| Twins Clinch AL Central |
By Sally Haase
September 22, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The Minnesota Twins rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the
eighth inning to beat the Cleveland Indians Tuesday night at Target Field.
At the end of the game the Twins magic number was down to one. With the
Chicago White Sox on the West coast playing the Oakland Athletics, it was
time to watch and wait for the Twins. But, for the first time in two years the
watching and waiting was not done on the final game of the season and a
game 163 will not be played in the American League Central. When the
final out was recorded out in Oakland’s win over the White Sox the Twins
started their celebration. (I bet that was fun for the Target Field cleaning
crew to clean up the Twins clubhouse in less than 12 hours) The Twins were
the first team to clinch their division this season, with the American League
best record still within reach for the Twins, the team may not use the extra
time they have to rest players and set up their playoff pitching rotation. The
win Tuesday night was also manager Ron Gardenhire’s 800 career win and
on Wednesday the Twins will break its all-time attendance record when the
3,030, 673rd fan enters Target Field. The last time the Twins drew over
three million fans was the 1988 season.
It has been quite a year for the Twins, during Spring training, news
broke that closer Joe Nathan needed to have season ending Tommy John
surgery, forcing the team to look at other options for closer. The first
suggestion was a “closer by committee” with three or four pitchers possibly
taking on the closer role based on game situations. That idea was quickly
nixed by Gardenhire who named Jon Rauch the closer. Rauch did a
respectable job in the closer role, but was never comfortable with it; the
Twins then traded for Washington Nationals closer Matt Capps who has
now settled in with his new team converting 15 of 17 save opportunities and
has over 40 saves this season. July 7th could have been the downfall of the
Twins, first baseman Justin Morneau suffered a concussion against the
Toronto Blue Jays and has not played since. Most teams would be crippled
after the loss of their best hitter and RBI leader, but for the second year in a
row the Twins seemed to have thrived with Morneau out of the line up.
Other players like Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young, and Jim Thome
stepped up and made Morneau’s absence an easier pill to swallow.
Cuddyer in particular had done an amazing job playing first base, Thome
has a team leading 25 home runs and Young hit a career high in RBI. The
starting rotation was shaky at first but has stabilized with five pitchers with
ten wins or more. If pitcher Nick Blackburn can win one more game, the
team will then have six pitchers to reach the ten win mark. It is a true team
effort when it comes to the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins go for the sweep Wednesday afternoon against the Indians.
September 22, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The Minnesota Twins rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the
eighth inning to beat the Cleveland Indians Tuesday night at Target Field.
At the end of the game the Twins magic number was down to one. With the
Chicago White Sox on the West coast playing the Oakland Athletics, it was
time to watch and wait for the Twins. But, for the first time in two years the
watching and waiting was not done on the final game of the season and a
game 163 will not be played in the American League Central. When the
final out was recorded out in Oakland’s win over the White Sox the Twins
started their celebration. (I bet that was fun for the Target Field cleaning
crew to clean up the Twins clubhouse in less than 12 hours) The Twins were
the first team to clinch their division this season, with the American League
best record still within reach for the Twins, the team may not use the extra
time they have to rest players and set up their playoff pitching rotation. The
win Tuesday night was also manager Ron Gardenhire’s 800 career win and
on Wednesday the Twins will break its all-time attendance record when the
3,030, 673rd fan enters Target Field. The last time the Twins drew over
three million fans was the 1988 season.
It has been quite a year for the Twins, during Spring training, news
broke that closer Joe Nathan needed to have season ending Tommy John
surgery, forcing the team to look at other options for closer. The first
suggestion was a “closer by committee” with three or four pitchers possibly
taking on the closer role based on game situations. That idea was quickly
nixed by Gardenhire who named Jon Rauch the closer. Rauch did a
respectable job in the closer role, but was never comfortable with it; the
Twins then traded for Washington Nationals closer Matt Capps who has
now settled in with his new team converting 15 of 17 save opportunities and
has over 40 saves this season. July 7th could have been the downfall of the
Twins, first baseman Justin Morneau suffered a concussion against the
Toronto Blue Jays and has not played since. Most teams would be crippled
after the loss of their best hitter and RBI leader, but for the second year in a
row the Twins seemed to have thrived with Morneau out of the line up.
Other players like Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young, and Jim Thome
stepped up and made Morneau’s absence an easier pill to swallow.
Cuddyer in particular had done an amazing job playing first base, Thome
has a team leading 25 home runs and Young hit a career high in RBI. The
starting rotation was shaky at first but has stabilized with five pitchers with
ten wins or more. If pitcher Nick Blackburn can win one more game, the
team will then have six pitchers to reach the ten win mark. It is a true team
effort when it comes to the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins go for the sweep Wednesday afternoon against the Indians.
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