1st Place (for now)!

Quite a game last night! I never got that "it's over" feeling when it was 6-1 Chicago. No matter what happens from here on out, this series was perfect. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of White Sox (A.J.).

By the way, for all of the criticism that I have sent towards Carlos Gomez, he really showed up to play in the series and had a huge impact on the games with his bat AND glove. Could be a good sign for next year.

It all comes down to 3 games against KC, and the Sux get the Cleveland Indians.

Go Cleveland!

Jeff

So Far, So Good....

Oh boy. The Kool-aid is flowing again. The Twins beat the hated White Sox 3-2 tonight in front of 42,000 at the Dome (on a school night!!!), putting them 1/2 game out of first with 4 games to play. Solid starting pitching, outstanding relief pitching, Delmon Young consistently hitting, Carlos Gomez robbing AJ of a double in the 9th, the Joe Nathan horse-blow......

Is this the Harmonic Convergence?

I wonder what Ozzie Guillen's blood-pressure is at right about now?

Thursday night should be good.

Jeff

Farewell Yankee Stadium

While I am not a fan of the New York Yankees, I know a shrine when I see one. Yankee Stadium was certainly a shrine. There are only a few ballparks that fall into this category - Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium are the "big three" that come to mind. Camden Yards can probably be added to that list. These are the ballparks that literally become part of the fabric of a city. They help define an area. Other than those four, most ballparks come and go. Sure, there are some great ones today, but I'm not sure if they can be called "shrines." Nowadays, ballparks get labeled with corporate names that stick as long as the company doesn't fold and the naming rights don't expire. Nowadays, the number of suites and club levels and pro-shops and Pottery barn-looking concourses seem to be the main concern when designing stadiums. Now don't get me wrong, these elements are needed for clubs to compete and even exist. Revenue, you know. The name of the game.

Yankee stadium was a shrine to baseball, however. And since Sunday night was the last game to be played at Yankee Stadium, we have lost one of the last shrines. A new 1.3 billion-dollar stadium will open across the street in 2009. I guess last night was quite a party. Here is an account from an AP story from Ronald Blum:

With a yellowish moon rising beyond left-center, Mariano Rivera scooped dirt into a clear container, then took his family out to Monument Park 40 minutes after throwing the final pitch at 11:41 p.m. The grounds crew filled dozens of white buckets with infield dirt — multimillionaire players on both teams had knelt to scoop up the famous soil from the mound and home plate area, stuffing it into their pockets.

Fans stayed around for 45 minutes, not wanting to walk through the exits one last time. Frank Sinatra's recording of "New York, New York" was heard over and over. The organist played "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight." Two dozen mounted police galloped onto the field. The one fan who ran on the field was quickly tackled.

At 4 a.m., Yankees staff and interns were still in the infield, running the bases, throwing each other grounders, drinking beer and digging up dirt.

Nice. The ghosts that must inhabit that place. Ruth. Mantle. Gehrig. DiMaggio. Munson. Martin. Stengel. Just to name a few. And the likes of Ford, Guidry, Berra, Gossage, Jackson, Jeter, etc. are still around to see the end. I am still amazed they are closing Yankee Stadium.

Personally, I don't have many "fond" memories of Yankee stadium. It was a place that the Twins went to die many times over the decades. My most vivid memories are of the late-70's Yankees winning World Series titles and Reggie Jackson hitting bombs over the right field fence. I also remember a rookie named Kent Hrbek hitting a home run in the 12th inning off of George Frazier in 1981 to beat the Yankees. Other than that, I can't come up with many "good" memories from a Twins perspective. But I can certainly appreciate the place and what it meant to the game of baseball.

I don't believe there will be this type of fanfare when the Twins play their last game at the Metrodome about a year from now. Oddly enough, however,The Dome has created it's own little niche in Twin Cities history, more so than a lot of other parks. It's a hellhole, but it is our hellhole. Two World Series championships, a couple of Final Fours, hosting a Super Bowl. Although there will probably be no fanfare, The Dome will most likely be remembered fondly, much like I fondly remember that piece of shit Chevette that used to get me around back in The Day. Good times, but I'm glad it's going away.

So, anyway, farewell to Yankee Stadium. One of the great shrines to baseball.

Jeff

The Kool-Aid's Not So Good Tonight...

Well, the Twins have dropped two games to the hated Rays since that last kool-aid induced post that I wrote a couple of nights back. Somehow, they remain only 2 1/2 games out of first, only because the White Sox refuse to take the division by actually winning games.

Let's face the facts. The 2008 Minnesota Twins have over-achieved, but are not good enough to make the playoffs. If some type of harmonic convergence occurs and they actually win the division, they will be thrashed by whoever they play. This ain't the 1987 Twins, folks.

This is 1984. The 2008 Twins are basically a reincarnation of the 1984 Twins.

For those of you who are old enough to remember, the 1984 Twins chased the Kansas City Royals and then-California (not yet Los Angeles by the way of Anaheim) Angels all year for the AL West crown. This was a young team, led by Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Frank Viola and Gary Gaetti. All of these players were new to the major leagues. They toyed with the division lead all year, and then went into a "tailspin-from-hell" in September. The whole thing culminated with a 10-9 loss to Cleveland after the Twins led 9-0. I vividly recall following this game on the radio at an Eau Claire Memorial football game at Carson Park. Man - I was a rube back then! Me and Jim Hill gave each other score updates all night. Crazy. That team just wasn't good enough. Plus, Ron Davis was the closer on this the 1984 Twins, so they had no real chance of winning anyway. Ron Davis might be the worst closer in baseball history, and is responsible for taking a decade off of my life.

A couple of things happened the next year (1985), however, that paved the way to the eventual 1987 World Championship. The aforementioned players continued to "learn the ropes." Also, the Twins reacquired Bert Blyleven. Lastly, the they called up a guy named Kirby Puckett from AAA ball. The rest is history.

The 2008 Twins can learn something from the 1984 team. Sure, they have a good nucleus with Morneau, Mauer, Span, Baker, Nathan, Casilla, etc. But, they sure as hell need to bring in some additional talent if they have any hope of competing in 2009 and 2010.

After all, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I just made that up. Go Twins.

Jeff

The Greatest Thing in the World

This is the kind of stuff that causes me to hyperventilate into a bag. I don't get out much anymore, you see. Check out this link to a new interactive map of Target Field from the Twins web site. By moving the mouse over a section of the stadium, you can access the 2010 ticket prices for each section.

In addition - this is what I like - a panoramic view of the field from each seating area can be obtained by double clicking on the section. Pretty cool.

By the way, I am seriously considering purchasing some type of season ticket package to Target Field for 2010. I would personally prefer cheaper seats and more games over great seats and fewer games. I don't think there will be a "bad" seat in this ballpark. If people are interested in going in on a package, let me know. There are opportunities to purchase 20, 40 and full season tickets that could be split up depending on how many people are interested. We've got some time to figure it out.

I going back to hyperventilating now.

Jeff

Nice Win!

I've spent a lot of time being cynical and negative about sports on this blog lately, so I've got to give the Twins their due for the huge win tonight against (hated) Tampa. I never thought Tampa, by the way, would be hated.

Down 8-6 going into the ninth, the Twins rallied for 5 runs to win 11-8. Alexi Cassilla hit a huge 2-run homer to tie the game The play of the game however, belonged to light-hitting Adam Everett. Tie game, guys on 1st and 2nd with nobody out - a sure bunting situation - Everett coaxed the count to 2-1. He knew a fastball was coming so he............swung away (!) with the 3rd baseman about 10 feet from the batters box and drilled a double. Outstanding. This is the kind of stuff I love about baseball.

Joe Nathan came on for a 1,2,3 ninth, which he desperately needed. Nathan was sweating and gyrating even more than usual out there.

The hated Whiteys lost to the Yanks, which means the Twins pull to 1 1/2 out with 9 games to play.

Yep, I drank a bit of the kool-aid tonight. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Jeff

Tidbits

Quick thoughts - too much homework to be done for me to put too much thought into this.

1. T-Jack OUT: Gus Frerotte replaces T-Jack as the Vikings starting QB for the rest of the season. I didn't see this coming so early in the season. Something had to happen between Sunday night and today to change Brad Childress's opinion on this sharply on the matter. A simple viewing of game film should have sufficed, however. My guess (based on nothing, as usual) is that Zygi Wilf got Chilly alone in a room and threatened his very existence if something did not happen NOW. Zygi has spent zillions on free agents and wants a new stadium ASAP. He doesn't have time to wait for T-Jack to figure out how to throw to a secondary receiver if his primary optioned is covered and "work on his footwork." This statement made by Brad Childress today is quite telling of T-Jack's mindset:

“I know that full well one position is not responsible and that everyone needs to step up,” Childress said. “But I’m just not seeing right now the aggressiveness from Tarvaris that I saw throughout the offseason, training camp, the two preseason games that he played in. Part of it might be experience."

I think Chilly knows he is out of a job if the Vikes don't make the playoffs this year. He had to do something. We'll see what happens.

2. Twins Fading. It was a nice run. The Twins have exceeded my expectations for the year. But this pitching staff is gassed. No lead is big enough for the Twins bullpen to protect. The usually reliable Matt Guerrier literally cannot retire a batter and now closer Joe Nathan has either blown a save or lost the game in 5 straight appearances. It looks like the White Sox will win the division by default, and earn the right to get swept in the first round of the playoffs.

The Twins absolutely need to go out this off season and find somebody who can hit home runs. And I am not talking a player of the Craig Monroe or Mike Lamb variety. I am talking about a legitimate home run threat. This small-ball is charming and fun to watch and everything. But I am sick of watching the Twins have to string 5 consecutive singles together to score a run or two, only to have it all erased the next inning with a quick 3-run homerun by the opposition. Remember the days of Hrbek-Gaetti-Brunansky? I would take any one of those guys right now. They have the money after trading Santana and not resigning Torii Hunter. Spend it - please.

That's all - homework time.

Jeff