This might be the worst season ever for the Minnesota Twins since all of us thought they would once again compete for the division title and get another shot at the postseason. It wasn’t meant to be so it was almost a good thing to see it come to an end on Wednesday night. There’s probably a lot of people who stopped watching the Twins a long time ago. They haven’t been very fun to watch for quite awhile now. This is not what we’ve come to know as Twins baseball.
I’m more optimistic about the Minnesota Twins than most people. I still think they have a chance until they’ve been mathematically eliminated. The main reason I think this is because I believe the players believe they still have a chance and if they haven’t given up then why should I? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Anyways, it can still be fun to watch so I try to watch every game and especially the last game of the season for various reasons:
- 1. It’s the last game to see our Minnesota Twins for like five months
- 2. It could be the last game for some Minnesota Twins players – Cuddyer, Kubel, Capps, Tolbert, Dumatrait, Nathan and almost anyone could be traded. Almost.
- 3. To see how bad the team wanted to avoid losing 100 games in a season
- 4. Carl Pavano started so he might destroy a garbage can
- 5. I love the end of season highlight package.
- 6. IT’S BASEBALL!!! What other reason do you need?
There was a playoff feel to Tuesday night’s game when Rene Tosoni became the first Minnesota Twin to hit a Grand Slam at Target Field,* leading the Twins to a 7-4 victory.
*The first grand slam at Target Field was hit by Matt Joyce on July 3rd, 2010. Jose Bautista hit one on September 30th, 2010 so it was almost a year to the day since the last grand slam at Target Field.
Last night’s game had the same feel to it. That sounds strange since neither team had a lot to play for. The Royals were 23 games back of 1st place Detroit and the Twins were 32 games back, on the verge of losing 100 games. The Twins really wanted to avoid losing 100 games so they were literally playing “not to lose.” You play to WIN THE GAME! We know Herm. We know.
It was a pitcher’s duel between Carl Pavano & Bruce Chen. Chen pitched 8 scoreless innings giving up 8 hits and 2 walks with 4 strikeouts. Carl went the distance giving up only 5 hits, no walks and striking out 3. He got some defense behind him for a change. Ben Revere made another highlight catch in the top of the 6th inning.
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Mike Moustakas led off the 8th inning with a triple but Carl induced two groundouts to the pitcher and a groundout to third to get out of that jam, keeping the game scoreless.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the ninth inning when Denard Span came in to pinch hit for Drew Butera. Drew had a good night. He threw out two guys at second base, a caught stealing and a pick off of Mike Moustakas, and he went 1-1 with two sacrifices.
Denard had a pretty rough season so it was nice to see him get some hits in the last couple games including the double down the right field line to get into scoring position with 1 out in the inning. Ben Revere grounded out moving Denard to third. I was hoping Michael Cuddyer would somehow get a chance for the game-winning hit as this might have been his last game as a Minnesota Twin. It would never get to Cuddy because Trevor Plouffe hit a game-winning, season-ending single and the Twins celebrated!
Here’s a recap if you didn’t see the whole game:
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It was a nice way to end John Gordon‘s career as the Twins Radio announcer and to christen the John Gordon broadcast booth. Here’s the last call of his Twins radio announcing career.
What did you think of the end of the Minnesota Twins season? Did you watch? Did you care? Was it important to avoid 100 losses?
Tell us what you think in the comments!
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Robb
