around. With first and second base occupied and two outs and Delmon Young batting, Michael Wuertz uncorked a breaking ball that bounced wildly in front of home plate. As Michael Cuddyer sprinted toward third base, he realized that catcher Kurt Suzuki was having trouble locating the ball, and made up his mind to head all the way home. Cuddyer slid in just ahead of the tag, as replays would conclusively prove, but was called out to end the game and complete a historic collapse by Minnesota.
3. Twins are eliminated from playoffs in last game at Metrodome (October 11th vs. New York)
Down two games to none to the Yankees in the AL Divisional Series, there was a very real possibility that this would be the final game the Twins would ever play at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The game was a pitcher's duel, with Carl Pavano and Andy Pettitte combining for 11 scoreless inning to begin the game. A 2-out RBI single by Joe Mauer finally put the Twins on the board--and in front 1-0--in the home half of the sixth. Pavano, however, gave up solo homers to Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada and the Twins couldn't muster anything else. Their best chance came in the eighth inning when Nick Punto led off with a double and Denard Span followed with an infield single. Unfortunately, as you probably remember, Punto rounded third base too aggressively, thinking the ball had gone through to the outfield, fell down putting on the brakes, and got tagged out returning to third base. The Twins' threat was neutralized, the Yankees scored two more in the ninth to take out any drama from the final half-inning, and the Twins bid farewell to the Metrodome. Despite a brilliant performance from Pavano, including a franchise record for strikeouts in a postseason game (9), and a crowd Pettitte described afterward as the loudest he'd ever heard, the 2009 season had come to an end.
2. Twins can't capitalize on numerous chances and lose Game 2 (October 9th at New York)
Boy, was this tough. After predictably falling in Game 1 of the ALDS, with Brian Duensing going up against C.C. Sabathia and having played the night before in Minnesota, the Twins took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2. Just 3 runs, despite collecting 8 hits, drawing 6 walks, and getting hit by 2 pitches. They could have certainly had one more had Carlos Gomez not gotten thrown out rounding second before Delmon Young touched home plate earlier in the game. And all that could have been overlooked, if only Joe Nathan could have closed the door. But he didn't, as Alex Rodriguez tied the game with a homer before Nathan could even get an out. It still could have been overlooked when the Twins put two runners on in the 10th, but again they failed to score. It was all okay, though, as Minnesota loaded the bases in the 11th with zero outs, despite Phil Cuzzi's horrendous call of a foul ball on Joe Mauer's double. This time everything would be all right. Of course, it wasn't--Delmon Young lined out, Carlos Gomez grounded into a force out at home, and Brendan Harris ended the inning with a flyout. Mark Teixeira capitalized immediately for the Yankees, sending a laser down the left field line and into the seats for a walk-off homer. At Yankee Stadium. Again.
1. Twins defeat Detroit in epic play-in game (October 6th vs. Detroit)
That's enough with the negative. You knew this would be here at #1. In 2008, it was the White Sox and Twins playing an extra game to decide the AL Central title. This year, it was the Tigers and the Twins, and this time the Twins would emerge victorious. Forced to play on Tuesday because of the Vikings' Monday Night Football game in the Metrodome, the game had to start before prime time so the winning team could get to New York at a reasonable hour for their game the next day. That plan went out the window, as the team battled for 4 hours and 37 minutes, also meaning I had to show up 2 1/2 hours late to work.
To the game itself, though. Detroit took a 3-0 lead early, but the Twins chipped away until Orlando Cabrera's homer, which cleared the wall by about six inches, put them ahead 4-3 in the seventh inning. However, Detroit's next batter, Magglio Ordonez, clocked a game-tying home run, and from that point on it was nothing short of a dog-fight. Two teams left it all on the field in their pursuit of a postseason berth. Detroit had the first chances, with two on and one out in the eighth, but Joe Nathan stopped that threat. In the ninth, a perfectly executed bunt single and a bloop single to right field put runners on the corners with none out. Joe Nathan stepped up, not just striking out Placido Polanco, but also making him look like a 2nd grade girl at the plate (seriously, when you look like this as the ball is crossing home plate, you've been humiliated) and then inducing a line-out double play. Next up, the Twins had a man on second with one out in their half of the inning, but nothing came of it. The Tigers followed with a run in the top of the tenth on a double by Brandon Inge, leaving the Twins three outs from elimination.
It wasn't over yet, though. Michael Cuddyer started the inning with a seemingly innocuous fly ball to left field, but Ryan Raburn turned it into a triple. He took a needless risk on a sliding catch (although it really wasn't that difficult--I'd say he probably should have caught it) and as the ball bounded toward the outfield wall, Cuddyer motored to third, almost oversliding the base in his effort. Two batters later, with runners on the corners and one out, Matt Tolbert hit a ground ball up the middle. To me, it immediately appeared to be a game-ending double play, but by the smallest of margins it squeaked past both Polanco and Adam Everett and knotted the game at 5, and now putting the Twins in a position to win the game with runners on the corners and out again. Nick Punto lofted a soft liner to shallow left, and Alexi Casilla raced home, only to be tagged out just in time and end the inning. The game would continue.
After both teams went 1-2-3 in the eleventh, Bobby Keppel stayed in to pitch the twelfth inning for Minnesota. He struggled mightily, loading the bases with just one out, before he got a grounder to second base that Punto was able to throw home in time for a force out. Then it was what every kid dreamed of: bases loaded, 2 outs, tie game. Up strode Gerald Laird, who got ahead 3-1 against Keppel. I hadn't sat down in hours, but I became more tense than I had been at any point. Laird fouled off Keppel's next offering, filling the count at 3-2. Keppel reared back and fired one low possibly just out of the strike zone, and Laird swung over the top for strike three.
And the rest is history. Carlos Gomez singled and moved to second on a Cuddyer groundout. Delmon Young was intentionally walked and then Alexi Casilla came to the plate with one out and a chance to win the game. And he did, singling to right and finishing off an amazing game and an amazing late-season run.
Twin #2. A writer who seemingly doesn't exist on this blog. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
But nonetheless, I have completed one of my favorite entries of every year, even if it wasn't in the most timely of manners. Today I will count down the top ten moments of the Twins' 2009 season. There were many tough choices this year, as the Twins received remarkable individual performances and had a stunning September rally to capture the division crown. Unfortunately many of the highlights were negative, which I usually try to avoid, but they were just too memorable to avoid choosing them. Without further ado, the list...
Honorable Mentions:
5/13- Crede hits walk-off Grand Slam in 13th inning
5/22- Michael Cuddyer hits for the cycle
6/5- Twins win in extras even after Kubel is robbed of home run
8/14- Baker pitches two-hit shutout in 11-0 win
9/19- Twins rally in 8th against Tigers to win sixth in a row
9/29- Twins win first game of doubleheader and series against Tigers in 10th
10. Joe Mauer homers in his return from the Disabled List (May 1st vs. Kansas City)
Joe Mauer had followed up his disappointing 2007 season with another excellent year in 2008, leading the American League in batting average for the second time in three years. The 2009 season, however, didn't seem like it would bring more of the same, as Mauer spent the first month on the DL after offseason surgery. Jose Morales and Mike Redmond filled in and, despite their best efforts, they had no chance of replacing Mauer's contributions. Sitting at 11-11, and middling in the always-winnable AL Central, Mauer's return was a very welcome sight. Facing the Royals and Sidney Ponson, Joe Mauer came to the plate in the bottom of the first inning with two outs and nobody on base. After taking the first two pitches for balls, Mauer uncoiled his first swing of the 2009 season, connecting for a home run to left-center. It was a sign of things to come, as Mauer set career highs in just about every offensive category, including home runs (28), RBIs (96), batting average (.365), OBP (.444), SLG (.587), and OPS (1.031). He was also tops in the league in the last three categories on his way to being named American League MVP.
9. Twins slaughter White Sox 20-1 (May 21st at Chicago)
It was a rough patch for the Twins. Coming into this game, they'd suffered six consecutive losses. The first four were in heartbreaking fashion, all to the hated Yankees, as you just might read more about later in this countdown. Following that, they lost the first two games of their series against the rival White Sox. Of those six games, they had leads in five of them. They lost all six by a total of twelve runs. For all those reasons, this game was the perfect antidote. The Twins banged out 7 runs in the second innings to take an 8-0 lead. They would score at least 4 runs in two other innings. They had 20 hits. They scored 20 runs. Five Twins had at least three hits. Joe Mauer hit a grand slam. Even Matt Tolbert added a three-run homer. The White Sox did manage to push a run across in the eighth inning, which unfortunately prevented the shutout, but it was a perfect evening otherwise.
8. Twins beat Greinke to tie Detroit atop division (October 3rd vs. Kansas City)
Trailing the Tigers by 1 game with two to play, the Twins faced a tall task on this saturday afternoon. Sure, they were playing the Royals, but Zack Greinke would be starting for Kansas City. The same Zack Greinke who would win the 2009 AL Cy Young. Who had a league-leading 2.06 ERA and 1.07 WHIP at the time. Who had allowed 2 earned runs over his last 6 starts (42 innings), good for a 0.43 ERA. Who had just handled the Twins 5 days ago in his previous start, giving up a sole run over 7 innings. Through 5 innings, that storyline continued, as Greinke and Nick Blackburn traded zeros. In the bottom of the sixth, however, the Twins broke through, scoring 4 runs and seemingly putting the game out of reach. Blackburn pitched one more inning, and allowed a solo home run, before being removed after giving up a lead-off double in the eighth. The relief corps of Jose Mijares and Jon Rauch fell flat on their faces, as they permitted the Royals to tie the game by the time the inning was over. Tied at 4, the Twins desperately needed a hero. And Michael Cuddyer did just that, putting the Twins ahead for good with a solo home run of his own in the bottom half of the inning. After Joe Nathan closed it out, the Twins knew they would not be eliminated regardless of the outcome of Detroit's game that night. When Detroit lost, and the Twins pulled even atop the Central with just one day left in the regular season, it was even better.
7. Cuddyer hits two home runs in one inning (August 23rd at Kansas City)
Again the Twins met the Royals for a day game, but this time it was a late-August matchup which saw the Twins struggling to stay afloat in the division race. Mired 3 games below .500, at 60-63, even the most die hard fans were grasping for reasons why they shouldn't give up hope. Tied at one apiece entering the seventh, the game looked like it would be a nail-biter. Instead, the Twins exploded in the inning, scoring 8 times on 8 hits, and putting the game well out of reach. Michael Cuddyer led the charge, as he became the first Twin ever to homer twice in one inning. He started the inning with a solo shot off starter Brian Bannister, and was followed by a double, three singles, a triple, a sacrifice fly, another single, and a strikeout. Then it was Cuddyer's turn again, and he connected a second time, this one coming off reliever Kyle Farnsworth, making Twins history in the process.
6. Kubel leads comeback by hitting for the cycle (April 17th vs. Los Angeles)
Games in April have a hard time making this list for an obvious reason: they offer none of the pennant race excitement that games in September and October do. But when a huge comeback combines with a special individual performance, it's enough to slot in at #6. In this case, Minnesota trailed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 9-4 with six outs to go. The Twins had already scored 3 runs in the eighth inning before Justin Morneau came to the plate with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd. The Angels wanted nothing to do with Morneau, walking him intentionally and bringing Jason Kubel to the plate with the bases loaded, 2 outs, and the Twins behind by 2 runs. Kubel already had a single, a double, and a triple in the game, so he just needed a home run for the cycle. But to tie the game, all he needed was a single. Of course, you know what happened: Kubel launched a grand slam into the right field bleachers, giving the Twins a 2-run lead and an eventual victory, and completing the ninth cycle in Twins history.
5. Twins lose on third straight walk-off at Yankee Stadium (May 17th at New York)
On Friday it was Joe Nathan surrendering a 2-run lead in the ninth, capped by a 2-out, 2-run walk-off single by Melky Cabrera. On Saturday it was Craig Breslow serving up a walk-off 2-run homer to Alex Rodriguez in the 11th inning. And on Sunday it was Jesse Crain allowing a walk-off homer from Johnny Damon in the 10th inning. (Oh, and just to be cruel, they threw in an extra game on Monday, which the Twins would also lose by one run, albeit not on a walk-off). The Twins' troubles at Yankee Stadium had been well documented, and this was their first opportunity to prove New Yankee Stadium would not give them the same problems. So much for that. It was only the precursor, though, as they would go on to lose all 10 games they played against the Yankees in 2009, including 3 high-profile games that you might remember, and that will certainly appear a little later on this list.
4. Twins blow 10-run lead and lose when Cuddyer is thrown out at home (July 20th at Oakland)
This was a laugher. The Twins scored 3 in the first, 5 in the second, and 4 in the third. They led 12-2 after two and a half frames. Justin Morneau had already homered twice, including a grand slam, and driven in 7 runs. As a team, the Twins had already smashed four home runs. Oakland did respond with 5 runs combined in the third and fourth, but another insurance run on a Delmon Young sacrifice fly put the Twins up 13-7. The A's win probability had moved from 1.1 % (before the bottom of the third) to 2.1 % following the top of the seventh, but it was still a miniscule chance of victory. And then, all of a sudden, it wasn't, as Matt Guerrier and Bobby Keppel gave it all back in a hurry. Orlando Cabrera drove in two runs with a double and Matt Holliday tied the game with a grand slam, before Jose Mijares was brought in. He fared no better, as he allowed a go-ahead home run to the next batter, Jack Cust. The score remained there, 14-13, until the tninth inning rolled around. With first and second base occupied and two outs and Delmon Young batting, Michael Wuertz uncorked a breaking ball that bounced wildly in front of home plate. As Michael Cuddyer sprinted toward third base, he realized that catcher Kurt Suzuki was having trouble locating the ball, and made up his mind to head all the way home. Cuddyer slid in just ahead of the tag, as replays would conclusively prove, but was called out to end the game and complete a historic collapse by Minnesota.
3. Twins are eliminated from playoffs in last game at Metrodome (October 11th vs. New York)
Down two games to none to the Yankees in the AL Divisional Series, there was a very real possibility that this would be the final game the Twins would ever play at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The game was a pitcher's duel, with Carl Pavano and Andy Pettitte combining for 11 scoreless inning to begin the game. A 2-out RBI single by Joe Mauer finally put the Twins on the board--and in front 1-0--in the home half of the sixth. Pavano, however, gave up solo homers to Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada and the Twins couldn't muster anything else. Their best chance came in the eighth inning when Nick Punto led off with a double and Denard Span followed with an infield single. Unfortunately, as you probably remember, Punto rounded third base too aggressively, thinking the ball had gone through to the outfield, fell down putting on the brakes, and got tagged out returning to third base. The Twins' threat was neutralized, the Yankees scored two more in the ninth to take out any drama from the final half-inning, and the Twins bid farewell to the Metrodome. Despite a brilliant performance from Pavano, including a franchise record for strikeouts in a postseason game (9), and a crowd Pettitte described afterward as the loudest he'd ever heard, the 2009 season had come to an end.
2. Twins can't capitalize on numerous chances and lose Game 2 (October 9th at New York)
Boy, was this tough. After predictably falling in Game 1 of the ALDS, with Brian Duensing going up against C.C. Sabathia and having played the night before in Minnesota, the Twins took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2. Just 3 runs, despite collecting 8 hits, drawing 6 walks, and getting hit by 2 pitches. They could have certainly had one more had Carlos Gomez not gotten thrown out rounding second before Delmon Young touched home plate earlier in the game. And all that could have been overlooked, if only Joe Nathan could have closed the door. But he didn't, as Alex Rodriguez tied the game with a homer before Nathan could even get an out. It still could have been overlooked when the Twins put two runners on in the 10th, but again they failed to score. It was all okay, though, as Minnesota loaded the bases in the 11th with zero outs, despite Phil Cuzzi's horrendous call of a foul ball on Joe Mauer's double. This time everything would be all right. Of course, it wasn't--Delmon Young lined out, Carlos Gomez grounded into a force out at home, and Brendan Harris ended the inning with a flyout. Mark Teixeira capitalized immediately for the Yankees, sending a laser down the left field line and into the seats for a walk-off homer. At Yankee Stadium. Again.
1. Twins defeat Detroit in epic play-in game (October 6th vs. Detroit)
That's enough with the negative. You knew this would be here at #1. In 2008, it was the White Sox and Twins playing an extra game to decide the AL Central title. This year, it was the Tigers and the Twins, and this time the Twins would emerge victorious. Forced to play on Tuesday because of the Vikings' Monday Night Football game in the Metrodome, the game had to start before prime time so the winning team could get to New York at a reasonable hour for their game the next day. That plan went out the window, as the team battled for 4 hours and 37 minutes, also meaning I had to show up 2 1/2 hours late to work.
To the game itself, though. Detroit took a 3-0 lead early, but the Twins chipped away until Orlando Cabrera's homer, which cleared the wall by about six inches, put them ahead 4-3 in the seventh inning. However, Detroit's next batter, Magglio Ordonez, clocked a game-tying home run, and from that point on it was nothing short of a dog-fight. Two teams left it all on the field in their pursuit of a postseason berth. Detroit had the first chances, with two on and one out in the eighth, but Joe Nathan stopped that threat. In the ninth, a perfectly executed bunt single and a bloop single to right field put runners on the corners with none out. Joe Nathan stepped up, not just striking out Placido Polanco, but also making him look like a 2nd grade girl at the plate (seriously, when you look like this as the ball is crossing home plate, you've been humiliated) and then inducing a line-out double play. Next up, the Twins had a man on second with one out in their half of the inning, but nothing came of it. The Tigers followed with a run in the top of the tenth on a double by Brandon Inge, leaving the Twins three outs from elimination.
It wasn't over yet, though. Michael Cuddyer started the inning with a seemingly innocuous fly ball to left field, but Ryan Raburn turned it into a triple. He took a needless risk on a sliding catch (although it really wasn't that difficult--I'd say he probably should have caught it) and as the ball bounded toward the outfield wall, Cuddyer motored to third, almost oversliding the base in his effort. Two batters later, with runners on the corners and one out, Matt Tolbert hit a ground ball up the middle. To me, it immediately appeared to be a game-ending double play, but by the smallest of margins it squeaked past both Polanco and Adam Everett and knotted the game at 5, and now putting the Twins in a position to win the game with runners on the corners and out again. Nick Punto lofted a soft liner to shallow left, and Alexi Casilla raced home, only to be tagged out just in time and end the inning. The game would continue.
After both teams went 1-2-3 in the eleventh, Bobby Keppel stayed in to pitch the twelfth inning for Minnesota. He struggled mightily, loading the bases with just one out, before he got a grounder to second base that Punto was able to throw home in time for a force out. Then it was what every kid dreamed of: bases loaded, 2 outs, tie game. Up strode Gerald Laird, who got ahead 3-1 against Keppel. I hadn't sat down in hours, but I became more tense than I had been at any point. Laird fouled off Keppel's next offering, filling the count at 3-2. Keppel reared back and fired one low possibly just out of the strike zone, and Laird swung over the top for strike three.
And the rest is history. Carlos Gomez singled and moved to second on a Cuddyer groundout. Delmon Young was intentionally walked and then Alexi Casilla came to the plate with one out and a chance to win the game. And he did, singling to right and finishing off an amazing game and an amazing late-season run.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The 2008 Twins Highlights
Edit (8:11 PM): The game has officially been postponed.
Edit (9:14 PM): The game will be played tomorrow at 12:35 ET as part of a doubleheader.
I was planning to examine the addition of Juan Morillo on the off-day, but Aaron Gleeman did such a good job of it that I felt what I would have written would simply have been a restatement of his post. Also, it may not be an off-day, but I live in Massachussetts (albeit 90 miles from Boston) and it's pretty messy out there. I'm not optimistic about the Twins getting their game in today, although Joe Christensen is.
With that out of the way, there is one piece of Twins news: Phil Humber will be headed to Rochester as no team claimed him while he was on waivers. That's surprising to me and many others, but I suppose all the other ballclubs saw the same things that caused the Twins to designate Humber in the first place. Regardless, I'm glad he's staying in the organization.
Now, onto the actual topic of this blog post. In the off-season, I wrote up a list of the most memorable games and moments of the Twins' 2008 season. However, the list was quite extensive and was simply in chronological order, so I decided to cut it down and then rank the top 10 most memorable moments. Here they are, with the write-ups being the same as the ones from the original post.
10. Denard Span makes a game-saving catch (August 6th at Seattle)
==>The bullpen woes were just beginning for the Twins, but the previous two games of the series were extremely tough to stomach. In the first game, the Twins led 6-1 heading into the seventh, when Glen Perkins exited with a lead. Before it was over, though, Brian Bass, Boof Bonser, and Matt Guerrier had combined to give up six of the ten runs the Twins allowed in that one inning. In the next game, the offense pushed four runs across in the eighth to take a one-run lead, but Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan promptly gave two runs right back. Then, in this game, the Twins were leading 4-3 in the seventh when Jesse Crain came on to face Adrian Beltre with a man on. He crushed the ball to right for what looked like a home run, but Span set himself up against the wall and made a leaping grab over the wall to save two runs and end the inning. And just for good measure, he also had 4 RBIs in the game.
9. The Twins score five in the ninth to beat the Rays (September 18th at Tampa Bay)
==>As badly as they’d needed the win against Cleveland, it was just that much more dire now. It was a roller coaster game, as Jason Kubel hit a homer in the first to put the Twins up 3-0. Then, Glen Perkins didn’t make it out of the first, and the Rays went up 5-3. They built their lead up to 7-3, before the Twins cut it to 7-6. A third Evan Longoria home run made the score 8-6. Coming into the ninth, on the verge of their fifth straight loss, I had turned the game off long ago. But, before Tampa even had time to get an out, Alexi Casilla had crushed a two-run homer to tie the game. Joe Mauer doubled and Justin Morneau was intentionally walked, bringing Jason Kubel to the plate. But Gardenhire decided to pinch hit for him with Adam Everett, obviously intending to have him bunt the runners over. Instead, Everett took a huge cut and sent the ball to the left field wall, scoring the go-ahead run. A Delmon Young single and a Matt Tolbert sac fly would add insurance runs, which helped put everyone at ease.
8. Mike Lamb hits a two-run walk-off single (May 9th vs. Boston)
==>Down 6-5 with two outs and Delmon Young on second, the Twins’ prospects of winning were looking fairly bleak, largely because Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound. That changed quickly though, after Young stole third, Carlos Gomez walked, and then Gomez stole second. Up to bat came Mike Lamb, with his average hovering just above the Mendoza line. But, in what was certainly his best moment as a Twin, he hit a soft line drive into left field that easily scored both runners, and gave the Twins a walk-off victory over the Red Sox.
7. Justin Morneau goes 5-5 and wins the game in the 11th (July 10th at Detroit)
==>The Twins fell behind early, 6-2 in the fourth inning to be precise. Still trailing by the same score late in the game, they pushed across one run in the seventh and another in the eighth before entering the ninth with a 2-run deficit. That lead wouldn’t last long; Nick Punto and Denard Span’s singles, followed by Joe Mauer’s sacrifice fly, would force the game into extra innings. It was then that Justin Morneau once again came through for the Twins. Already 4-4 with a walk, Justin Morneau added a little extra by hitting a go-ahead home run in the top of the eleventh, to finish the game 5-5 with 2 runs, a home run, an RBI, and a walk. For Denard Span, it was too bad, because his day (4-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, SB) was lost amidst Morneau’s performance.
6. Carlos Gomez hits for the cycle (May 7th at Chicago)
==>The Twins beat the White Sox 13-1 and Livan Hernandez had a shutout through 8 1/3 innings (and ended up with a complete game), but the story of the game was Carlos Gomez. He led off the game with a home run, but that was only the beginning, both literally and figuratively. By the end of the night, he had collected four hits in six at bats to go along with two runs and 3 RBIs. And, of course, he had the double, triple, and single necessary to hit for the eighth cycle in Twins history, and the first since Kirby Puckett did it in 1986.
5. The Tigers score six in the first, but the Twins rally to win 7-6 (May 4th vs. Detroit)
==>One of the top three comeback wins of the year (the other two still to come), the Twins fell behind very quickly. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a homer, and the Tigers would score five more times off of Boof Bonser before the inning was over. Bonser, however, came back and pitched five more scoreless innings to give the Twins a chance—a chance they would fully capitalize on, as they scored once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and completed the comeback with four runs in the seventh. Joe Mauer delivered the go-ahead single with runners on second and third and two outs to give the Twins their fifth consecutive victory. Dick Bremer’s call of the play still rings soundly in my ears: “High chopper, over the mound, INTO CENTERFIELD! And the Twins take the lead!”
4. The Twins lose their one-game playoff to the White Sox (September 30th at Chicago)
==>It was game #163. The Twins’ regular season was supposed to be over on September 28th (and most would’ve said their season in general too), but they found themselves playing one more on this day. With Kevin Slowey’s injury, Nick Blackburn would take the ball for the Twins in this all-determining game. He pitched what may have been his best game of the year, considering the circumstances, but it was just not enough. One mistake to Jim Thome in the seventh inning was all it took; the Twins would wind up losing 1-0. The Twins were very close to taking the lead earlier in the game, when Michael Cuddyer attempted to tag up on a shallow fly ball hit to center by Brendan Harris. With Ken Griffey manning the position, I thought it was a good idea to send him home. But, to my surprise, Griffey delivered a throw that was right on target and took away the Twins’ only scoring opportunity of the game. Brian Anderson replaced him for defensive purposes later in the game, and he immediately showed his importance by making a diving catch of Alexi Casilla’s soft liner for the final out of what was an incredible season.
3. Howie Clark (?) and Bobby Korecky (!) win it for the Twins (May 19th vs. Texas)
==>Down 6-5 going into the ninth, the Twins rallied and tied it at six on Joe Mauer’s RBI single. They still had a great chance to win the game right there, with only one out and runners on the corners, but they failed to do so. The tenth inning passed uneventfully, but then Juan Rincon entered the game in the eleventh. He got one out, but left the bases loaded for Bobby Korecky, who had pitched all of 4 1/3 Major League innings to that point. But Korecky was up for the challenge, getting Ian Kinsler to pop out and Michael Young to strike out. In the bottom of the inning, Korecky was forced to hit due to a double switch made earlier in the game, and hit a single, certainly his first-ever hit, and the first hit ever by a Twins pitcher in an American League game! Unfortunately, Korecky wound up 90 feet from scoring the winning run, as the Twins failed to capitalize on a bases loaded, one-out situation. A 1-2-3 twelfth from Bobby Korecky, and this time the Twins took care of business in their half of the inning. Howie Clark played hero by hitting an RBI double to center field to win the game.
2. Craig Monroe caps a 5-run ninth inning rally with a 3-run homer (May 28th at Kansas City)
==>After the events of the game the day before, you wouldn’t have thought the next game could be more exciting. Obviously, you would have been wrong. This time it was the Twins who would rally in the ninth inning, after being down 8-3 to start it. Mathematically, their chances of winning were certainly the lowest they would be all year in a game in which they wound up on top, as they had just a runner on first with one out to go in an 8-3 game. But what followed was simply amazing, and also the second of the three top comebacks I mentioned earlier: a wild pitch, a Mike Lamb single, a Brendan Harris single, a Carlos Gomez single, and up walked Craig Monroe, pinch-hitting for Alexi Casilla. And, down to his last strike, Monroe hit a frozen rope over the left field fence to tie the game. Unlike the Royals the night before, the Twins capitalized on their comeback when Justin Morneau homered to lead off the tenth and Joe Nathan closed it out to hand the Royals their tenth straight loss in heartbreaking fashion—again.
1. The Twins sweep Chicago and take over first place (September 25th vs. Chicago)
==>No doubt, the best moment of the year. One of the most exciting moments since I’ve been following the Twins. They needed a sweep. They got just that. They moved into first place, a ½ game ahead of Chicago. It wasn’t easy, though. The first game was, and the second game was close, but they led the whole way. This one was completely different. I can write more about it, and I will, but just go watch the videos of Denard Span’s game-tying triple and of Alexi Casilla’s walk-off single. Look at the energy and the passion those guys had and tell me this wasn’t one of the most exciting games you’ve ever seen. Look at the crowd roar in jubilant support of its time, and remember just how amazing this game, and season, was. Every single time I watch it I get goosebumps. The Twins fell behind 6-1 after Kevin Slowey injured his wrist and subsequently made a throwing error. But things, for once, did not look bleak. It sounds fabricated, but I absolutely did not give up on the Twins in this game. Usually when they fall behind I try to convince myself they have a chance, but I don’t really believe it. This time, I did believe it; I just felt that they were going to come back, win this game, and sweep the White Sox. I can’t write anymore about it—there’s just too much. Just go relive the experience yourself.
5/27- Delmon Young's horrible play allows an inside-the-park homer to tie the game in the ninth.
6/4- Joe Mauer hits a two-run sacrifice fly.
6/24- Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher hit back-to-back homers to break a tie in the ninth.
7/14- Justin Morneau wins the Home Run Derby.
7/25- Carlos Gomez crashes into the wall but hangs on for the catch of the year.
8/12- Delmon Young ties the game with a 3-run shot off Mariano Rivera, but the Twins lose in extras.
8/27- Denard Span throws a perfect strike to save a run and avoid another bullpen collapse.
9/16- The Twins make up a 7-run deficit against the Indians, but wind up losing.
So there you have it. Even with the honorable mentions, only about half of my original highlights are included on this list. Take a look back at my original post or just consider the ones here, and let me know what you think!
Edit (9:14 PM): The game will be played tomorrow at 12:35 ET as part of a doubleheader.
I was planning to examine the addition of Juan Morillo on the off-day, but Aaron Gleeman did such a good job of it that I felt what I would have written would simply have been a restatement of his post. Also, it may not be an off-day, but I live in Massachussetts (albeit 90 miles from Boston) and it's pretty messy out there. I'm not optimistic about the Twins getting their game in today, although Joe Christensen is.
With that out of the way, there is one piece of Twins news: Phil Humber will be headed to Rochester as no team claimed him while he was on waivers. That's surprising to me and many others, but I suppose all the other ballclubs saw the same things that caused the Twins to designate Humber in the first place. Regardless, I'm glad he's staying in the organization.
Now, onto the actual topic of this blog post. In the off-season, I wrote up a list of the most memorable games and moments of the Twins' 2008 season. However, the list was quite extensive and was simply in chronological order, so I decided to cut it down and then rank the top 10 most memorable moments. Here they are, with the write-ups being the same as the ones from the original post.
10. Denard Span makes a game-saving catch (August 6th at Seattle)
==>The bullpen woes were just beginning for the Twins, but the previous two games of the series were extremely tough to stomach. In the first game, the Twins led 6-1 heading into the seventh, when Glen Perkins exited with a lead. Before it was over, though, Brian Bass, Boof Bonser, and Matt Guerrier had combined to give up six of the ten runs the Twins allowed in that one inning. In the next game, the offense pushed four runs across in the eighth to take a one-run lead, but Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan promptly gave two runs right back. Then, in this game, the Twins were leading 4-3 in the seventh when Jesse Crain came on to face Adrian Beltre with a man on. He crushed the ball to right for what looked like a home run, but Span set himself up against the wall and made a leaping grab over the wall to save two runs and end the inning. And just for good measure, he also had 4 RBIs in the game.
9. The Twins score five in the ninth to beat the Rays (September 18th at Tampa Bay)
==>As badly as they’d needed the win against Cleveland, it was just that much more dire now. It was a roller coaster game, as Jason Kubel hit a homer in the first to put the Twins up 3-0. Then, Glen Perkins didn’t make it out of the first, and the Rays went up 5-3. They built their lead up to 7-3, before the Twins cut it to 7-6. A third Evan Longoria home run made the score 8-6. Coming into the ninth, on the verge of their fifth straight loss, I had turned the game off long ago. But, before Tampa even had time to get an out, Alexi Casilla had crushed a two-run homer to tie the game. Joe Mauer doubled and Justin Morneau was intentionally walked, bringing Jason Kubel to the plate. But Gardenhire decided to pinch hit for him with Adam Everett, obviously intending to have him bunt the runners over. Instead, Everett took a huge cut and sent the ball to the left field wall, scoring the go-ahead run. A Delmon Young single and a Matt Tolbert sac fly would add insurance runs, which helped put everyone at ease.
8. Mike Lamb hits a two-run walk-off single (May 9th vs. Boston)
==>Down 6-5 with two outs and Delmon Young on second, the Twins’ prospects of winning were looking fairly bleak, largely because Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound. That changed quickly though, after Young stole third, Carlos Gomez walked, and then Gomez stole second. Up to bat came Mike Lamb, with his average hovering just above the Mendoza line. But, in what was certainly his best moment as a Twin, he hit a soft line drive into left field that easily scored both runners, and gave the Twins a walk-off victory over the Red Sox.
7. Justin Morneau goes 5-5 and wins the game in the 11th (July 10th at Detroit)
==>The Twins fell behind early, 6-2 in the fourth inning to be precise. Still trailing by the same score late in the game, they pushed across one run in the seventh and another in the eighth before entering the ninth with a 2-run deficit. That lead wouldn’t last long; Nick Punto and Denard Span’s singles, followed by Joe Mauer’s sacrifice fly, would force the game into extra innings. It was then that Justin Morneau once again came through for the Twins. Already 4-4 with a walk, Justin Morneau added a little extra by hitting a go-ahead home run in the top of the eleventh, to finish the game 5-5 with 2 runs, a home run, an RBI, and a walk. For Denard Span, it was too bad, because his day (4-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, SB) was lost amidst Morneau’s performance.
6. Carlos Gomez hits for the cycle (May 7th at Chicago)
==>The Twins beat the White Sox 13-1 and Livan Hernandez had a shutout through 8 1/3 innings (and ended up with a complete game), but the story of the game was Carlos Gomez. He led off the game with a home run, but that was only the beginning, both literally and figuratively. By the end of the night, he had collected four hits in six at bats to go along with two runs and 3 RBIs. And, of course, he had the double, triple, and single necessary to hit for the eighth cycle in Twins history, and the first since Kirby Puckett did it in 1986.
5. The Tigers score six in the first, but the Twins rally to win 7-6 (May 4th vs. Detroit)
==>One of the top three comeback wins of the year (the other two still to come), the Twins fell behind very quickly. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a homer, and the Tigers would score five more times off of Boof Bonser before the inning was over. Bonser, however, came back and pitched five more scoreless innings to give the Twins a chance—a chance they would fully capitalize on, as they scored once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and completed the comeback with four runs in the seventh. Joe Mauer delivered the go-ahead single with runners on second and third and two outs to give the Twins their fifth consecutive victory. Dick Bremer’s call of the play still rings soundly in my ears: “High chopper, over the mound, INTO CENTERFIELD! And the Twins take the lead!”
4. The Twins lose their one-game playoff to the White Sox (September 30th at Chicago)
==>It was game #163. The Twins’ regular season was supposed to be over on September 28th (and most would’ve said their season in general too), but they found themselves playing one more on this day. With Kevin Slowey’s injury, Nick Blackburn would take the ball for the Twins in this all-determining game. He pitched what may have been his best game of the year, considering the circumstances, but it was just not enough. One mistake to Jim Thome in the seventh inning was all it took; the Twins would wind up losing 1-0. The Twins were very close to taking the lead earlier in the game, when Michael Cuddyer attempted to tag up on a shallow fly ball hit to center by Brendan Harris. With Ken Griffey manning the position, I thought it was a good idea to send him home. But, to my surprise, Griffey delivered a throw that was right on target and took away the Twins’ only scoring opportunity of the game. Brian Anderson replaced him for defensive purposes later in the game, and he immediately showed his importance by making a diving catch of Alexi Casilla’s soft liner for the final out of what was an incredible season.
3. Howie Clark (?) and Bobby Korecky (!) win it for the Twins (May 19th vs. Texas)
==>Down 6-5 going into the ninth, the Twins rallied and tied it at six on Joe Mauer’s RBI single. They still had a great chance to win the game right there, with only one out and runners on the corners, but they failed to do so. The tenth inning passed uneventfully, but then Juan Rincon entered the game in the eleventh. He got one out, but left the bases loaded for Bobby Korecky, who had pitched all of 4 1/3 Major League innings to that point. But Korecky was up for the challenge, getting Ian Kinsler to pop out and Michael Young to strike out. In the bottom of the inning, Korecky was forced to hit due to a double switch made earlier in the game, and hit a single, certainly his first-ever hit, and the first hit ever by a Twins pitcher in an American League game! Unfortunately, Korecky wound up 90 feet from scoring the winning run, as the Twins failed to capitalize on a bases loaded, one-out situation. A 1-2-3 twelfth from Bobby Korecky, and this time the Twins took care of business in their half of the inning. Howie Clark played hero by hitting an RBI double to center field to win the game.
2. Craig Monroe caps a 5-run ninth inning rally with a 3-run homer (May 28th at Kansas City)
==>After the events of the game the day before, you wouldn’t have thought the next game could be more exciting. Obviously, you would have been wrong. This time it was the Twins who would rally in the ninth inning, after being down 8-3 to start it. Mathematically, their chances of winning were certainly the lowest they would be all year in a game in which they wound up on top, as they had just a runner on first with one out to go in an 8-3 game. But what followed was simply amazing, and also the second of the three top comebacks I mentioned earlier: a wild pitch, a Mike Lamb single, a Brendan Harris single, a Carlos Gomez single, and up walked Craig Monroe, pinch-hitting for Alexi Casilla. And, down to his last strike, Monroe hit a frozen rope over the left field fence to tie the game. Unlike the Royals the night before, the Twins capitalized on their comeback when Justin Morneau homered to lead off the tenth and Joe Nathan closed it out to hand the Royals their tenth straight loss in heartbreaking fashion—again.
1. The Twins sweep Chicago and take over first place (September 25th vs. Chicago)
==>No doubt, the best moment of the year. One of the most exciting moments since I’ve been following the Twins. They needed a sweep. They got just that. They moved into first place, a ½ game ahead of Chicago. It wasn’t easy, though. The first game was, and the second game was close, but they led the whole way. This one was completely different. I can write more about it, and I will, but just go watch the videos of Denard Span’s game-tying triple and of Alexi Casilla’s walk-off single. Look at the energy and the passion those guys had and tell me this wasn’t one of the most exciting games you’ve ever seen. Look at the crowd roar in jubilant support of its time, and remember just how amazing this game, and season, was. Every single time I watch it I get goosebumps. The Twins fell behind 6-1 after Kevin Slowey injured his wrist and subsequently made a throwing error. But things, for once, did not look bleak. It sounds fabricated, but I absolutely did not give up on the Twins in this game. Usually when they fall behind I try to convince myself they have a chance, but I don’t really believe it. This time, I did believe it; I just felt that they were going to come back, win this game, and sweep the White Sox. I can’t write anymore about it—there’s just too much. Just go relive the experience yourself.
Honorable mentions:
5/6- Joe Mauer ends Gavin Floyd's no-hit bid in the ninth inning.5/27- Delmon Young's horrible play allows an inside-the-park homer to tie the game in the ninth.
6/4- Joe Mauer hits a two-run sacrifice fly.
6/24- Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher hit back-to-back homers to break a tie in the ninth.
7/14- Justin Morneau wins the Home Run Derby.
7/25- Carlos Gomez crashes into the wall but hangs on for the catch of the year.
8/12- Delmon Young ties the game with a 3-run shot off Mariano Rivera, but the Twins lose in extras.
8/27- Denard Span throws a perfect strike to save a run and avoid another bullpen collapse.
9/16- The Twins make up a 7-run deficit against the Indians, but wind up losing.
So there you have it. Even with the honorable mentions, only about half of my original highlights are included on this list. Take a look back at my original post or just consider the ones here, and let me know what you think!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Season Highlights
Well, it took me a little while, but I've finished my write up on the Twins' season highlights. The term "highlights" is used lightly, as some of them are clearly negative (though most are positive), so maybe memorable is a better way to describe these moments. Whatever you call them, the following is game by game descriptions of various memorable moments from the season. I really enjoyed looking back on the season to find them (despite how long it took), so I hope you enjoy reading about them. You can expect more season wrap-up items to come soon; this will certainly be the longest of them, so it shouldn't take nearly as long for me to write up the rest. Oh, and click on the link for the game for the MLB.com wrap, which includes videos.
The game: March 31st vs. Los Angeles
The situation: The Twins open the season with a 3-2 win against Torii Hunter and the Angels.
The description: The new acquisitions were on display in the first game of the year. Livan Hernandez started with a perfect inning, and wound up pitching 7 innings, while allowing 2 runs on 7 hits. Carlos Gomez followed by starting off the Twins’ offensive year with a double, and added another hit, a walk, two runs, and two stolen bases. Joe Mauer singled him in to provide the year’s first run before its first out. Delmon Young went 2-4 with a walk, while, in a sign of things to come, Adam Everett left six on base in an 0-4 night. Torii Hunter also went 0-4 in his return to the Metrodome.
The game: April 2nd vs. Los Angeles
The situation: Nick Blackburn pitches excellently in his first career start.
The description: After Baseball America tabbed him as the Twins’ #1 prospect, a lot of us didn’t know what to think. Well, this start was a sign of things to come. Obviously, he didn’t pitch 7 innings, give up only one run on 6 hits and a walk, and strike out six in every game, but he surely exceeded my expectations and proved himself a very solid pitcher. Unfortunately, the hitters didn’t put it together for him in this one, as the Twins lost the game 1-0. Blackburn would lose one more game 1-0, and I don’t think you need to be reminded of which one that was.
The game: April 3rd vs. Los Angeles
The situation: Jason Kubel hits the Twins’ first home run in their fourth game.
The description: It took until the eighth inning of the Twins’ fourth game for Jason Kubel to hit the team’s first home run. That’s not surprising for a team that wound up finishing last in the AL and 29th in the Majors with 111 home runs. Incidentally, for all the talk that the Twins didn’t do the “little things” well anymore, which I agreed with, they did finish first in the Majors in sacrifice flies (72) and first in the AL in sacrifice hits (52).
The game: April 7th at Chicago
The situation: Denard Span collects his first career hit.
The description: In and of itself, this is of no specific importance, other than a 7-4 loss in the first game of the season versus the White Sox. But, when Span ended up contributing the way he did for much of the season, his first career hit deserves some recognition. He also stole his first career base in going 1-3 with a walk in the loss.
The game: April 9th at Chicago
The situation: Jason Kubel hits a Grand Slam and drives in six as the Twins beat the White Sox 12-5.
The description: It was an odd 3-game, 4-day series with a day off on Tuesday that only got stranger when Thursday’s game got rained out. But when they played the second game of the series, the Twins showed up, especially Jason Kubel. Up 8-4 with two outs in the sixth, Kubel sealed the deal early with a grand slam, helping his final line look like this: 2-4, R, HR, 6 RBI. Not a bad day at the office, huh?
The game: April 12th at Kansas City
The situation: The Twins record two consecutive shutouts.
The description: Granted, it was the Royals, but the Twins still went eighteen innings without allowing a run. Just to get a sense of how long ago this was, consider the following: in the first game, Livan Hernandez went seven innings and picked up his third straight victory in lowering his ERA to 2.57. In the second game, Boof Bonser started and went six innings, and was relieved by Matt Guerrier (who didn’t allow runs every time he pitched back then!) and Pat Neshek. News that Francisco Liriano was going to return to the big leagues was breaking for the first time—he would make his first forgettable start on April 13th. And Mike Lamb was still playing, Brendan Harris was hitting .367, and Justin Morneau was stuck on RBIs.
The game: April 13th at Kansas City
The situation: Francisco Liriano makes his first Major League appearance since August 2006.
The description: Although the results weren’t pretty, this was a pretty exciting day for Twins fans. In the end, it turned out to be too early, but that doesn’t take away from the excitement surrounding Liriano’s return to the big leagues after 19 months of rehab and Minor League toiling. Less than five innings later, it was clear that it would still be a while before we saw a Liriano that even resembled his 2006 self, even if it took another week or two for us (and the Twins’ front office) to admit it.
The game: April 19th vs. Cleveland
The situation: Nick Blackburn pitches 7 2/3 shutout innings to pick up his first career win.
The description: Blackburn was at his best, allowing eight hits and striking out one in the game. Four double plays and Delmon Young’s throw to get Asdrubal Cabrera at home plate helped preserve the Twins’ shutout.
The game: April 20th vs. Cleveland
The situation: Justin Morneau hits the third consecutive 2-out single to give the Twins a walk-off win.
The description: After Scott Baker and Paul Byrd dueled for seven innings, each allowing only a run, the bullpens kept the game scoreless for two more innings. On the Twins’ side, this was largely thanks to Carlos Gomez’s amazing diving grab—one of his best of the year—in the ninth inning with one out and a runner on second. With two outs and nobody on, Brendan Harris singled. Jason Kubel followed with another single, moving Harris to 3rd base. Up came Justin Morneau, who hit a sharp groundball just past the diving attempt of Ryan Garko to bring home the winning run in the bottom of the tenth.
The game: April 24th at Oakland
The situation: Francisco Liriano gives up 6 ER and only gets two outs.
The description: It started off well enough, as Carlos Gomez led off the game with a home run, his first with the Twins. But in the bottom of the inning, it went downhill like an avalanche racing down a mountain. Liriano got just two outs, and one was a runner thrown out going to third, and gave up 6 earned runs before he was replaced by Brian Bass. Here’s what it looked like: walk, single, pop out, walk, single, walk, single, single (runner thrown out), single. And Bass would give up another single to leave Liriano charged with 6 runs. It was a depressing day for Twins fans, as we realized Liriano was really not back, and would have to spend more time at Rochester.
The game: April 25th at Texas
The situation: The Twins build a 5-0 lead behind Justin Morneau’s grand slam, but lose in ten innings.
The description: With Francisco Liriano’s abominable start fresh in Twins’ fans’ minds, this started off just the way we needed it to. Justin Morneau singled in Carlos Gomez in the first and then hit a grand slam in the third to put the Twins up 5-0 and give himself five RBIs on the day. But the bottom of the inning turned out to be as bad for Nick Blackburn as the first inning was for Francisco Liriano the day before. The Rangers started the inning with seven straight hits, the first five being singles and the last two being doubles, to knot the game at 5. Only thanks to a strange double play on the seventh hit, in which they got an out at home and third base, did the Twins keep it tied. The game would be scoreless from that point until Juan Rincon gave up a walk-off single in the tenth inning.
The game: May 4th vs. Detroit
The situation: The Tigers score six in the first, but the Twins rally back and win 7-6.
The description: One of the top three comeback wins of the year (the other two still to come), the Twins fell behind very quickly. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a homer, and the Tigers would score five more times off of Boof Bonser before the inning was over. Bonser, however, came back and pitched five more scoreless innings to give the Twins a chance—a chance they would fully capitalize on, as they scored once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and completed the comeback with four runs in the seventh. Joe Mauer delivered the go-ahead single with runners on second and third and two outs to give the Twins their fifth consecutive victory. Dick Bremer’s call of the play still rings soundly in my ears: “High chopper, over the mound, INTO CENTERFIELD! And the Twins take the lead!”
The game: May 6th at Chicago
The situation: Joe Mauer ends Gavin Floyd’s no-hit bid in the ninth inning.
The description: Despite having scored a run, the Twins entered the ninth inning without a hit against the White Sox’s Gavin Floyd. Mauer walked, Morneau moved him to second by reaching on an error, Cuddyer moved him to third with a fly out, and Kubel got him home with a sac fly. After Brendan Harris struck out looking to start the ninth, Joe Mauer came to bat. He had already walked twice, while the rest of the team had reached base twice combined, one via a walk and the other via the aforementioned error. He came through with a double to left field to keep the Twins from having a very humiliating day.
The game: May 7th at Chicago
The situation: Carlos Gomez hits for the cycle.
The description: The Twins beat the White Sox 13-1 and Livan Hernandez had a shutout through 8 1/3 innings (and ended up with a complete game), but the story of the game was Carlos Gomez. He led off the game with a home run, but that was only the beginning, both literally and figuratively. By the end of the night, he had collected four hits in six at bats to go along with two runs and 3 RBIs. And, of course, he had the double, triple, and single necessary to hit for the eighth cycle in Twins history, and the first since Kirby Puckett did it in 1986.
The game: May 9th vs. Boston
The situation: Mike Lamb hits a two-run walk-off single with two outs in the ninth.
The description: Down 6-5 with two outs and Delmon Young on second, the Twins’ prospects of winning were looking fairly bleak, largely because Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound. That changed quickly though, after Young stole third, Carlos Gomez walked, and then Gomez stole second. Up to bat came Mike Lamb, with his average hovering just above the Mendoza line. But, in what was certainly his best moment as a Twin, he hit a soft line drive into left field that easily scored both runners, and gave the Twins a walk-off victory over the Red Sox.
The game: May 15th vs. Toronto
The situation: The Twins lose 3-2 in 11 innings and are swept by the Blue Jays.
The description: After squandering numerous scoring opportunities, Jesse Crain allowed a two-out, bases loaded single in the eleventh inning that put the Blue Jays up 3-2. Jason Kubel made a critical mistake earlier in the game, running through a stop sign and getting thrown out easily at home on Justin Morneau’s bloop hit. This meant the Twins would be swept at the Metrodome and would lose the three games by a total of four runs.
The game: May 19th vs. Texas
The situation: Howie Clark (?) and Bobby Korecky (!) win it for the Twins.
The description: Down 6-5 going into the ninth, the Twins rallied and tied it at six on Joe Mauer’s RBI single. They still had a great chance to win the game right there, with only one out and runners on the corners, but they failed to do so. The tenth inning passed uneventfully, but then Juan Rincon entered the game in the eleventh. He got one out, but left the bases loaded for Bobby Korecky, who had pitched all of 4 1/3 Major League innings to that point. But Korecky was up for the challenge, getting Ian Kinsler to pop out and Michael Young to strike out. In the bottom of the inning, Korecky was forced to hit due to a double switch made earlier in the game, and hit a single, certainly his first-ever hit, and the first hit ever by a Twins pitcher in an American League game! Unfortunately, Korecky wound up 90 feet from scoring the winning run, as the Twins failed to capitalize on a bases loaded, one-out situation. A 1-2-3 twelfth from Bobby Korecky, and this time the Twins took care of business in their half of the inning. Howie Clark played hero by hitting an RBI double to center field to win the game.
The game: May 24th at Detroit
The situation: Matt Macri makes his Major League debut, as the Twins get shellacked 19-3.
The description: Macri went 2-3 with a run, RBI, walk, and stolen base in his first Major League game, but unfortunately it was overshadowed by the Twins’ most lopsided loss of the year. By the time the game had ended, Alexi Casilla’s game-tying home run in the top of the third seemed like it happened in a different decade. The Tigers scored nine runs off of Boof Bonser and seven off of Brian Bass on their way to putting up 19 runs in the first five innings.
The game: May 27th at Kansas City
The situation: Mark Teahan ties the game with an inside-the-park homer in the ninth.
The description: Nick Blackburn entered the ninth inning having pitched eight scoreless innings, but things got messy very quickly. After hitting a batter, inducing a pop out, and allowing a single, Ron Gardenhire called upon Joe Nathan to replace him with runners on first and second and Mark Teahan coming to the plate. The game unraveled in a flash, as Delmon Young’s misguided and poorly executed dive fell short, and the batted ball bounced around in the left field corner. As Young seemingly jogged after the ball, Teahan motored all the way around the bases to tie the game and give Nathan his first blown save of the season. The Twins were able to win the game, however, on Michael Cuddyer’s single in the twelfth inning.
The game: May 28th at Kansas City
The situation: Craig Monroe hits a 2-out, 3-run homer to tie it and cap a 5-run ninth inning rally. The description: After the events of the game the day before, you wouldn’t have thought the next game could be more exciting. Obviously, you would have been wrong. This time it was the Twins who would rally in the ninth inning, after being down 8-3 to start it. Mathematically, their chances of winning were certainly the lowest they would be all year in a game in which they wound up on top, as they had just a runner on first with one out to go in an 8-3 game. But what followed was simply amazing, and also the second of the three top comebacks I mentioned earlier: a wild pitch, a Mike Lamb single, a Brendan Harris single, a Carlos Gomez single, and up walked Craig Monroe, pinch-hitting for Alexi Casilla. And, down to his last strike, Monroe hit a frozen rope over the left field fence to tie the game. Unlike the Royals the night before, the Twins capitalized on their comeback when Justin Morneau homered to lead off the tenth and Joe Nathan closed it out to hand the Royals their tenth straight loss in heartbreaking fashion—again.
The game: June 1st vs. New York
The situation: Nick Blackburn takes a liner to the face off of Bobby Abreu.
The description: Watching this live, it was very scary. As Blackburn recoiled from his pitch, the ball came screaming off the bat of Bobby Abreu and clocked him right in the face. Initially, he collapsed, rolled over, and lay sprawled out next to the mound. After a second or two, he got up and was bleeding from the nose, but I was letting out a sigh of relief. For the second that he lay on the ground, things seemed like they could have been extremely bad. Fortunately, though, he would recover and even make his next scheduled start.
The game: June 2nd vs. New York
The situation: Joe Mauer hits his first home run of the season.
The description: Trailing by a run in the seventh, Joe Mauer belted his first home run of 2008 to knot it at five apiece. Delmon Young put the Twins ahead for good by doubling Michael Cuddyer in for the third time in the game. This was only after Cuddyer made an absolutely perfect play in the top of the inning, playing the carom off the baggie perfectly, barehanding the ball, and tossing a strike to second to nail Derek Jeter in his bid for a double.
The game: June 4th vs. Baltimore
The situation: Joe Mauer’s sacrifice fly scores two runs.
The description: With runners on second and third, Joe Mauer hit a deep fly ball to center field, which Adam Jones tracked down and caught close to the warning track. Nick Punto, who was on third, scored easily on the play, while Carlos Gomez, who was on second, took off for third. Immediately after catching the ball, Jones tripped and fell, and then tossed the ball to a fellow outfielder. Gomez was sent home and beat the relay throw easily, surely marking the first time in Joe Mauer’s career he’d hit a 2-run sacrifice fly.
The game: June 5th vs. Baltimore
The situation: Carrying 13 pitchers, Kevin Slowey is forced into the game as a pinch-runner.
The description: The arguments against a 13-man pitching staff were quickly validated in this game. After Mike Redmond singled in the eighth inning, Gardenhire logically wanted to pinch-run for him. A quick look at the bench, though, and it became evident that there was no one left. Therefore, he was forced to send Slowey into the game to pinch-run for Redmond.
The game: June 7th at Chicago
The situation: Delmon Young finally hits his first home run as a Twin.
The description: Down 7-0 in the seventh inning, it would be hard, as a Twins fan, for something exciting to happen. And it shouldn’t have been really, but Delmon Young’s homer was exactly that. For weeks on end I’d been turning to my brother when Young came to the plate and saying, “You’d know what it’d be a good time for?” And he would invariably respond, “Delmon Young’s first home run!” Now, I didn’t say it this time, with the score being so lopsided, but nonetheless it came as quite a relief.
The game: June 9th at Chicago
The situation: The Twins get humiliated in Chicago, losing all four games by a combined score of 40-15.
The description: Entering the series 2.5 games behind the White Sox and with a chance to take the division lead, the Twins got blown out in the first three games and coughed up a late lead in the final game. As a result, they fell to 31-33, 6.5 games out of first place. Many desolate fans considered the season to be over, while others cited the similarity to the three-game shellacking the Twins took at the hands of Detroit in 2006, when they managed to rally and win the division. Oh, how close they were to being right.
The game: June 15th at Milwaukee
The situation: Scott Baker collects four strikeouts in one inning.
The description: The title is pretty self-explanatory for this one. In the third inning, Baker struck out the foursome of Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder (who reached base via a wild pitch), Russell Branyan, and Mike Cameron to achieve the feat. He became the first Twins pitcher to do so, and it was the first time it had happened in the American League since April of 2003.
The game: June 24th at San Diego
The situation: Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher hit back to back homers to break a tie in the ninth.
The description: The Twins were tied with the Padres, 1-1, heading into the ninth inning. The all-time saves leader, Trevor Hoffman, took the mound for San Diego, and got the first two outs. So, with no one on and two outs, Brendan Harris stepped to the plate. And what happened? Well, obviously, you know—he hit a home run! And then, just as Padres fans were gathering their breath and convincing themselves they only needed a run in their half of the inning to keep the game going, Brian Buscher made it back-to-back homers with his first career home run.
The game: June 25th at San Diego
The situation: The Twins beat four Cy Young winners in five games.
The description: From June 20th to June 25th, the Twins played 5 games, won them all, and four of them were against former Cy Young award winners. On this night, it was Greg Maddux who they pounded for the victory. Previously, it had been Randy Johnson (8 IP, 7 R), Brandon Webb (7 IP, 5 R), and Jake Peavy. Granted, some of them are shells of their former selves, but it’s an accomplishment nonetheless.
The game: June 27th vs. Milwaukee
The situation: The Twins win a season high 10th consecutive game.
The description: The Twins were behind by scores of 2-1 and 6-3, but managed to wrestle the game away from the Brewers and end up on top, 7-6. Joe Mauer hit a solo shot with two outs in the eighth to put the Twins up by that final score. It was their tenth straight win, which would turn out to be their longest winning streak of the season, and it included sweeps of Washington, Arizona, and San Diego. Clearly, interleague play was kind to the Twins, as it was to many AL teams.
The game: June 29th vs. Milwaukee
The situation: Kevin Slowey pitches a 3-hit shutout.
The description: It was Kevin Slowey’s day, as he had the Milwaukee batters baffled all game long. He allowed just three hits and, in typical Slowey fashion, no walks in pitching an efficient nine innings of shutout ball. He also set a (short-lived) career high in strikeouts, with eight. Incidentally, this was both the conclusion of interleague play and the first game of the (mathematical) second half of the season.
The game: July 10th at Detroit
The situation: Justin Morneau leads the Twins to victory with five hits, including a go-ahead home run.
The description: The Twins fell behind early, 6-2 in the fourth inning to be precise. Still trailing by the same score late in the game, they pushed across one run in the seventh and another in the eighth before entering the ninth with a 2-run deficit. That lead wouldn’t last long; Nick Punto and Denard Span’s singles, followed by Joe Mauer’s sacrifice fly, would force the game into extra innings. It was then that Justin Morneau once again came through for the Twins. Already 4-4 with a walk, Justin Morneau added a little extra by hitting a go-ahead home run in the top of the eleventh, to finish the game 5-5 with 2 runs, a home run, an RBI, and a walk. For Denard Span, it was too bad, because his day (4-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, SB) was lost amidst Morneau’s performance.
The “game”: July 14th at Yankee Stadium
The situation: Jason Morneau is crowned the Home Run Derby champion.
The description: It was the Josh Hamilton show in the first round, and with the cumulative scoring, his lackluster second round posed no problem as he easily advanced to the finals. Morneau, however, was the more consistent hitter on the night, and therefore was able to walk away with the title. Of course, no one cared about that—they all just wanted to focus on Hamilton’s record-setting first round (rightfully so, I suppose). But they could’ve interviewed Morneau before him after he won the derby, right? And they certainly could’ve called him Justin Morneau.
The game: July 15th at Yankee Stadium
The situation: Justin Morneau scores the winning run in the AL’s 15-inning victory.
The description: This must have been Bud Selig’s worst nightmare; he must have just been praying for someone to score. What if he had had to call another tie? The chants of “Let them play” from the last time remain vivid in my mind. Fortunately, Morneau came through for him, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 15th. OK, so maybe Morneau did blow an opportunity in the 10th with the bases loaded and two outs, but overall he was 2-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs scored. Joe Mauer was 1-1 with a walk. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Also, I forgot how amazing this game was. In the tenth, the AL loaded the bases with none out after two straight Dan Uggla errors an an intentional walk. Aaron Cook got three straight groundouts, however, to get out of that huge jam (the first one could have been a double play, but Uggla was SO deliberate about his throw home after his two errors that they didn’t even have a play at first). And then in the following inning, Nate McClouth threw a perfect strike from centerfield to home plate to get Dioner Navarro out and preserve the tie game.
The game: July 19th vs. Texas
The situation: The Twins score a season-high fourteen runs and hit four homers.
The description: In their second game back from the All- Star break, the Twins were firing on all cylinders. They plated 14 runs on 16 hits and 4 walks; they had 9 extra base hits (5 doubles and 4 homers); six Twins had multiple hits; and each starter reached base and all had a hit, save Brendan Harris. Even Livan Hernandez showed up and pitched his last good game before the Twins would later release him. Considering the day before they won 6-0, the second half started off very promisingly.
The game: July 20th vs. Texas
The situation: Scott Baker pitches eight spectacular innings, but takes the tough luck loss.
The description: Baker was cruising and had a perfect game 5 2/3 innings in, but that was when Taylor Teagarden launched a homer to left-center field. Baker recovered and only allowed one more hit and a walk before exiting after eight innings. He added eight strikeouts, too. Unfortunately, the Twins offense mustered just three hits, all singles, and they lost 1-0. Oh, and can you believe Carlos Gomez was still leading off at this point in this season?
The game: July 23rd at New York
The situation: I attend my only Twins game of the year.
The description: This one obviously only has value for me, especially because it was a 5-1 loss.
The game: July 25th at Cleveland
The situation: Carlos Gomez makes, in my opinion, one of the top catches of the year.
The description: This one needs a video, so here’s the link. Or, of course, you can click on the regular link below. Fortunately, Gomez wasn't seriously injured, although he did have to leave the game on a stretcher. And wasn't it strange that it seemed like the exact same ball was hit later in the game, with Denard Span manning centerfield. He got his glove on it but couldn't hold on. There’s not much more to say about, except that it was simply amazing.
The game: July 28th vs. Chicago
The situation: Kevin Slowey pitches a shutout and Denard Span hits his first career home run.
The description: Slowey pitched his second shutout of the year, this one coming against the hated White Sox. This time around he gave up six hits and a walk, but threw just 102 pitches over the nine innings, while striking out five batters. Denard Span got the scoring started to aid Slowey with his first career home run in the third, and Justin Morneau followed with one of his own three batters later.
The game: August 3rd vs. Cleveland
The situation: Francisco Liriano returns to the Twins and pitches them into first place.
The description: Liriano started his first game since his April debacle and was excellent. He threw six shutout innings, surrendering 3 hits and 3 walks in the process, and punching out five. Later in the game, Juan Rincon made his first appearance against the Twins since being released in mid-season. Denard Span, the first batter he faced, rudely welcomed him back with a home run in the eighth.
The game: August 6th at Seattle
The situation: Denard Span makes a game-saving catch of a would-be home run.
The description: The bullpen woes were just beginning for the Twins, but the previous two games of the series were extremely tough to stomach. In the first game, the Twins led 6-1 heading into the seventh, when Glen Perkins exited with a lead. Before it was over, though, Brian Bass, Boof Bonser, and Matt Guerrier had combined to give up six of the ten runs the Twins allowed in that one inning. In the next game, the offense pushed four runs across in the eighth to take a one-run lead, but Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan promptly gave two runs right back. Then, in this game, the Twins were leading 4-3 in the seventh when Jesse Crain came on to face Adrian Beltre with a man on. He crushed the ball to right for what looked like a home run, but Span set himself up against the wall and made a leaping grab over the wall to save two runs and end the inning. And just for good measure, he also had 4 RBIs in the game.
The game: August 12th vs. New York
The situation: Delmon Young hits a home run off Rivera to tie the game, but the Twins lose in extras.
The description: With two outs in the eighth and two Twins on base, Joe Girardi called upon his closer, Mariano Rivera, to get the final four outs of the game. Up 6-3, one would have to assume this was pretty much a done deal, even with two men on—it was Mariano Rivera, after all. And, on top of that, he even had Young behind 0-2. But it was Young who got the best of Rivera, slicing a ball just over the baggie and inside the foul pole for a game-tying 3-run dinger. It was the first time a Twin had ever homered off of Rivera. Unfortunately, much of the excitement was taken away because the Twins wound up losing in twelve innings when Matt Guerrier gave up a home run, a double, and then another home run.
The game: August 15th vs. Seattle
The situation: Carlos Silva returns to the Metrodome and gets dismantled.
The description: Silva had been bad all year, and this game was certainly no exception. He made it through just 3 1/3 innings while allowing 9 earned runs on nine hits and a walk. On the other end of the spectrum was Francisco Liriano. He pitched seven innings, and Seattle managed only two unearned runs, thanks to a Brian Buscher error, on two hits and two walks. I’m fairly certain that, by this point in the season, the Mariners were slightly regretting the money they gave Silva.
The game: August 19th vs. Oakland
The situation: Kevin Slowey strikes out 12 and the Twins score 13.
The description: Following a horribly frustrating 3-2 loss to the A’s, the Twins came ready to play. Slowey was magnificent, breaking his career high in strikeouts, while stymieing the A’s offense to the tune of five hits and two runs (one earned) in seven innings. I don’t think I even need to mention it, but of course he also walked none. The offense did its share, too, plus some extra. Brian Buscher led the way with three hits, a home run, and five RBIs, but everyone contributed as they put 13 runs on the board with 16 hits.
The game: August 21st at Los Angeles
The situation: The Twins open their marathon 14-game road trip with a twelve inning win.
The description: This was it—the stretch that Twins fans had been dreading for a good portion of the season. It started off encouragingly enough, with this 2-1 victory over the Angels. Scott Baker dueled John Lackey for eight innings, with both allowing one run, walking two, and striking out six. Baker, though, surrendered five hits to Lackey’s four. The game remained tied at 1 until the twelfth inning, when Nick Punto tripled to center on a ball that Torii Hunter admitted he should have caught. Denard Span singled him in, and the always reliable Joe Nathan sealed the deal for his 35th save. If only the remainder of the road trip could have been that good…
The game: August 27th at Seattle
The situation: Span preserves a victory with a perfect throw to home plate.
The description: On the verge of their fifth consecutive loss and a sweep at the hands of the lowly Mariners, the Twins rallied to score three runs in the top of the eighth and take a 6-4 lead. Predictably, the bullpen tried to give it back in the bottom of the inning. Having already allowed one run, Eddie Guardado gave up a single with the Mariners’ Tug Hulett on second base. It seemed fitting that this was the way yet another game would turn, but Denard Span saved the game with a frozen rope to home plate that allowed Mike Redmond to apply the tag in time.
The game: August 29th at Oakland
The situation: Joe Mauer collects five hits and Justin Morneau gets four of his own.
The description: It almost seemed like a replay of their game from a week and a half ago. Again, Kevin Slowey was dominant, allowing two earned runs on six hits and a walk in six innings. He also struck out ten A’s, the second time he’d recorded double digit K’s. And again the offense backed him up with double digit runs, this time scoring 12 times. Joe Mauer went 5-6 with 4 RBIs and Justin Morneau was 4-5 with two doubles to lead the Twins to another lopsided victory over the A’s.
The game: August 30th at Oakland
The situation: The Twins lose another heartbreaker, this time due to a throwing error by Joe Nathan.
The description: The heartbreaks just kept on coming during the road trip and then for the rest of September. Francisco Liriano started this one and gave the Twins seven innings of one-run ball. Then Matt Guerrier bridged the gap seamlessly (for once) to Joe Nathan with the Twins leading 2-1. But this time it was Nathan who let the game get away. After allowing a hit, he hit Emil Brown with a pitch, putting runners on first and second with none out. A sacrifice bunt was in order, and that’s exactly what happened. Nathan decided to go for force at third, but he spun and threw just wildly enough to get it past Brendan Harris. It rolled around long enough in Oakland’s endless foul territory to allow both runners to score. Game over.
The game: September 13th at Baltimore
The situation: In their only double-header of the season, the Twins sweep the Orioles.
The description: Making up a game that was rained out the day before in addition to their regularly scheduled game, the Twins dismantled the Orioles. Although it wasn’t quite the 20-14, 12-0 doubleheader sweep of the White Sox two years ago, it was still two impressive wins by scores of 12-2 and 12-6. After winning the first game behind a strong outing from Scott Baker, a four-hit game from Justin Morneau, and two home runs from Denard Span, the Twins jumped all over Baltimore with six runs in the first inning of the second game. Glen Perkins struggled, giving up six runs over three innings, but the bats picked him up, scoring eleven runs in the first four innings. It was a very nice day in what was, to that point, a very bad month.
The game: September 16th at Cleveland
The situation: The Twins come back from a 7-run deficit, but Nathan gives up a walk-off homer in extras.
The description: It was the definition of heartbreak. Having lost their last two games, and eight of twelve overall in September, the Twins really needed a big win. Francisco Liriano dug them a deep hole early, exiting after just 2 2/3 innings with the Twins down 8-1. Things looked bleak, but the bullpen really stepped up, specifically Boof Bonser, who pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings. The offense did their part, scoring eight runs despite amassing only two extra base hits (both doubles). They took the lead in the eighth on Delmon Young’s sacrifice fly. It was the perfect opportunity to pick up everyone’s spirits, as they headed to the bottom of the eighth inning with the lead in a game they had trailed by seven runs. But Eddie Guardado promptly gave up a solo shot to re-tie the game. And the game would remain knotted at nine until Joe Nathan came to the mound in the eleventh inning. To that point, the bullpen had been spectacular, giving up just the home run in 8 1/3 frames. And Joe Nathan was yet to pitch! It was not to be, though, as Nathan got just one out before giving up a walk-off, 3-run homer to Victor Martinez. It was the epitome of desolation and devastation for a baseball game. Without a doubt, it was the worst I’d felt the entire season—and it would stay that way until game #163.
The game: September 18th at Tampa Bay
The situation: The Twins score five in the ninth to beat the Rays.
The description: As badly as they’d needed the win against Cleveland, it was just that much direr now. It was a roller coaster game, as Jason Kubel hit a homer in the first to put the Twins up 3-0. Then, Glen Perkins didn’t make it out of the first, and the Rays went up 5-3. They built their lead up to 7-3, before the Twins cut it to 7-6. A third Evan Longoria home run made the score 8-6. Coming into the ninth, on the verge of their fifth straight loss, I had turned the game off long ago. But, before Tampa even had time to get an out, Alexi Casilla had crushed a two-run homer to tie the game. Joe Mauer doubled and Justin Morneau was intentionally walked, bringing Jason Kubel to the plate. But Gardenhire decided to pinch hit for him with Adam Everett, obviously intending to have him bunt the runners over. Instead, Everett took a huge cut and sent the ball to the left field wall, scoring the go-ahead run. A Delmon Young single and a Matt Tolbert sac fly would add insurance runs, which helped put everyone at ease.
The game: September 23rd vs. Chicago
The situation: Kubel hits two homers in the Twins’ 9-3 win in the series opener.
The description: It was finally here. Many of us had been anticipating this for a good portion of the season, and certainly for the last month. If only they could stay in striking distance until this series, I kept thinking, then they’d have a chance. Despite all their struggles, they did just that. 2 ½ games out certainly wasn’t ideal, but they had a chance. In reality, they needed a sweep. But at least they had a chance. And they certainly took care of that in the first game, pounding the White Sox 9-3, behind Jason Kubel’s triple and two home runs.
The game: September 25th vs. Chicago
The situation: Do I really need to remind you?
The description: No doubt, the best moment of the year. One of the most exciting moments since I’ve been following the Twins. They needed a sweep. They got just that. They moved into first place, a ½ game ahead of Chicago. It wasn’t easy, though. The first game was, and the second game was close, but they led the whole way. This one was completely different. I can write more about it, and I will, but just go watch the videos of Denard Span’s game-tying triple and of Alexi Casilla’s walk-off single. Look at the energy and the passion those guys had and tell me this wasn’t one of the most exciting games you’ve ever seen. Look at the crowd roar in jubilant support of its time, and remember just how amazing this game, and season, was. Every single time I watch it I get goosebumps. The Twins fell behind 6-1 after Kevin Slowey injured his wrist and subsequently made a throwing error. But things, for once, did not look bleak. It sounds fabricated, but I absolutely did not give up on the Twins in this game. Usually when they fall behind I try to convince myself they have a chance, but I don’t really believe it. This time, I did believe it; I just felt that they were going to come back, win this game, and sweep the White Sox. I can’t write anymore about it—there’s just too much. Just go relive the experience yourself.
The game: September 28th vs. Kansas City
The situation: The Twins clinch a tie for the division lead.
The description: Despite faltering against Kansas City in the first two games, the Twins still had a chance to force the White Sox to play the Tigers on Monday (before a possible play-in game) with a win. They did just that, as once again Scott Baker came through with a great performance (7 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K). After the tumultuous off-season, and their faltering at the end of the season, the Twins still would at least force a play-in game to determine who would be crowned the AL Central Division champion.
The game: September 30th at Chicago
The situation: One game for the playoffs.
The description: It was game #163. The Twins’ regular season was supposed to be over on September 28th (and most would’ve said their season in general too), but they found themselves playing one more on this day. With Kevin Slowey’s injury, Nick Blackburn would take the ball for the Twins in this all-determining game. He pitched what may have been his best game of the year, considering the circumstances, but it was just not enough. One mistake to Jim Thome in the seventh inning was all it took; the Twins would wind up losing 1-0. The Twins were very close to taking the lead earlier in the game, when Michael Cuddyer attempted to tag up on a shallow fly ball hit to center by Brendan Harris. With Ken Griffey manning the position, I thought it was a good idea to send him home. But, to my surprise, Griffey delivered a throw that was right on target and took away the Twins’ only scoring opportunity of the game. Brian Anderson replaced him for defensive purposes later in the game, and he immediately showed his importance by making a diving catch of Alexi Casilla’s soft liner for the final out of what was an incredible season.
The game: March 31st vs. Los Angeles
The situation: The Twins open the season with a 3-2 win against Torii Hunter and the Angels.
The description: The new acquisitions were on display in the first game of the year. Livan Hernandez started with a perfect inning, and wound up pitching 7 innings, while allowing 2 runs on 7 hits. Carlos Gomez followed by starting off the Twins’ offensive year with a double, and added another hit, a walk, two runs, and two stolen bases. Joe Mauer singled him in to provide the year’s first run before its first out. Delmon Young went 2-4 with a walk, while, in a sign of things to come, Adam Everett left six on base in an 0-4 night. Torii Hunter also went 0-4 in his return to the Metrodome.
The game: April 2nd vs. Los Angeles
The situation: Nick Blackburn pitches excellently in his first career start.
The description: After Baseball America tabbed him as the Twins’ #1 prospect, a lot of us didn’t know what to think. Well, this start was a sign of things to come. Obviously, he didn’t pitch 7 innings, give up only one run on 6 hits and a walk, and strike out six in every game, but he surely exceeded my expectations and proved himself a very solid pitcher. Unfortunately, the hitters didn’t put it together for him in this one, as the Twins lost the game 1-0. Blackburn would lose one more game 1-0, and I don’t think you need to be reminded of which one that was.
The game: April 3rd vs. Los Angeles
The situation: Jason Kubel hits the Twins’ first home run in their fourth game.
The description: It took until the eighth inning of the Twins’ fourth game for Jason Kubel to hit the team’s first home run. That’s not surprising for a team that wound up finishing last in the AL and 29th in the Majors with 111 home runs. Incidentally, for all the talk that the Twins didn’t do the “little things” well anymore, which I agreed with, they did finish first in the Majors in sacrifice flies (72) and first in the AL in sacrifice hits (52).
The game: April 7th at Chicago
The situation: Denard Span collects his first career hit.
The description: In and of itself, this is of no specific importance, other than a 7-4 loss in the first game of the season versus the White Sox. But, when Span ended up contributing the way he did for much of the season, his first career hit deserves some recognition. He also stole his first career base in going 1-3 with a walk in the loss.
The game: April 9th at Chicago
The situation: Jason Kubel hits a Grand Slam and drives in six as the Twins beat the White Sox 12-5.
The description: It was an odd 3-game, 4-day series with a day off on Tuesday that only got stranger when Thursday’s game got rained out. But when they played the second game of the series, the Twins showed up, especially Jason Kubel. Up 8-4 with two outs in the sixth, Kubel sealed the deal early with a grand slam, helping his final line look like this: 2-4, R, HR, 6 RBI. Not a bad day at the office, huh?
The game: April 12th at Kansas City
The situation: The Twins record two consecutive shutouts.
The description: Granted, it was the Royals, but the Twins still went eighteen innings without allowing a run. Just to get a sense of how long ago this was, consider the following: in the first game, Livan Hernandez went seven innings and picked up his third straight victory in lowering his ERA to 2.57. In the second game, Boof Bonser started and went six innings, and was relieved by Matt Guerrier (who didn’t allow runs every time he pitched back then!) and Pat Neshek. News that Francisco Liriano was going to return to the big leagues was breaking for the first time—he would make his first forgettable start on April 13th. And Mike Lamb was still playing, Brendan Harris was hitting .367, and Justin Morneau was stuck on RBIs.
The game: April 13th at Kansas City
The situation: Francisco Liriano makes his first Major League appearance since August 2006.
The description: Although the results weren’t pretty, this was a pretty exciting day for Twins fans. In the end, it turned out to be too early, but that doesn’t take away from the excitement surrounding Liriano’s return to the big leagues after 19 months of rehab and Minor League toiling. Less than five innings later, it was clear that it would still be a while before we saw a Liriano that even resembled his 2006 self, even if it took another week or two for us (and the Twins’ front office) to admit it.
The game: April 19th vs. Cleveland
The situation: Nick Blackburn pitches 7 2/3 shutout innings to pick up his first career win.
The description: Blackburn was at his best, allowing eight hits and striking out one in the game. Four double plays and Delmon Young’s throw to get Asdrubal Cabrera at home plate helped preserve the Twins’ shutout.
The game: April 20th vs. Cleveland
The situation: Justin Morneau hits the third consecutive 2-out single to give the Twins a walk-off win.
The description: After Scott Baker and Paul Byrd dueled for seven innings, each allowing only a run, the bullpens kept the game scoreless for two more innings. On the Twins’ side, this was largely thanks to Carlos Gomez’s amazing diving grab—one of his best of the year—in the ninth inning with one out and a runner on second. With two outs and nobody on, Brendan Harris singled. Jason Kubel followed with another single, moving Harris to 3rd base. Up came Justin Morneau, who hit a sharp groundball just past the diving attempt of Ryan Garko to bring home the winning run in the bottom of the tenth.
The game: April 24th at Oakland
The situation: Francisco Liriano gives up 6 ER and only gets two outs.
The description: It started off well enough, as Carlos Gomez led off the game with a home run, his first with the Twins. But in the bottom of the inning, it went downhill like an avalanche racing down a mountain. Liriano got just two outs, and one was a runner thrown out going to third, and gave up 6 earned runs before he was replaced by Brian Bass. Here’s what it looked like: walk, single, pop out, walk, single, walk, single, single (runner thrown out), single. And Bass would give up another single to leave Liriano charged with 6 runs. It was a depressing day for Twins fans, as we realized Liriano was really not back, and would have to spend more time at Rochester.
The game: April 25th at Texas
The situation: The Twins build a 5-0 lead behind Justin Morneau’s grand slam, but lose in ten innings.
The description: With Francisco Liriano’s abominable start fresh in Twins’ fans’ minds, this started off just the way we needed it to. Justin Morneau singled in Carlos Gomez in the first and then hit a grand slam in the third to put the Twins up 5-0 and give himself five RBIs on the day. But the bottom of the inning turned out to be as bad for Nick Blackburn as the first inning was for Francisco Liriano the day before. The Rangers started the inning with seven straight hits, the first five being singles and the last two being doubles, to knot the game at 5. Only thanks to a strange double play on the seventh hit, in which they got an out at home and third base, did the Twins keep it tied. The game would be scoreless from that point until Juan Rincon gave up a walk-off single in the tenth inning.
The game: May 4th vs. Detroit
The situation: The Tigers score six in the first, but the Twins rally back and win 7-6.
The description: One of the top three comeback wins of the year (the other two still to come), the Twins fell behind very quickly. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a homer, and the Tigers would score five more times off of Boof Bonser before the inning was over. Bonser, however, came back and pitched five more scoreless innings to give the Twins a chance—a chance they would fully capitalize on, as they scored once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and completed the comeback with four runs in the seventh. Joe Mauer delivered the go-ahead single with runners on second and third and two outs to give the Twins their fifth consecutive victory. Dick Bremer’s call of the play still rings soundly in my ears: “High chopper, over the mound, INTO CENTERFIELD! And the Twins take the lead!”
The game: May 6th at Chicago
The situation: Joe Mauer ends Gavin Floyd’s no-hit bid in the ninth inning.
The description: Despite having scored a run, the Twins entered the ninth inning without a hit against the White Sox’s Gavin Floyd. Mauer walked, Morneau moved him to second by reaching on an error, Cuddyer moved him to third with a fly out, and Kubel got him home with a sac fly. After Brendan Harris struck out looking to start the ninth, Joe Mauer came to bat. He had already walked twice, while the rest of the team had reached base twice combined, one via a walk and the other via the aforementioned error. He came through with a double to left field to keep the Twins from having a very humiliating day.
The game: May 7th at Chicago
The situation: Carlos Gomez hits for the cycle.
The description: The Twins beat the White Sox 13-1 and Livan Hernandez had a shutout through 8 1/3 innings (and ended up with a complete game), but the story of the game was Carlos Gomez. He led off the game with a home run, but that was only the beginning, both literally and figuratively. By the end of the night, he had collected four hits in six at bats to go along with two runs and 3 RBIs. And, of course, he had the double, triple, and single necessary to hit for the eighth cycle in Twins history, and the first since Kirby Puckett did it in 1986.
The game: May 9th vs. Boston
The situation: Mike Lamb hits a two-run walk-off single with two outs in the ninth.
The description: Down 6-5 with two outs and Delmon Young on second, the Twins’ prospects of winning were looking fairly bleak, largely because Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound. That changed quickly though, after Young stole third, Carlos Gomez walked, and then Gomez stole second. Up to bat came Mike Lamb, with his average hovering just above the Mendoza line. But, in what was certainly his best moment as a Twin, he hit a soft line drive into left field that easily scored both runners, and gave the Twins a walk-off victory over the Red Sox.
The game: May 15th vs. Toronto
The situation: The Twins lose 3-2 in 11 innings and are swept by the Blue Jays.
The description: After squandering numerous scoring opportunities, Jesse Crain allowed a two-out, bases loaded single in the eleventh inning that put the Blue Jays up 3-2. Jason Kubel made a critical mistake earlier in the game, running through a stop sign and getting thrown out easily at home on Justin Morneau’s bloop hit. This meant the Twins would be swept at the Metrodome and would lose the three games by a total of four runs.
The game: May 19th vs. Texas
The situation: Howie Clark (?) and Bobby Korecky (!) win it for the Twins.
The description: Down 6-5 going into the ninth, the Twins rallied and tied it at six on Joe Mauer’s RBI single. They still had a great chance to win the game right there, with only one out and runners on the corners, but they failed to do so. The tenth inning passed uneventfully, but then Juan Rincon entered the game in the eleventh. He got one out, but left the bases loaded for Bobby Korecky, who had pitched all of 4 1/3 Major League innings to that point. But Korecky was up for the challenge, getting Ian Kinsler to pop out and Michael Young to strike out. In the bottom of the inning, Korecky was forced to hit due to a double switch made earlier in the game, and hit a single, certainly his first-ever hit, and the first hit ever by a Twins pitcher in an American League game! Unfortunately, Korecky wound up 90 feet from scoring the winning run, as the Twins failed to capitalize on a bases loaded, one-out situation. A 1-2-3 twelfth from Bobby Korecky, and this time the Twins took care of business in their half of the inning. Howie Clark played hero by hitting an RBI double to center field to win the game.
The game: May 24th at Detroit
The situation: Matt Macri makes his Major League debut, as the Twins get shellacked 19-3.
The description: Macri went 2-3 with a run, RBI, walk, and stolen base in his first Major League game, but unfortunately it was overshadowed by the Twins’ most lopsided loss of the year. By the time the game had ended, Alexi Casilla’s game-tying home run in the top of the third seemed like it happened in a different decade. The Tigers scored nine runs off of Boof Bonser and seven off of Brian Bass on their way to putting up 19 runs in the first five innings.
The game: May 27th at Kansas City
The situation: Mark Teahan ties the game with an inside-the-park homer in the ninth.
The description: Nick Blackburn entered the ninth inning having pitched eight scoreless innings, but things got messy very quickly. After hitting a batter, inducing a pop out, and allowing a single, Ron Gardenhire called upon Joe Nathan to replace him with runners on first and second and Mark Teahan coming to the plate. The game unraveled in a flash, as Delmon Young’s misguided and poorly executed dive fell short, and the batted ball bounced around in the left field corner. As Young seemingly jogged after the ball, Teahan motored all the way around the bases to tie the game and give Nathan his first blown save of the season. The Twins were able to win the game, however, on Michael Cuddyer’s single in the twelfth inning.
The game: May 28th at Kansas City
The situation: Craig Monroe hits a 2-out, 3-run homer to tie it and cap a 5-run ninth inning rally. The description: After the events of the game the day before, you wouldn’t have thought the next game could be more exciting. Obviously, you would have been wrong. This time it was the Twins who would rally in the ninth inning, after being down 8-3 to start it. Mathematically, their chances of winning were certainly the lowest they would be all year in a game in which they wound up on top, as they had just a runner on first with one out to go in an 8-3 game. But what followed was simply amazing, and also the second of the three top comebacks I mentioned earlier: a wild pitch, a Mike Lamb single, a Brendan Harris single, a Carlos Gomez single, and up walked Craig Monroe, pinch-hitting for Alexi Casilla. And, down to his last strike, Monroe hit a frozen rope over the left field fence to tie the game. Unlike the Royals the night before, the Twins capitalized on their comeback when Justin Morneau homered to lead off the tenth and Joe Nathan closed it out to hand the Royals their tenth straight loss in heartbreaking fashion—again.
The game: June 1st vs. New York
The situation: Nick Blackburn takes a liner to the face off of Bobby Abreu.
The description: Watching this live, it was very scary. As Blackburn recoiled from his pitch, the ball came screaming off the bat of Bobby Abreu and clocked him right in the face. Initially, he collapsed, rolled over, and lay sprawled out next to the mound. After a second or two, he got up and was bleeding from the nose, but I was letting out a sigh of relief. For the second that he lay on the ground, things seemed like they could have been extremely bad. Fortunately, though, he would recover and even make his next scheduled start.
The game: June 2nd vs. New York
The situation: Joe Mauer hits his first home run of the season.
The description: Trailing by a run in the seventh, Joe Mauer belted his first home run of 2008 to knot it at five apiece. Delmon Young put the Twins ahead for good by doubling Michael Cuddyer in for the third time in the game. This was only after Cuddyer made an absolutely perfect play in the top of the inning, playing the carom off the baggie perfectly, barehanding the ball, and tossing a strike to second to nail Derek Jeter in his bid for a double.
The game: June 4th vs. Baltimore
The situation: Joe Mauer’s sacrifice fly scores two runs.
The description: With runners on second and third, Joe Mauer hit a deep fly ball to center field, which Adam Jones tracked down and caught close to the warning track. Nick Punto, who was on third, scored easily on the play, while Carlos Gomez, who was on second, took off for third. Immediately after catching the ball, Jones tripped and fell, and then tossed the ball to a fellow outfielder. Gomez was sent home and beat the relay throw easily, surely marking the first time in Joe Mauer’s career he’d hit a 2-run sacrifice fly.
The game: June 5th vs. Baltimore
The situation: Carrying 13 pitchers, Kevin Slowey is forced into the game as a pinch-runner.
The description: The arguments against a 13-man pitching staff were quickly validated in this game. After Mike Redmond singled in the eighth inning, Gardenhire logically wanted to pinch-run for him. A quick look at the bench, though, and it became evident that there was no one left. Therefore, he was forced to send Slowey into the game to pinch-run for Redmond.
The game: June 7th at Chicago
The situation: Delmon Young finally hits his first home run as a Twin.
The description: Down 7-0 in the seventh inning, it would be hard, as a Twins fan, for something exciting to happen. And it shouldn’t have been really, but Delmon Young’s homer was exactly that. For weeks on end I’d been turning to my brother when Young came to the plate and saying, “You’d know what it’d be a good time for?” And he would invariably respond, “Delmon Young’s first home run!” Now, I didn’t say it this time, with the score being so lopsided, but nonetheless it came as quite a relief.
The game: June 9th at Chicago
The situation: The Twins get humiliated in Chicago, losing all four games by a combined score of 40-15.
The description: Entering the series 2.5 games behind the White Sox and with a chance to take the division lead, the Twins got blown out in the first three games and coughed up a late lead in the final game. As a result, they fell to 31-33, 6.5 games out of first place. Many desolate fans considered the season to be over, while others cited the similarity to the three-game shellacking the Twins took at the hands of Detroit in 2006, when they managed to rally and win the division. Oh, how close they were to being right.
The game: June 15th at Milwaukee
The situation: Scott Baker collects four strikeouts in one inning.
The description: The title is pretty self-explanatory for this one. In the third inning, Baker struck out the foursome of Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder (who reached base via a wild pitch), Russell Branyan, and Mike Cameron to achieve the feat. He became the first Twins pitcher to do so, and it was the first time it had happened in the American League since April of 2003.
The game: June 24th at San Diego
The situation: Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher hit back to back homers to break a tie in the ninth.
The description: The Twins were tied with the Padres, 1-1, heading into the ninth inning. The all-time saves leader, Trevor Hoffman, took the mound for San Diego, and got the first two outs. So, with no one on and two outs, Brendan Harris stepped to the plate. And what happened? Well, obviously, you know—he hit a home run! And then, just as Padres fans were gathering their breath and convincing themselves they only needed a run in their half of the inning to keep the game going, Brian Buscher made it back-to-back homers with his first career home run.
The game: June 25th at San Diego
The situation: The Twins beat four Cy Young winners in five games.
The description: From June 20th to June 25th, the Twins played 5 games, won them all, and four of them were against former Cy Young award winners. On this night, it was Greg Maddux who they pounded for the victory. Previously, it had been Randy Johnson (8 IP, 7 R), Brandon Webb (7 IP, 5 R), and Jake Peavy. Granted, some of them are shells of their former selves, but it’s an accomplishment nonetheless.
The game: June 27th vs. Milwaukee
The situation: The Twins win a season high 10th consecutive game.
The description: The Twins were behind by scores of 2-1 and 6-3, but managed to wrestle the game away from the Brewers and end up on top, 7-6. Joe Mauer hit a solo shot with two outs in the eighth to put the Twins up by that final score. It was their tenth straight win, which would turn out to be their longest winning streak of the season, and it included sweeps of Washington, Arizona, and San Diego. Clearly, interleague play was kind to the Twins, as it was to many AL teams.
The game: June 29th vs. Milwaukee
The situation: Kevin Slowey pitches a 3-hit shutout.
The description: It was Kevin Slowey’s day, as he had the Milwaukee batters baffled all game long. He allowed just three hits and, in typical Slowey fashion, no walks in pitching an efficient nine innings of shutout ball. He also set a (short-lived) career high in strikeouts, with eight. Incidentally, this was both the conclusion of interleague play and the first game of the (mathematical) second half of the season.
The game: July 10th at Detroit
The situation: Justin Morneau leads the Twins to victory with five hits, including a go-ahead home run.
The description: The Twins fell behind early, 6-2 in the fourth inning to be precise. Still trailing by the same score late in the game, they pushed across one run in the seventh and another in the eighth before entering the ninth with a 2-run deficit. That lead wouldn’t last long; Nick Punto and Denard Span’s singles, followed by Joe Mauer’s sacrifice fly, would force the game into extra innings. It was then that Justin Morneau once again came through for the Twins. Already 4-4 with a walk, Justin Morneau added a little extra by hitting a go-ahead home run in the top of the eleventh, to finish the game 5-5 with 2 runs, a home run, an RBI, and a walk. For Denard Span, it was too bad, because his day (4-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, SB) was lost amidst Morneau’s performance.
The “game”: July 14th at Yankee Stadium
The situation: Jason Morneau is crowned the Home Run Derby champion.
The description: It was the Josh Hamilton show in the first round, and with the cumulative scoring, his lackluster second round posed no problem as he easily advanced to the finals. Morneau, however, was the more consistent hitter on the night, and therefore was able to walk away with the title. Of course, no one cared about that—they all just wanted to focus on Hamilton’s record-setting first round (rightfully so, I suppose). But they could’ve interviewed Morneau before him after he won the derby, right? And they certainly could’ve called him Justin Morneau.
The game: July 15th at Yankee Stadium
The situation: Justin Morneau scores the winning run in the AL’s 15-inning victory.
The description: This must have been Bud Selig’s worst nightmare; he must have just been praying for someone to score. What if he had had to call another tie? The chants of “Let them play” from the last time remain vivid in my mind. Fortunately, Morneau came through for him, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 15th. OK, so maybe Morneau did blow an opportunity in the 10th with the bases loaded and two outs, but overall he was 2-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs scored. Joe Mauer was 1-1 with a walk. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Also, I forgot how amazing this game was. In the tenth, the AL loaded the bases with none out after two straight Dan Uggla errors an an intentional walk. Aaron Cook got three straight groundouts, however, to get out of that huge jam (the first one could have been a double play, but Uggla was SO deliberate about his throw home after his two errors that they didn’t even have a play at first). And then in the following inning, Nate McClouth threw a perfect strike from centerfield to home plate to get Dioner Navarro out and preserve the tie game.
The game: July 19th vs. Texas
The situation: The Twins score a season-high fourteen runs and hit four homers.
The description: In their second game back from the All- Star break, the Twins were firing on all cylinders. They plated 14 runs on 16 hits and 4 walks; they had 9 extra base hits (5 doubles and 4 homers); six Twins had multiple hits; and each starter reached base and all had a hit, save Brendan Harris. Even Livan Hernandez showed up and pitched his last good game before the Twins would later release him. Considering the day before they won 6-0, the second half started off very promisingly.
The game: July 20th vs. Texas
The situation: Scott Baker pitches eight spectacular innings, but takes the tough luck loss.
The description: Baker was cruising and had a perfect game 5 2/3 innings in, but that was when Taylor Teagarden launched a homer to left-center field. Baker recovered and only allowed one more hit and a walk before exiting after eight innings. He added eight strikeouts, too. Unfortunately, the Twins offense mustered just three hits, all singles, and they lost 1-0. Oh, and can you believe Carlos Gomez was still leading off at this point in this season?
The game: July 23rd at New York
The situation: I attend my only Twins game of the year.
The description: This one obviously only has value for me, especially because it was a 5-1 loss.
The game: July 25th at Cleveland
The situation: Carlos Gomez makes, in my opinion, one of the top catches of the year.
The description: This one needs a video, so here’s the link. Or, of course, you can click on the regular link below. Fortunately, Gomez wasn't seriously injured, although he did have to leave the game on a stretcher. And wasn't it strange that it seemed like the exact same ball was hit later in the game, with Denard Span manning centerfield. He got his glove on it but couldn't hold on. There’s not much more to say about, except that it was simply amazing.
The game: July 28th vs. Chicago
The situation: Kevin Slowey pitches a shutout and Denard Span hits his first career home run.
The description: Slowey pitched his second shutout of the year, this one coming against the hated White Sox. This time around he gave up six hits and a walk, but threw just 102 pitches over the nine innings, while striking out five batters. Denard Span got the scoring started to aid Slowey with his first career home run in the third, and Justin Morneau followed with one of his own three batters later.
The game: August 3rd vs. Cleveland
The situation: Francisco Liriano returns to the Twins and pitches them into first place.
The description: Liriano started his first game since his April debacle and was excellent. He threw six shutout innings, surrendering 3 hits and 3 walks in the process, and punching out five. Later in the game, Juan Rincon made his first appearance against the Twins since being released in mid-season. Denard Span, the first batter he faced, rudely welcomed him back with a home run in the eighth.
The game: August 6th at Seattle
The situation: Denard Span makes a game-saving catch of a would-be home run.
The description: The bullpen woes were just beginning for the Twins, but the previous two games of the series were extremely tough to stomach. In the first game, the Twins led 6-1 heading into the seventh, when Glen Perkins exited with a lead. Before it was over, though, Brian Bass, Boof Bonser, and Matt Guerrier had combined to give up six of the ten runs the Twins allowed in that one inning. In the next game, the offense pushed four runs across in the eighth to take a one-run lead, but Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan promptly gave two runs right back. Then, in this game, the Twins were leading 4-3 in the seventh when Jesse Crain came on to face Adrian Beltre with a man on. He crushed the ball to right for what looked like a home run, but Span set himself up against the wall and made a leaping grab over the wall to save two runs and end the inning. And just for good measure, he also had 4 RBIs in the game.
The game: August 12th vs. New York
The situation: Delmon Young hits a home run off Rivera to tie the game, but the Twins lose in extras.
The description: With two outs in the eighth and two Twins on base, Joe Girardi called upon his closer, Mariano Rivera, to get the final four outs of the game. Up 6-3, one would have to assume this was pretty much a done deal, even with two men on—it was Mariano Rivera, after all. And, on top of that, he even had Young behind 0-2. But it was Young who got the best of Rivera, slicing a ball just over the baggie and inside the foul pole for a game-tying 3-run dinger. It was the first time a Twin had ever homered off of Rivera. Unfortunately, much of the excitement was taken away because the Twins wound up losing in twelve innings when Matt Guerrier gave up a home run, a double, and then another home run.
The game: August 15th vs. Seattle
The situation: Carlos Silva returns to the Metrodome and gets dismantled.
The description: Silva had been bad all year, and this game was certainly no exception. He made it through just 3 1/3 innings while allowing 9 earned runs on nine hits and a walk. On the other end of the spectrum was Francisco Liriano. He pitched seven innings, and Seattle managed only two unearned runs, thanks to a Brian Buscher error, on two hits and two walks. I’m fairly certain that, by this point in the season, the Mariners were slightly regretting the money they gave Silva.
The game: August 19th vs. Oakland
The situation: Kevin Slowey strikes out 12 and the Twins score 13.
The description: Following a horribly frustrating 3-2 loss to the A’s, the Twins came ready to play. Slowey was magnificent, breaking his career high in strikeouts, while stymieing the A’s offense to the tune of five hits and two runs (one earned) in seven innings. I don’t think I even need to mention it, but of course he also walked none. The offense did its share, too, plus some extra. Brian Buscher led the way with three hits, a home run, and five RBIs, but everyone contributed as they put 13 runs on the board with 16 hits.
The game: August 21st at Los Angeles
The situation: The Twins open their marathon 14-game road trip with a twelve inning win.
The description: This was it—the stretch that Twins fans had been dreading for a good portion of the season. It started off encouragingly enough, with this 2-1 victory over the Angels. Scott Baker dueled John Lackey for eight innings, with both allowing one run, walking two, and striking out six. Baker, though, surrendered five hits to Lackey’s four. The game remained tied at 1 until the twelfth inning, when Nick Punto tripled to center on a ball that Torii Hunter admitted he should have caught. Denard Span singled him in, and the always reliable Joe Nathan sealed the deal for his 35th save. If only the remainder of the road trip could have been that good…
The game: August 27th at Seattle
The situation: Span preserves a victory with a perfect throw to home plate.
The description: On the verge of their fifth consecutive loss and a sweep at the hands of the lowly Mariners, the Twins rallied to score three runs in the top of the eighth and take a 6-4 lead. Predictably, the bullpen tried to give it back in the bottom of the inning. Having already allowed one run, Eddie Guardado gave up a single with the Mariners’ Tug Hulett on second base. It seemed fitting that this was the way yet another game would turn, but Denard Span saved the game with a frozen rope to home plate that allowed Mike Redmond to apply the tag in time.
The game: August 29th at Oakland
The situation: Joe Mauer collects five hits and Justin Morneau gets four of his own.
The description: It almost seemed like a replay of their game from a week and a half ago. Again, Kevin Slowey was dominant, allowing two earned runs on six hits and a walk in six innings. He also struck out ten A’s, the second time he’d recorded double digit K’s. And again the offense backed him up with double digit runs, this time scoring 12 times. Joe Mauer went 5-6 with 4 RBIs and Justin Morneau was 4-5 with two doubles to lead the Twins to another lopsided victory over the A’s.
The game: August 30th at Oakland
The situation: The Twins lose another heartbreaker, this time due to a throwing error by Joe Nathan.
The description: The heartbreaks just kept on coming during the road trip and then for the rest of September. Francisco Liriano started this one and gave the Twins seven innings of one-run ball. Then Matt Guerrier bridged the gap seamlessly (for once) to Joe Nathan with the Twins leading 2-1. But this time it was Nathan who let the game get away. After allowing a hit, he hit Emil Brown with a pitch, putting runners on first and second with none out. A sacrifice bunt was in order, and that’s exactly what happened. Nathan decided to go for force at third, but he spun and threw just wildly enough to get it past Brendan Harris. It rolled around long enough in Oakland’s endless foul territory to allow both runners to score. Game over.
The game: September 13th at Baltimore
The situation: In their only double-header of the season, the Twins sweep the Orioles.
The description: Making up a game that was rained out the day before in addition to their regularly scheduled game, the Twins dismantled the Orioles. Although it wasn’t quite the 20-14, 12-0 doubleheader sweep of the White Sox two years ago, it was still two impressive wins by scores of 12-2 and 12-6. After winning the first game behind a strong outing from Scott Baker, a four-hit game from Justin Morneau, and two home runs from Denard Span, the Twins jumped all over Baltimore with six runs in the first inning of the second game. Glen Perkins struggled, giving up six runs over three innings, but the bats picked him up, scoring eleven runs in the first four innings. It was a very nice day in what was, to that point, a very bad month.
The game: September 16th at Cleveland
The situation: The Twins come back from a 7-run deficit, but Nathan gives up a walk-off homer in extras.
The description: It was the definition of heartbreak. Having lost their last two games, and eight of twelve overall in September, the Twins really needed a big win. Francisco Liriano dug them a deep hole early, exiting after just 2 2/3 innings with the Twins down 8-1. Things looked bleak, but the bullpen really stepped up, specifically Boof Bonser, who pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings. The offense did their part, scoring eight runs despite amassing only two extra base hits (both doubles). They took the lead in the eighth on Delmon Young’s sacrifice fly. It was the perfect opportunity to pick up everyone’s spirits, as they headed to the bottom of the eighth inning with the lead in a game they had trailed by seven runs. But Eddie Guardado promptly gave up a solo shot to re-tie the game. And the game would remain knotted at nine until Joe Nathan came to the mound in the eleventh inning. To that point, the bullpen had been spectacular, giving up just the home run in 8 1/3 frames. And Joe Nathan was yet to pitch! It was not to be, though, as Nathan got just one out before giving up a walk-off, 3-run homer to Victor Martinez. It was the epitome of desolation and devastation for a baseball game. Without a doubt, it was the worst I’d felt the entire season—and it would stay that way until game #163.
The game: September 18th at Tampa Bay
The situation: The Twins score five in the ninth to beat the Rays.
The description: As badly as they’d needed the win against Cleveland, it was just that much direr now. It was a roller coaster game, as Jason Kubel hit a homer in the first to put the Twins up 3-0. Then, Glen Perkins didn’t make it out of the first, and the Rays went up 5-3. They built their lead up to 7-3, before the Twins cut it to 7-6. A third Evan Longoria home run made the score 8-6. Coming into the ninth, on the verge of their fifth straight loss, I had turned the game off long ago. But, before Tampa even had time to get an out, Alexi Casilla had crushed a two-run homer to tie the game. Joe Mauer doubled and Justin Morneau was intentionally walked, bringing Jason Kubel to the plate. But Gardenhire decided to pinch hit for him with Adam Everett, obviously intending to have him bunt the runners over. Instead, Everett took a huge cut and sent the ball to the left field wall, scoring the go-ahead run. A Delmon Young single and a Matt Tolbert sac fly would add insurance runs, which helped put everyone at ease.
The game: September 23rd vs. Chicago
The situation: Kubel hits two homers in the Twins’ 9-3 win in the series opener.
The description: It was finally here. Many of us had been anticipating this for a good portion of the season, and certainly for the last month. If only they could stay in striking distance until this series, I kept thinking, then they’d have a chance. Despite all their struggles, they did just that. 2 ½ games out certainly wasn’t ideal, but they had a chance. In reality, they needed a sweep. But at least they had a chance. And they certainly took care of that in the first game, pounding the White Sox 9-3, behind Jason Kubel’s triple and two home runs.
The game: September 25th vs. Chicago
The situation: Do I really need to remind you?
The description: No doubt, the best moment of the year. One of the most exciting moments since I’ve been following the Twins. They needed a sweep. They got just that. They moved into first place, a ½ game ahead of Chicago. It wasn’t easy, though. The first game was, and the second game was close, but they led the whole way. This one was completely different. I can write more about it, and I will, but just go watch the videos of Denard Span’s game-tying triple and of Alexi Casilla’s walk-off single. Look at the energy and the passion those guys had and tell me this wasn’t one of the most exciting games you’ve ever seen. Look at the crowd roar in jubilant support of its time, and remember just how amazing this game, and season, was. Every single time I watch it I get goosebumps. The Twins fell behind 6-1 after Kevin Slowey injured his wrist and subsequently made a throwing error. But things, for once, did not look bleak. It sounds fabricated, but I absolutely did not give up on the Twins in this game. Usually when they fall behind I try to convince myself they have a chance, but I don’t really believe it. This time, I did believe it; I just felt that they were going to come back, win this game, and sweep the White Sox. I can’t write anymore about it—there’s just too much. Just go relive the experience yourself.
The game: September 28th vs. Kansas City
The situation: The Twins clinch a tie for the division lead.
The description: Despite faltering against Kansas City in the first two games, the Twins still had a chance to force the White Sox to play the Tigers on Monday (before a possible play-in game) with a win. They did just that, as once again Scott Baker came through with a great performance (7 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K). After the tumultuous off-season, and their faltering at the end of the season, the Twins still would at least force a play-in game to determine who would be crowned the AL Central Division champion.
The game: September 30th at Chicago
The situation: One game for the playoffs.
The description: It was game #163. The Twins’ regular season was supposed to be over on September 28th (and most would’ve said their season in general too), but they found themselves playing one more on this day. With Kevin Slowey’s injury, Nick Blackburn would take the ball for the Twins in this all-determining game. He pitched what may have been his best game of the year, considering the circumstances, but it was just not enough. One mistake to Jim Thome in the seventh inning was all it took; the Twins would wind up losing 1-0. The Twins were very close to taking the lead earlier in the game, when Michael Cuddyer attempted to tag up on a shallow fly ball hit to center by Brendan Harris. With Ken Griffey manning the position, I thought it was a good idea to send him home. But, to my surprise, Griffey delivered a throw that was right on target and took away the Twins’ only scoring opportunity of the game. Brian Anderson replaced him for defensive purposes later in the game, and he immediately showed his importance by making a diving catch of Alexi Casilla’s soft liner for the final out of what was an incredible season.
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