Metrodome Memories

Alright, it all comes down to these final three games.  The Twins are in the playoffs, but they can avoid playing the Yankees on the road in the first round.  They probably need a sweep (along with some help) to do it, but there’s still a solid chance.

Monday was the day the Twins clinched a post season berth and they did it with a blow out win.  Justin Morneau hit a three run shot for homerun number 34 and Torii Hunter went yard with his 30th in the 8-1 blowout.  Boof Bonser threw a nice game and he gave up only one run on two hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Johan Santana picked up win number 19 in a close game on Tuesday.  He gave up two runson seven hits with five strikeouts in eight innings of work подробности здесь. The Royals actually took a 2-0 lead until the Twins started chipping away at it.  Luis Rodriguez got the game winning RBI when he drove home Torii Hunter with a sac. fly.

Wednesday was the lone loss and that snapped a four game winning streak.  Carlos Silva was hit hard and he gave up five runs in only four innings of work.  Michael Cuddyer hit his 23rd homerun and Rondell White drove in two runs in the 6-4 loss.

The Twins tied the Tigers yesterday with a dramatic ten inning performance.  Brad Radke made his return and threw well.  He gave up only one unearned run in five innings of work and it’ll sure be nice to have him for the post season.  Regardless, this was a close game.  The Royals were up 1-0 most of the way until Joe Mauer hit a solo homerun with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie it.  Then in the tenth, Jason Bartlett singled home Justin Morneau to win it.

The Twins now head into their final series against the White Sox tied, but they’re effectively a half game back because the Tigers have the Wild Card.  Detroit hosts the Royals, so we can’t really expect them to lose.  Maybe one at the most. 

The Twins clinched at least a Wild Card yesterday so after missing the post season last year, the Twins will get another chance to make a run at their first World Series since 2001.  Congratulations to the team and good luck in the playoffs.

The Royals couldn’t help us out so the Tigers now lead the Twins by a single game in the loss column.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is, the White Sox dropped a couple of games to the Mariners so the Twins now just need two wins to get back into the post season.  That Wild Card spot could get wrapped up as early as tomorrow.

The Orioles didn’t roll over though.  Brian Roberts was a one man wrecking crew on Friday and he pretty much singled handedly took this one for the Orioles.  Carlos Silva was bounced after 5 2/3 innings rough innings and Torii Hunter scored twice in the 7-3 loss.

The Twins got back on track yesterday.  Torii Hunter had a nice game.  He went three for five with a homerun, two RBIs and two runs.  Rondell White went four for four and Michael Cuddyer scored three times in the 8-5 win.  Scott Baker was sent packing early but the pen and the bats picked him up here. 

Today’s game was somewhat more normal.  Matt Garza threw a decent game and Joe Mauer and Phil Nevin each hit two run homeruns in the 6-3 win.  This one could have been a lot worse because the Twins stranded ten guys.

Next up is four against the Royals, who rolled over for the Tigers this weekend.  If we split the series, this weekend’s three games against the White Sox mean little except for possibly winning the division outright.

The Tigers pretty much took care of the White Sox earlier this week, so while the Twins aren’t out of the woods quite yet, they’re almost just playing to see who they play in that first round game.  They have an easy series this weekend (Orioles) so it’d be nice if we at least kept pace with the Tigers (who play the Royals) over the weekend.

Justin Morneau was five for five with an RBI and two runs in the Twins win on Tuesday.  Jason Bartlett and Torii Hunter both homered and Matt Garza threw a nice game.  He picked up his second career win in the 7-3 win.

Wednesday was an even bigger blowout.  Torii Hunter led the way with the bat and he had two hits, including a homerun, and four RBIs in the 8-2 win.  The homerun was his 28th of the season.  Boof Bonser pitched seven solid innings and he improved to 6-5 on the season. 

The Twins could have taken over in the Central but they ran into a very good Josh Beckett.  The Twins were shut out on eight hits and David Ortiz hit two homeruns.  Johan Santana took the loss in five pretty mediocre innings and the Twins lost 6-0.

Hopefully the Twins have a solid weekend.

The Tigers are losing right now and if the Orioles hold on, the Twins will be back to a one game deficit in the AL Central.  The White Sox play later today but regardless of what happens there, the Twins will have no worse then a three game lead for the Wild Card.

The bats really did the job on Thursday.  Torii Hunter and Rondel White both homered and Hunter drove in four runs in the 9-4 win.  The Twins scored in each of their final five innings and while Boof Bonser didn’t get a decision in his start, he did throw well.  Jesse Crain actually gave up the tying the run but the Twins immediately picked him up and he ended up getting the win.

Friday was the lone blemish and ironically, it was on Johan Santana’s day.  He looked pretty mortal and gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in eight innings.  The Twins actually tied it up with two runs in the ninth but Pat Neshek gave up the winning run in the bottom of the tenth.  Justin Morneau drove in two runs in the 5-4 loss.

Carlos Silva really picked things up yesterday.  He gave up only one run on five hits in seven innings of work.  Torii Hunter hit homerun number 26 and Mike Redmond had three hits and three RBIs in the 4-1 win.

The Twins wrapped up the series this afternoon with their second straight win.  Scott Baker threw a very nice game and he improved to 5-8 and Torii Hunter and Phil Nevin each drove in two runs in the 6-1 win.  Jason Tyner had three hits and the defense turned five double plays.

Next up is three games against a struggling Red Sox team.  The good news is, the Tigers and White Sox play head to head so one of them has to lose.  We’ll either be picking up ground in the division race or padding our lead for the Wild Card.

Damn, the Tigers just tied their game up 8-8.  We might be back down to a two game lead after all.

My jaw dropped when I checked the score at work today.  The A’s and Twins were scoreless through four innings but when I dropped down to where the pitchers were, it was obvious something was wrong when I saw Matt Garza was already in the game.  Francisco Liriano’s season could be done as could Brad Radke’s.  Somehow, the Twins seems to be right there in the thick of things though.

Carlos Silva threw a nice enough game on Monday.  He gave up a solo homerun to Frank Thomas in the fourth inning but that was it.  Michael Cuddyer homered and drove in four runs to lead the way on offense.  Torii Hunter, who’s quietly put together a very nice season, hit homerun number 24.  Joe Nathan got into trouble in the ninth but pitched himself out of the jam in the 9-4 win.

The Twins won again yesterday.  Justin Morneau’s two run double in the eighth inning gave the Twins the lead for good.  Justin Tyner had three hits and two RBIs in the 7-5 win.  Matt Guerrier got bounced after four innings and Dennys Reyes continues his hot pitching and he improve to 5-0.

Today’s game was pretty disappointing in a lot of different ways.  Liriano was pulled in the third and while Garza pitched a great game, the Twins didn’t score at all. 

The good news is, the Tigers lost today, so the Twins are still a game and a half back.  The White Sox won so they’re right on our trail a game and a half back of us.  Next up is four against the Indians.  After tomorrow’s game, we’ll get rid of that half game thing and we could be only one game back of Detroit because they have the day off.

Francisco Liriano was limited to 40 pitches over three innings yesterday.  His rehab start was cut short because of a rain delay, but he was very sharp in those three innings.  He walked one and struck out four without giving up a hit and it looks like Liriano could make one more rehab start before joining the Twins.  This is huge news since it will give the Twins one more great arm to rely on in the final weeks of the season.

The Twins Triple A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, moved on to play last year’s International League champs, the Toledo Mudhens, in the finals this year.  You can pretty much bank on a win if Liriano gets that final rehab start.  The series kicked off tomorrow in Rochester.

UPDATE

I misread this pretty badly.  Not only is Francisco Liriano now off the DL, but he’s throwing today.  This is huge.

This was pretty big.  A sweep would have been a big surprise so best case realistically was taking three of four, which the Twins did.  The White Sox split their series with the Indians so the Twins now lead the Sox by a game and a half and they trail the Tigers by only two games.

Things didn’t start out very well.  The Tigers bounced Scott Baker after only five innings and they racked up as many runs as they would in the next three games combined.  Not much to say on offense here.  Michael Cuddyer hit a solo homerun to bring his season total up to 21.  He also has 93 RBIs on the season.

The Twins got the bats going on Friday.  They came back from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits and ended up blowing out the Tigers 9-5.  Matt Garza was knocked around and gave up four runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings.  The bullpen really did the job though.  They gave up only a single run in 4 2/3 innings and Pat Neshek picked up the win.  Joe Mauer scored three runs and Justin Morneau had three RBIs.

Boof Bonser threw a gem yesterday and he was just a little bit better then Nate Robertson.  Bonser gave up only a single run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven innings.  Neshek threw a shutout eighth and Joe Nathan saved his 30th game with a perfect ninth.  Torii Hunter had the only RBI for the Twins and the other run scored on an error in the 2-1 win.

Johan was Johan today.  He threw 6 1/3 shutout innings and he struck out eleven.  The Tigers didn’t score a run until the ninth when it didn’t matter.  Nick Punto had a huge game.  He went four for five with a triple, three RBis and two runs.  Hunter scored three times and Mauer and Luis Castillo drove in two in the 12-1 win.

No day off this week, because the A’s roll into town.  Oakland has been one of the best teams in the second half so this series isn’t going to be easy.  The Tigers somehow have two days off this week and they play Texas next.  The White Sox play three against a hot Angels team.  Should be another interesting week.

Man, this weekend is huge.  The Twins are four games back after winning two of three against the Devil Rays.  And next up is a four game series against the Tigers. 

Boof Bonser came up huge on Monday.  He gave up one run on six hits with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.  All the Twins got were two runs, and they were both on Rondell White’s two run homerun.  With the way Bonser pitched though, that was enough.

Even better was Johan Santana on Tuesday.  He should be in line for his third straight Cy Young but he got hosed last year.  Hopefully the same thing doesn’t happen this year.  He threw eight shutout innings and he struck out 12 in a dominating outing.  Joe Mauer doubled and drove in two runs and Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau both scored twice in the 8-0 win.

It would have been nice to pull out a sweep but the Twins fell just short.  Joe Mauer and Rondell White hit solo homeruns to make it 2-0 but then Pat Nesknik gave up three runs on two homeruns in the seventh to lose it.  A great start by Carlos Silva went to waste in the 4-2 loss.

The White Sox are still nipping at the Twins heels so it’s just as important to win in order to put some distance between them for the Wild Card. Huge weekend, that’s all I have to say.

The bad news is, the Twins lost two of three to the Yankees this weekend.  The good news is, the White Sox lost two of three to the Royals so the Twins still cling to a half game deficit behind the White Sox.

Carlos Silva was knocked around on Friday.  He gave up six runs (four earned) on nine hits in only four innings of work.  Even worse, the Twins scored only one runs and it wasn’t until the ninth inning.  Justin Morneau doubled home Michael Cuddyer.

Scott Baker was only ray of hope this weekend.  He threw a phenomonal game and held the Yankees to a single run on two hits in five innings.  Even better, the offense was turned on Morneau and Torii Hunter both homered.  Morneau drove in three runs and Hunter scored twice.

Today was a carbon copy of Friday, only with the Yankees scoring more runs.  Matt Garza was bumped around and couldn’t even finish five.  Three other relievers all also gave up at least a single run.  The only run for the Twins in the 10-1 loss came on Torii Hunter’s second inning solo homerun.

Next up is three against the Devil Rays.  Man, a sweep would be nice right about now.