Thursday,
September 16, 2010
Twins Sweep Sox, Magic Number at 8
Well, people got their wish. Joe Mauer was back in the lineup,
catching Carl Pavano. Even more important, the Twins went in to Chicago
and swept the White Sox. As fans and around the media, the general belief was
that the Twins just had to avoid a sweet. Instead, it was the Twins sweeping.
They came into the series with a six game lead. They leave the series with a
lead in the division (9 games) that is bigger than their magic number (8).
Things started out very interesting. First, Ron Gardenhire clearly
wanted to take advantage of being able to drop two from the Magic Number. He
put his regular starting lineup in there, including Joe Mauer catching Carl
Pavano. Pavano started out a little wild. He hit Paul Konerko in
the nose in the 1st inning, but was able to keep the White Sox
scoreless. Konerko stayed in the game. Mark Buehrle retaliated by
hitting Michael Cuddyer. The Twins went on to score three runs in that
inning and held on the rest of the way. Pavano threw one down the middle of the
plate when Konerko came up the next time, and Konerko hit it well into the left
field bleachers for a home run. The Sox cut the lead to 3-2, but a Delmon
Young two-run home run followed a Cuddyer sacrifice fly and the Twins had a
6-2 lead. Back-to-back homers by AJ Pierzynski and Alexi Ramirez,
and another 6th inning run cut the lead to 6-5, but the bullpen came
through again. Brian Fuentes recorded four outs, and Matt Capps got the
final three outs for the save. It was a relaxing bottom of the 9th
thanks to two insurance runs in the top of the inning on a Cuddyer single and a
Matt Tolbert sacrifice fly.
It was an incredible series for the Twins. Who could have asked for anything more
than they gave us?! Delmon Young went 3-5. Orlando Hudson and Joe
Mauer were each 2-5. Mauer hit his 42nd double, and JJ Hardy
hit his 19th. The Twins had 12 hits in the game.
And with that, the Twins Magic Number is reduced to…
The AL Central is all-but over, so now the goal is to achieve the best
record in the American League and have home field advantage in the playoffs.
Here is how that stands going into Thursday:
Tampa Bay 88-57
NY Yankees 88-58 0.5 Games
Back
Minnesota 88-58 0.5 Games
Back
Wait!! I think that needs to be typed out a little differently. Let’s try
this:
Tampa Bay 88-57
Minnesota 88-58 0.5 Games
Back
NY Yankees 88-58 0.5 Games
Back
Yeah, I think that looks much better. What do you think?
Feel free to leave
your questions and comments here.