Metrodome Memories

Silva had a very rough year although this may have been a no brainer.  it was either pay up the $4.325 option  or pay Silva $100,000 AND see him go to arbitration.  And with Radke’s retirement and Liriano’s elbow problems, the Twins can use all of the arms they can get.

I’ve heard quite a bit about Mark “the Bird” Fidrych.  He had that phenomonal rookie season and seemed to have a very bright career.  Then an injury, and another and Fidrych failed to really have a career after being on top of the world.  You’re seeing something similar with Mark Prior.  I just hope the same isn’t going to happen to Francisco Liriano.  He’s stopped his rehab because he’s still feeling some pain in that elbow and it’s looking more and more like he’ll need surgery.  If he ends up having Tommy John surgery, we probably won’t see Liriano on the mound for the Twins until 2008.

Alright, I think I’m over the Twins getting squashed by the A’s.  Okay, I’m really not especially when the A’s got swept by the Tigers.  What a weird year.

Anyway, two Twins’ prospects are blogging about their experiences at the Arizona Fall League.  They’ve been posting a little inconsistently, but it’s always interesting seeing things through the eyes of a player.

I have a couple of projects already in place for the 2007 season that center around the historial side of the site.  I’ll be doing a 1987 Twins diary, documenting the day by day progress of the first Twin’s team to win it all.  I’ll also be working on some bios during the offseason for the 1967 American League Pennant Race project where you’ll get to see the day by day happenings of one of the greatest pennant races ever.  So stop by and hopefully we’ll learn something about the team together.

Well, this is it.  The Twins made their fourth post season appearance in the last five years and has been on par with past seasons, the Twins are done.  It’s kind of sad, but the Twins would have needed to win three straight, including two in Oakland, to pull this one out.

The Twins never had the lead.  They pulled to within two runs (4-2) in the sixth when Rondell White singled home Justin Morneau.  Unfortunately, in the bottom of the eighth the A’s touched up Reyes and Crain for four unearned runs.  Everything happened with two outs.  Frank Thomas was given an intentional pass with nobody on and then Eric Chavez drew a walk as well.  Then Morneau made a critical error that loaded the bases.  A walk and a double later and the Twins were down by six runs.

Justin Morneau hit a solo shot in the eighth but that just made it 8-3.  So the A’s move on while the Twins will once again go home.  We have a lot to be hopeful about though.  The Twins have four solid young pitchers and all of them now have major league experience (one of them is going to win his second Cy Young).

Man, this is tough.  After the last 100 regular season games, the Twins have been right there with some of the best teams in baseball.  Now, to have it end like it might in a three game sweep would be pretty disappointing.

Esteban Loaiza didn’t have pretty numbers but he was solid down the stretch (he had seven wins in his last nine decisions) and he took care of the Twins today.  The A’s got on the board first with two runs in the fifth off of Boof Bonser before Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau hit back to back solo shots to tie it up.  Unfortunately those would be the final runs of the game for the Twins.

Bonser yielded to the pen and it went downhill from there.  Three different relievers gave up a run a piece while the A’s pen shut the Twins down to one hit in the final four frames.  The Twins did put two runners on in the ninth, but it was two outs and Nick Punto couldn’t extend the rally.

Both teams get a day off and then it’ll be Brad Radke vs. Dan Haren.  This could be Radke’s last career start so I have a feeling we’ll pull this out, even if it is in enemy territory.

Man, this is a tough one.  You bank on winning the game that Johan Santana pitches so this means not only do the Twins have to take one when Johan isn’t on the mound, but they have to take two.  I like tomorrow’s match up though.  While I don’t have a ton of faith in Boof Bonser, I do think Esteban Loiaza is the worst of the four A’s starters we’ll see.

The A’s struck first in this one. In the second inning, Frank Thomas hit a solo shot and Mark Scutaro singled home Jay Payton to make it 2-0.  The Twins trimmed that lead by a run in the seventh when Rondell White hit a solo shot but Frank Thomas answered that in the ninth with his second homerun of the game.

In the ninth, Michael Cuddyer led off with a triple and while he scored on Torii Hunters ground out, it still left the Twins a run short.  Johan finished with eight strikeouts in eight inning.

These same two teams will square off at the same time tomorrow.  It’s pretty much a must win for the Twins so hopefully they can pull it out.

The Twins are now in first place in the AL Central and it’s the only time they’ve been in first place all season.  Fortunately, it’s that last day that counts so now the Twins get a reprieve from the Yankees until at least the ALCS.  Not that the Twins can look pass the A’s, but there’s something about starting your post season in Yankee Stadium that seems a bit daunting.

Things didn’t go well in this series either.  The White Sox won on both Friday and Saturday so the Twins stayed tied with the Tigers until today.  Then today, the Twins finally turned it around the Royals completed their sweep over the Tigers and just like that, the Twins were staying home instead of heading to New York.

Also good news, Joe Mauer won the batting title.  You’d think Justin Morneau would be in the top five in the MVP and Johan Santana should win his second Cy Young.  And you’ve got not one but two Twins who hit 30 homeruns this year, the first time since 1987.

The Twins not only play the first day of the playoffs, but they also play the very first game in the entire playoffs.  They’ll square off against the A’s at 1 pm on Tuesday.  Johan will be on the mound, so I like the Twins chances.