THE LIVE BLOGCAST WILL BEGIN SHORTLY, DON’T LEAVE!!!
So after a 162 games over six months the Twins and White Sox are tied in 1st place. The White Sox jumped all over the Detroit bullpen after Tiger starter, Freddy Garcia, pitched five really solid innings. Part of me is upset at the Twins for not taking care of business at home against Kansas City, but then I could reference probably another 20 games this season where something little went wrong that cost the Twins a win.
The other part of me realizes that this is how it should be decided. A one game playoff that will be the most important baseball game played thus far in 2008.
The only way I can cover a game like this is by doing a Twins MVB Live PLAYOFF Blogcast. But this time will be different than last week’s game against the White Sox. I found a new application that will allow for live up to the minute updates, but more importantly reader interaction from YOU!
So log in tomorrow around 6 pm as we prepare for the big game and as you’re watching put in your own thoughts, comments, and questions. It’s going to be a wild night!
Here’s a good video to prepare you for this afternoon’s makeup game between the Tigers and the White Sox. The BBTN boys give their predictions…
Also, the Twins announced Nick Blackburn would take the hill on Tuesday night if a tiebreaker game is necessary. He would face off against John Danks in Chicago with a 6:37 pm CT start. Odd starting time, but no worries if you are working should be able to catch this game.
After both the White Sox and the Twins went 1-2 in their final season series, neither team was able to step up and win the division. The Twins had two ugly, uninspiring losses to Kansas City on Friday and Saturday, but thankfully took care of business Sunday at the Dome.
The final regular season game saw an amazing pitching performance from Scott Baker, a huge clutch hit from Delmon Young, sloppy defense from the Royals, and a possible 2nd AL Batting Title for Joe Mauer!
Unfortunately, Joe must wait before being crowned batting champ because there is potentially more baseball to be played. Which brings us to the Tigers…
The White Sox finished 1/2 game behind the Twins and thus need to play the rainout game against Detroit tomorrow night in Chicago. If Chicago loses the Twins clinch the division and are off to Tampa Bay for the first round of the playoffs. If Chicago wins the Twins fly to the Windy City for AL Central Tie Breaker at U.S. Cellular on Tuesday.
A tiebreaker in Chicago would be a tough win for the young Twins. I think this motivated club could handle the pressure, but I’d much rather have the day off and head to Florida to prepare for the playoffs. So that’s where for one day, just one day, all Twins fans and MVB readers are becoming Tiger’s fans for a day. I’m so excited to hang out with these people…
Tomorrow’s game is 1 pm CT on ESPN2. Tune in and Go Tigers!
Hard to come down from the emotional high of last night’s thrilling victory. Let’s hope the Twins clubhouse didn’t celebrate too hard!
This just in Kevin Slowey’s MRI results show no ligament damage from the line drive he took off the wrist during last night’s game. The X-rays came back negative but it is uncertain when Slowey will pitch again, simply because the Twins future is still uncertain. If the Twins do make the playoffs they will certainly hope Slowey will be recovered enough to take the mound. For now… one day at a time.
Liriano Ready After having to watch three amazing victories from the dugout, I’m sure Francisco Liriano is ready to take the mound tonight against the Kansas City Royals. Although the Twins did sweep the critical series against Chicago, these final three games are still must win games as the Twins hope to remain atop of the AL Central. There isn’t another pitcher I’d rather have take the mound to start the final series tonight then “The Franchise.”
7:10 PM – Here we go folks the first ever Twins MVB LIVE Blogcast! 7:10 – Can’t think of a better way to start… 1 pitch… 1 out! 7:15 – Well, they don’t call him a flyball pitcher for nothing! Let’s see some hits from the offense. 7:18 – FSN shows a smiling Ozzie after Span’s bloop single. He won’t be smiling after tonight!
7:22 – Bert’s never looked so smart after calling that Griffey is playing too shallow as Mauer puts a double over Griffey’s head. Or maybe Junior’s never looked so slow!
7:31 – I know Jr.’s swinging a hot bat, but do you think Ozzie really gave him the green light on 3-0? Slowey retires his first six!
7:38 – Someday I’m going to blog about all the possible things Carlos Gomez is saying to his bat
7:45 – Dick says it how it is, 30 pitches, 9 outs for Slowey. Great start!
7:52 – Mauer looking good with his second hit of the night. Keep those hits coming we want another batting title.
8:00 – The downside of flyball pitchers, Orlando Cabrera goes deep in the 4th to tie the game 1-1. No style points for Delmon’s poor attempt of robbing a homerun.
8:03 – Listen Gomez!!! Definitely saw Span call that ball. Can’t have mistakes like that.
8:09 – Slowey understandibly careful with Griffey as he walks. And Alexei Ramirez officially looks like an alien.
8:16 – Oh no! This is not good. Slowey is hit in the arm and throws the ball away, Sox take a 6-1 lead. How did this get so bad so quickly??? Mistakes by Gomez/Span and Buscher are taking their toll. Even worse, Matt Guerrier is coming into the game in the 4th inning.
8:26 – Great at bat by Brian Buscher. Twins need to be patient and get themselves back into this game. If we can get Floyd out of this game I like our chances against the Chicago bullpen.
8:31 – If Nick Punto’s at bat lasted any longer I was going to have to leave and get a Banana Cream Pie Blizzard from DQ after staring at that sign so long. Telly Hughes reports that Kevin Slowey is on his way to the hospital for x-rays. I might hate Telly Hughes more than AJ. Anybody can do his job.
8:49 – Huge strikeout for Reyes on Junior. Twins certainly still in this game and most importantly they got the crowd back into it. 6-3 through five inings.
8:54 - Mauer is motivated tonight with his third hit of ballgame. That’ll put him back up at .330. Let’s see an MVP at bat here from Morneau.
9:02 – Twins can’t bring the runners in. If I see another Menards commercial during this break I’ll never buy a lawn mower in my life.
9:10 – BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF!!!
9:14 – Gomez picks up his second triple of the night followed by a near bunt single by Span. Oooh, that was close. 6-4 White Sox.
9:33 – Crain gets the job done. For some reason after the Slowey fiasco it seemed like this game was over, but the Twins are right where they need to be with three more innings to score runs.
9:39 – That’s it! Never buying a lawn mower!
9:46 – Craig Breslow for Rolaids Relief Man of the Year!
9:54 – To get an understanding of how poor the White Sox bullpen has been Ozzie turns to his closer, Bobby Jenks, to get the five out save.
9:57 – So Gomez picks up his 5th hit of the game and FSN shows that Jenks has an 8.22 ERA in his last 7 and 1/3 IP. Hehe.
10:04 – Just heard the Metrodome roof has a hole in it after a dangerous decible level. What a rally! Unfortunately Alexi couldn’t get the bunt down and the Twins are retired at a 6-6 tie. This is right where we need to be though.
10:16 – Gomez makes a nice unecessary sliding catch for the third inning and Nathan retires the Sox 1-2-3 in the 9th with a questionable appealed called 3rd strike on Nick Swisher. I love how the 3rd base ump just threw his hands up in the air and told Swisher to take a seat.
10:21 – Let’s hope MVP voters aren’t watching Morneau’s 0-5 performance tonight. Thank you Ron Gardenhire for letting Joe Nathan pitch more than one inning. This is for 1st place!
10:35 - Punto showing his aggressive baserunning style and now Span will be walked. Let’s go Casilla.
10:45 – WOW! I knew we had to sweep, I said we had to sweep, and I thought we really could sweep… but it actually happened. This is one of the biggest Twins wins I can remember and this series was the most impressive feats of determination, motivations, and clutch play.
10:50 – Certainly wish I could have been at this game tonight, but I couldn’t have picked a better game for the first ever Twins MVB LIVE Blogcast. If you followed along with me tonight thanks a lot and if you read this later leave me a comment and let me know what you think. We’ll have to do future live blocasts here at MVB.
So the Twins pull off the impossible sweep and take control of first place. Three games remaining in the season. Three games at home in the dome against the Royals for the Twins and three games at home against the Indians for the Sox. It’s going to be a good weekend!
Before you read my post game thoughts check this out! I feel really guilty for not being able to go to the game tonight as I have been good luck the past few nights at the dome, alas I have to work. But I will be working with computer access and watching the game on tv so I’m going to do the first ever LIVE TWINS MVB BLOGCAST! Leave your internet browswer on and refresh it every few minutes why you’re watching the game for up to the minute comments and updates. As always, feel free to leave questions and thoughts during the game. Get the brooms out!
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Wow, what another win last night! A 3-2 grind that saw great defense on both sides and some timely hitting from the Twins.
Mark Buerhle really pitched quite well and Nick Blackburn struggled at times but got the job done in clutch situations. The Twins bullpen stepped up with Craig Breslow, Boof Bonser, Jose Mijares, and Joe Nathan combining to pitch there scoreless innings. In a game that is this important it appears that Ron Gardenhire and decided to go with the young lefty, Mijares, in the 8th inning.
As long as the Twins win, it is great to see my old hero Ken Griffey Jr. hit some homeruns. His homerun last night was a blast circa Griffey 1997. As a baseball purist, I like the tradition of throwing a homerun ball back after an away homerun and I’ve always told myself I would do it if I caught a homer…BUT last night may be an exception. Some fool caught Griffey’s ball which was his 611th in his career and you never know, maybe his last. I wouldn’t try to sell the ball, but I would give it back to Junior just for an opportunity to meet him!
What a win last night! The Twins not only took the most important game 1 of the series but made a big statement in doing so.
Jason Kubel was the star of the game smacking two homeruns, hitting a triple, and picking up three RBIs. After a homer in his first at-bat and a triple in his second at bat, Kubel had me thinking cycle, but he chose to hit another homerun instead! Here Thor Nystrom of MLB.com writes, Kubel nearly didn’t even start.
Delmon Young used the energy from the crowd and from Kubel’s homerun immediately after to go back-to-back with a homerun of his own. Scott Baker pitched a very solid seven innings with one earned run and Justin Morneau set a new Twins record with his 47 double of the season while receiving incessant MVP chants from the crowd everytime he stepped up to the plate.
Last night’s game one win was huge keeping the chances alive for a potential sweep and giving the Twins a good chance to win the essential two out of three. Tonight’s matchups may be the toughest with Twin Killer Mark Buerhle (14-11) going against Nick Blackburn (10-10) who is 1-2 with a 7.58 ERA in four September starts. Blackburn has looked tired as of late, but hopefully the Metrodome crowd will pump him up to pitch a gem like Baker.
Not much more I can say to hype up or emphasize the upcoming series that starts tonight. Nothing really needs to be said. The media is talking about it, all eyes are on the series, it’s coming down to this!
I’ll say it now, in my opinion the Twins need to sweep this series to make the playoffs. We’ll certainly still have a chance if we take 2 of 3, but to really be in the driver’s seat we need to get the brooms out.
Obviously, easier said than done against a very good Chicago White Sox club. Especially since two of the starters in this series (Mark Buerhle – Wed, Gavin Floyd – Thurs) have dominated the Twins this year. BUT… the Twins are at home. And this my friends, is going to be the difference in the game. I think the Twins have a legit chance to sweep the White Sox this week thanks to DOMEfield advantage!
With 40,000 roaring fans rocking the Metrodome it’ll be a playoff atmosphere and I predict the Twins’ bats will really come alive. We just need tired young arms of our starting rotation to keep up.
The White Sox on the road this year are 35-43. The Twins at home are 49-26. I like these numbers! Scott Baker (9-4) goes for his 10th win against Javier Vasquez (12-14). I’ll be at the dome cheering along and you should watch, witness, or listen to this game!
If this were a podcast or I could somehow add audio to this blog the entire post would be read in that movie trailer voice. You know the same guy who does every preview in the theaters. I’m going to do my best to write the script, so you need to just simply hear the voice in your head as you read the following…
In the city of two cities lives a hollowed ground. A yard, a park, a dome! A place where balls fly, strikes are fired, and fans roar. Beneath this pale white palace history is made and legends are born. Under this bubbled roof nine twin men shed blood and tears battling day in and day out against giants, pirates, angels, and tigers.
But this time… the nine uniformed men armed with bats and gloves will be fighting for their lives. Against who you ask?
From the deep, dark depths of the city of wind sleep the twin men’s rivals. They come clad in evil black and armed with their secret weapon of monster home runs and their signature white socks.
This September, for three days the twin men and white socked monsters will settle the score once and for all!
Starring: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Ron Gardenhire, and 50,000 cheering fans. Also Starring: Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, and Ozzie Guillen with possible guest appearance by Carlos Quentin. Coming to a theater near you… (if near you is Minneapolis)
The Twins showed some fight and some resilence last night coming back to beat the Tampa Bay Rays on the road. Despite giving up five homeruns, three to Evan Longoria, the Twins battled putting five runs across in the 9th inning. A win that was not only needed for the team, but proved to be a big win after the White Sox lost in New York.
The end result: the Twins trail the White Sox by 1.5 games entering the weekend. We still have to play three more against the Rays as the White Sox head to Kansas City for three against the Royals. On paper this scenario doesn’t look too good. The Twins play a first place club with 90 wins and the Sox play a last place club with little to play for. HOWEVER, the Royals are currently riding a seven game win streak while the Rays are sputtering having lost eight of their last 13 games.
The Twins are definitely going to need better starting pitching over the weekend. Glen Perkins didn’t even get out of the first inning last night giving up five runs and getting only two outs. Thankfully the boys brought out the bats last night, but the Twins of all teams do not want to get into a slugfest with teams.
Hopefully last night’s thrilling victory can be a springboard to a great final week of the season. It’s certainly not going to be easy, but I just want the boys to play good baseball and make it interesting no matter what happens! Nick Blackburn (10-9) takes the mound tonight against Edwin Jackson (11-11).
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