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Danks, a lot

Filed under: MLB

Last night was a good ballgame, well-played. That’s actually my favorite type of game: pitcher’s duel, cleanly fielded with no errors, and only one long ball. The blast, sadly, just didn’t come from our dugout.

Tuesday night’s 1-0 Central Division tiebreaker to Chicago loss was the Twins’ 52nd one-run ballgame of the 2008 season. It proved just the second time the club was shutout since July 21st. Their record in one-run games? 26-26. So flip a coin. And speaking of currency, it won’t surprise me in the slightest if there is some serious backlash about the way in which MLB suits determine where games like last night’s are played. A coin flip? After 6 months of toil? It’s just so sophomoric. Let the club with the better record host the deal. Who can argue with that?

Furthermore, there is little arguing that Twins’ starter Nick Blackburn had himself an excellent outing last night, displaying the pluck and mettle of which “Big Game” pitchers are made. Equally stellar was young Jose Mijares, providing 1.1 innings of tense, hitless relief. 8 of his 14 pitches were thrown for strikes. Joe Nathan recorded the final out in the bottom of the 8th.

Blackburn provided an inspiring 6.1 innings of 4 hit, 3 walk, 3 strikeout ball -- it was the third of those hits that proved the difference in going home, or going onward to play Tampa on Thursday in the ALDS. But Jim Thome’s bomb was true. The 541st of his career, it left deep center without a question as to its merit.

The Twins’ own bats proved quite lame against both starter John Danks and closer Bobby Jenks. When your club has fewer hits than your opponent has blonde-dyed hairdo’s -- that ain’t good. The boys worked 3 walks on the night, but earned just two hits, Michael Cuddyer’s 5th inning double and Brendan Harris’ 8th inning single. The two ballers played key roles in what really proved to be the key run-threatening moment for the Twins Tuesday, as Cuddyer attempted to tag from third on a short fly to Ken Griffey Jr. in center. With our tally of “0” already noted -- you can assume the result of said play. Or, please feel free to view it here.

Gentle readers, while the loss of anything we hold close and toward which we devote ample time results in pain, the reality of time will, as always, assuage those wounds. Many positives can be taken from last night -- namely, that Joe Mauer won his second American League batting title with a mark of .328, edging out Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia at .326. As has been well-documented, this is the St. Paul-native’s second batting crown, and he is the only A.L. catcher to lay claim to even one. Many high-fives to the 25-year old who, in just 5 seasons, has already cemented his name in Twins’ lore, while also earning widespread recognition as the best all-around catcher in baseball.

In addition, that ballgame will no doubt provide ample and incalculable motivation to our young squad of ballers. The Twins fielded 14 players last night -- 11 of them are presently 27 or younger. That bodes well.

Last night we lost the duel, and the bullet in our respective guts is surely further soured by the fact that the discharge came via the hand of our rival. But we’re not down, just recovering. And given the character of our manager, our team, and the Twin mentality, I have no reservation in saying that 2009 will offer further, beautifully tense moments.

Please note, readers, that I will be providing two more Twins/MLB articles over the course of the next week. Until then, I readily and warmly thank you for your support and readership over the course of what has proven a most unexpected, and inspiring run of 163 games, taking us to the cusp of the unknown.

Posted by Judd Spicer at October 1, 2008 8:16 AM

« Code Duello: Twins and White Sox | Main | Twins' Endgame Player Rater »

Comments

Very tough game to watch last night as it felt throughout that the Twins didn't have it at the plate.
Looking to '09 it seems the Twins (while certainly set to field a contender for the division title once again) have some tough choices to make as it pertains to OF and DH. There will be 5 guys looking to fill 4 spots and, assuming no trades, I wonder how they will handle it. My solution is to bring Cuddyer back to the infield and play him as the every day 3B with occasional spot starts in RF and at 1B. He makes too much money to be tradeable after an inury-marred season and Span is the only legit lead-off guy on the roster heading into next year. Buscher can't hit lefties so he's a no-go as the every day guy but could be a decent back-up/platoon player.

Interested to know Spicer's thoughts on this.

Posted by: Dino at October 1, 2008 8:53 AM

To Judd - as discussed, twas a fine game indeed...all of those players will be better players for having played in that ballgame - especially Blackburn.

To Dino - Brendan Harris is a stud and should be the everyday 3rd baseman.

Posted by: Malone at October 1, 2008 11:57 AM

"Let the club with the better record host the deal. Who can argue with that?"

If one of the clubs had a better record, they wouldn't be having the tiebreaker in the first place.

Posted by: Benny at October 1, 2008 3:08 PM

Dino- A guy I hope we take a look at is Hank Blalock at third. He seems like a good fella, one who would fit in with our clubhouse. The Rangers have a $6.2 million club option on him for '09, so that could be a possibility for our payroll. Yeah, he's had some injury problems over the years, but he's still just 27. Click here to see his numbers:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blaloha01.shtml

Benny- I should clarify. By that I intended the club with the better head-to-head record, which the Twins owned over Chi Sox, 10-8 prior to last night.

Posted by: Judd at October 1, 2008 3:56 PM

How frustrating it was to watch the twins this past week after having witnessed such an inspiring sweep of the white sox. Third best hitting team and third best home record and they can't take 2 from KC? Hard pill, I tell ya.

Posted by: Gabe-O at October 2, 2008 12:00 AM

the twins with their AAA lineup had a fantastic year, but so did you. very astute observations and wonderful writing skills made this blog something to look forward to. maybe you can continue this column and try to make the timberwolves look good, as God knows they need all the support they can muster.

Posted by: duke at October 2, 2008 8:25 AM

great season and I really enjoyed reading your articles. hopefully you'll keep us readers up to date in regards to off season moves. Big Bat 3rd baseman perhaps? One can only hope.

Posted by: pat at October 2, 2008 10:00 AM

What a nail biter. Even though we lost is was one of the most exciting and well played games I’ve ever watched.

Although like all other Twins fans when it came time for the “other Team” to celebrate by gut sunk and I turned off the TV! I was watching with my boyfriend and as he stood up watching the game I looked at him and realized I wanted the Twins to win for him more than I did for themselves.

As I watched his faced contort as pitch after pitch led to strike out after strike out my heart was skipping beats. When the 9th inning was on its last at bat he closed his eyes, crossed his arms and took in a deep breath. When it was over he stood there in silence. Completely silent taking in every play that just happened. Quietly analyzing where and when in the season we could have one more game that would have changed history. I found myself feeling bad that I had wished baseball was over so I could have the remote back every once and a while.

Posted by: Sugar Pop at October 2, 2008 11:19 AM

Spicer~
Are you going to grace us with your words in the off season? Maybe foot ball? Fantasy, college?
I hope you consider it!

Posted by: Annie at October 2, 2008 11:23 AM

A nice season and very well covered by Judd and City Pages. Of course, as much credit as our young team deserves, this is yet again another reason Pohlad needs to loosen his wallet. One game! One lousy game! I feel confident in saying that a big hitter at DH would have made the difference.

Posted by: Twins Fan at October 2, 2008 3:18 PM

Mr.Spicer!
I take angst with your last comment about the coin flip. I can understand where it should go to the team that won the series between the two...But you by now should know the incompetency of Bud Selig, which i really dont know why its not the series winner from over the course of the year...but really i was fuming when i heard all the fan's complain about the coin flip..."So fricken what"...they could've played in the dome and still lost...the bottom line is you get one game playoff and loser goes home...after sweeping the CHi Sox's...you would think they could take 2/3 from the Royals...any team that is serious about going into the post season would have found a way to ride that momentum and take care of business...bottom line is the twins had their chance and they blew it...which is good in my eyes because i'm sick of the Pohlads just reaping the benefits of hard working fans, without putting back anything in return to show their appreication to the fans...that said...i really enjoyed the pitching match and the game over all. it was very entertaining.
thanks for the good reads,
efe.

Posted by: efe at October 9, 2008 1:34 PM

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Danks, a lot

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