Date: 10/11/09
Opponent: New York Yankees
Home/Away: Home
Starting Pitcher: Pavano
Final Score: L 4-1
Best Moment: It only took me 3 weeks, but I'm finally posting this. During the baseball season, the rigorous schedule of games provides me with a limited window of time to post my recaps as I like to have my entries up before the next game. Sadly the final post-season gives me a good 4 months, and I work much better with the pressure of an imminent deadline upon me. It reminds me of college, when I would be working feverishly on a 20-page paper due the next day at 4 in the morning. And I never got lower than a B-, so let me just say kids, procrastination works. I’ve also had a lot going on in my life with my first forays into home-ownership and dealing with credit fraud (I’m the victim, not the perpetrator, in case you had some admittedly valid questions over my character), all of which has not made me the most assiduous blogger.
Anyway, back to the Twins' inevitable post-season demise. It was actually a very good game for 6 innings. Pavano racked up 9 strikeouts (a post-season record for the Twins), which I determined was due to his concern over the defense behind him (Kubel, Young, Cabrera, Harris, etc.). He held down the fort for 6 innings, but unfortunately the offense was quite lackluster. Finally, in the bottom of the 6th, we scratched across a run. There was much rejoicing in Twins Territory. We really should have known better. Following our usual pattern we then proceeded to give the lead right back thanks to 2 solo home runs. It didn't seem an unsurmountable lead, but it was late enough in the game to cause serious dread. And then in the 8th inning, it looked like we were about to tie up the game when fate (or Nick Punto) stepped in. But more on that later. Span and Cuddyer each had a couple of hits, and Mauer drove in the only Twins run, while Pavano gave us a chance. The bullpen fared less well.
I'm not as upset as I thought I would be about getting swept. Last season after losing the tiebreaker to the White Sox, it took me a long time to recover. Maybe because we were so close to the post-season and had so many good chances to take the division. This season we made a remarkable comeback in the last few weeks, and I think the fact that we finished well and played an incredibly exciting tiebreak game and actually won the division and made it to the post-season all while featuring a less than ideal lineup and pitching staff really softened the blow. Of course I'm disappointed, but I'm not devastated. And I’m really looking forward to Target Field and getting outside. In the meantime, I’ll be hoping the Phillies can come back and beat the Yankees, because the Yankees are everything that’s wrong with the world. Never mind hunger, poverty and war; no, the real problem is rich, overindulged, large-market baseball team owners who buy the best soulless and greedy baseball players money can buy. Not that I’m bitter.
Most Questionable Moment: The people who attend baseball games never fail to amaze me. You’d think that fans at a playoff game would have some sort of a clue, but the people sitting behind me clearly hadn’t attended a game in at least 10 years or so since the woman was absolutely stunned by the presence of a mascot. I know T.C. ain’t exactly antediluvian, but he has been around a few years. The lack of knowledge about a mascot wouldn’t have bothered me all that much in itself, but they later had this conversation following a nice catch by Delmon Young (I will refer to them as Dad, Mom and Daughter for clarity’s sake).
Dad: Nice catch, Denard!
Mom: Who was that?
Dad: The left fielder, Denard.
Mom: (reading back of jersey) Denard Young?
Daughter: Delmon Young.
Dad: Oh, yeah, that’s right, Damon.
Now, I’m not sure if he actually believed Johnny Damon was in left field for the Twins or if he thought Delmon’s name was Damon Young, but either way he was confused. And lest you think the daughter actually had a clue, this poor deluded soul was outfitted in a Twins shirt and a Yankees sweatshirt. If anyone ever needed an intervention, it was she. I will confess that this family provided the brother and I with endless amusement (they made many other inane comments, questions and observations that I can’t recall), but why were they even there?
Worst Moment: Oh Nick Punto. Just when I was starting to like you a little, you go and do one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. I think one of the most frustrating things about this whole series that we didn’t lose because the Yankees beat us, we lost because we beat ourselves. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot over and over. We had some very good pitching performances from Blackburn and Pavano, and some good offensive performances from Mauer, Span and Punto (disregarding his baserunning at least), but we made the dumbest mistakes. We really should have won the second game (I’m still unbelievably pissed about that one; I try not to think about it too often because I get too angry at Nathan and Gomez and Kubel and the umpire and…well, you get the idea), and we had our chances in the third one. I guess I'm also really frustrated that we couldn't beat the Yankees one bloody time this year. We better make up for that next season in a big way or I might spontaneously combust.
I still see Punto rounding 3rd and heading for home while Ullger frantically throws up the stop sign in my nightmares. When we led off the inning with Punto, I told my brother, “If anyone can get on base, it’s Punto.” What I should have said was, “If anyone can get on base, it’s Punto. But if anyone can get himself out with an unbelievable boneheaded baserunning move, it’s also Punto.” When he started the inning with a double, the crowd was on its feet, raucous and excited. But when Punto got thrown out at 3rd, it was like a balloon popping. Everyone just deflated. Well, everyone besides the too-numerous Yankee fans. I think we all knew the game was over at that point. I for one had been watching Span reach 1st and all of the sudden I was trying to figure out why the Yankees were throwing home. And then I wondered what the fuck Punto was doing off 3rd base. And then I just thought, “Oh shit.” The bullpen allowed a couple of runs in the top of the 9th to add insult to injury, and then it was done.
But hey, at least Brendan Harris has the honor of being the answer to the trivia question “Who made the final out at the Metrodome?” Congrats! And I got to go to the last Twins game at the Dome, and I got sucked out the door one last time. Goodbye Dome. I know it’s not getting blown up or anything (at least not yet), but given my utter apathy for football I think it highly unlikely I’ll ever darken its door again. We’ll see though. In the meantime, the blog will be updated periodically. Obviously I’ll post when Mauer wins MVP and whenever the Twins make a significant off-season move, giving you my opinion (most likely I will be ranting over the front office’s utter stupidity, but maybe they will do something positive). Perhaps I’ll post book reviews or political editorials or knock-knock jokes or security camera videos of criminals or pictures of my dog dressed as a chicken or descriptions of my numerous criminal activities or recipes. Okay, the recipes thing is so not happening given that the only things I cook come out of a box. Otherwise, I’ll be back, better than ever, for spring training. See you then!
Quotations of the Day:
- "Although it was very disappointing again to lose another game where we had our chances, I told them I was very proud of them. From everything that they have been through this year, the run that they made to get here and the heart that they showed, they gave us everything they had." - Ron Gardenhire
- "The crowd noise got me. They were excited to see there wasn't going to be a play on Denard there at first. It's one of those things where I'm kicking myself...I had my head down. That was all on me, just a terrible play and a big play in that game. It's hard to swallow." - Nick Punto. I think the less said about this the better. I don't need to get myself all worked up again.
- "That's the way baseball is, especially the postseason. Back in 2006, it was the same way. A couple of plays here or there and you are on the short end of the ballgame. It's a good ballclub over there, and you make mistakes and give them extra chances, they will make you pay." - Joe Mauer
- "Right now, it's kind of hard to see the big picture of the year. I'll give it a couple weeks and kind of go over what went on and what we did well and what we didn't do well. Right now, it feels like we were just pouring champagne over everybody and celebrating. It's a little frustrating right now." - Joe Mauer
- "It's kind of bittersweet. We play well here, but I also know how many days I walked in here and kind of just got deflated, because it's nice outside and you'd like to be outside. But we also know this place has treated us great, and so that's why I wanted to bring a little piece of this place over and start a new chapter." - Joe Nathan, on picking up some dirt from the mound at the Dome.
- "We've got to hold our heads up. We had a good season. We did the unthinkable. We did what a lot of people never gave us a chance to do. I'd just like to commend everybody, all 25 guys on this team. We have nothing to be upset about." - Denard Span
- "Obviously, it's tough. It's a tough way to close it. It's hard. It's frustrating, but I think when we look back and have a chance to reflect on the season, I think we're pretty proud of where we are." - Michael Cuddyer
Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Jason Kubel (0 for 4, 3 strikeouts, 2 left on base). This is more of a post-season award, as Kubel went 1 for 14 with 9 strikeouts. Surely that’s one of the worst post-season performances ever.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Comments