The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Okay, I've wedged myself into a seat in the jammed Metrodome press box and finally established internet connection. This is when we find out who Ron Gardenhire really has confidence in, because this is pretty much a must-win if the Twins want to continue to have a viable chance to overtake Chicago.

First Inning

Baker looks sharp. AJ battles and fouls off a few two-strike pitches, but he handles the righties easily, fooling Dye with a couple of off-speed pitches before fanning him with a questionable "strike" on the outside corner.

Well, it looks like the home plate ump is calling a wide strike zone for both sides. He just rang up Denard Span on a pitch that broke well inside, after also thumbing up a dubious strike on Javier Vazquez's first pitch. A big zone favors Chicago, as Vazquez has less control of his pitches than Baker. He gets the next two hitters to ground to Ramirez at second and the first frame is scoreless.

Bottom of the 4th

I'm not going to bore you with all the technical details, but computer glitches wiped out my second and third innings (tried to be put in the comments section when I couldn't get back into my copy) but it is the bottom of the 4th and the Twins just went up 4-1 on a suicide squeeze by Nick Punto that scored Delmon Young from third with one out. The hero thus far has been Jason Kubel, who homered in the second after a Morneau walk to put the Twins up 2-1 after Chicago had scored in the top of the second on a Griffey double play ball got Thome home from third. Then he led off the bottom of the 4th with a triple to right-center, coming on a Young's seeing-eye bloop double just inside the right field line. Young then chugged into third on a medium Buscher fly out--good hustle--and Punto brought him in with the bunt, beating it out with one of his patently stupid head-first slides.

But give Punto his due--he's running like his head's on fire, as Mike Tomlin would say. When Young went on contact in with runners on first and third and one out in the second, Punto went all the way over to third as Young was tagged out in the rundown. And now he just stole second base with his third head-firster of the night and came in on a Carlos Gomez single--a run he pretty much manufactured with his bunt, SB and hustle home.

Think Ozzie's going to be mentioning the piranahs much after the game tonight? Even I write this, Gomez just stole second. The White Sox have Richard warming up in the bullpen--no great surprise as it is already 5-1 in the 4th. But they had a guy warming up in the top of the third after Vazquez got banged around a little bit in the second.

Meanwhile, Gomez just would have had third stolen easily if Span hadn't fouled the pitch off. Span subsequently fanned, Casilla laced one just foul down the right field line or it would be 6-1. And the PR folks just noted that the SB was Gomez's 32nd, the most since Otis Nixon swiped 37 a decade ago.

Casilla hits a routine grounder to second and busts a nut trying to beat it out. The sense of desperation is clearly with Minnesota tonight, and thus far it is a good thing.

BTW, Delmon Young continues to get no love among the press corps. When he got hung up in a rundown, the guy next to me muttered "stupid." But those things are usually predetermined--the manager, via the third base coach, sends the message about whether or not to go on contact.

Top of the 5th

Okay, Baker is back out there after a long half-inning. He's got 59 pitches through 4. Let's see if he can keep that overworked bullpen out of the game. He just led off the inning walking Griffey on a 3-2 pitch. Then Ramirez hit a bullet that Buscher snagged with his best Brooks Nettles imitation but couldn't make a play. Two on, nobody out. Here come the White Sox. Uribe hits am infield-fly-rule pop to second, but Cabrera singles sharply to right to load the bases with two out, bringing up the hated AJ. As the crowd boos him lustily, Rick Anderson goes to the mound to talk to Baker. The first pitch is 6 inches outside and is called a strike. Craig Breslow just got warming up as AJ fishes badly for a split finger. Oh and two, but as he has done in his previous at-bats, AJ spoils the kayo pitch. Then he slaps the ball slightly into the hole at short. Punto comes up looking for the force at second, but Casilla is light years away from the bag and in no hurry to get there. Fortunately, it's AJ going down the line and Punto has time to retire him to end the inning. Was Casilla too far in the hole on a shift, forget there was a man or first, or what? Oh well, no damage.



Bottom of the 5th

The lefty Richard comes in to face the M+M boys and is rudely welcomed by a single to left, extending Mauer's hitting streak to 12 games. Then Morneau takes the first pitch deep to right to set the Twins' season record for doubles with 47. Mauer, as Patrick Reusse recently noted, is a shrewd baserunner who scored easily from first by going at the crack of the bat. And now Kubel has moved Morneau to third with a grounder up the middle that Ramirez retrieved and threw him out at first. Now Ozzie is intentionally walking Delmon Young to set up another lefty-lefty matchup with Buscher. As I recently wrote, I think these lefty-lefty or righty-righty set-ups are overrated. And the way Young has been wheeling on his bad ankle tonight, the Twins might just pull a double steal. At this point, at 6-1 in the 5th, the goal is to get inside the White Sox heads for Wednesday and Thursday. Buscher flies deep enough to right to bring in Morneau, with Young alertly taking second with a nice slight after the third baseman cut off the throw home and tried to nail him. Punto hits it on the button but right at the right fielder to end Minnesota's third multi-run inning of the evening thus far.

Top of the 6th

Okay, Baker starts the 6th over 80 pitches, so he probably has at most two innings left. But he gets Dye on a grounder and gets another ump-assisted strike on the outside of the outside corner on Thome. But the pitch that fans Thome is a beaut, a right on the inside corner beneath his wicked swing. And Konerko hits one 400 feet, allowing Gomez to catch it on the warning track right in front of the 408 ft. sign. A ten-pitch inning and a six-run lead. Scott Baker has done his job, allowing just one run through six and if I'm Gardy I give him a chance to finish the 7th.

Bottom of the 6th

Go-go leads off with a single in the 3rd-short hole. Don't look now, but Gomez has an OPS of .854 over the past two weeks, and has knocked in 15 runs in his past 13 games in than period. Span moves him over with a grounder to second, but that's as far as he goes as Richard posts a goose-egg to keep the score 7-1.

Top of the 7th

Paid attendance is 35,225.

Working on 91 pitches, Baker retires the pathetic Griffey on an easy fly. The White Sox have Boone Logan warming up, another lefty, so Richard is probably done for the night and it will be Logan versus Mauer-Morneau-Kubel. Ramirez certainly doesn't cheat himself at the plate, swinging from his heels, which is how he's got 22 dingers despite his string-bean frame. After his whopper swing and miss, he just stung one right back at Baker that whapped into the heel of his glove and then floated until Baker ran off the mound and caught it on the fly. Wise pops out right near the third base bleachers and Scott Baker makes it through 7 with an even 100 pitches. If the Twins do manage to make it to the postseason and have any chance of arranging their rotation, you've got to think he gets the ball in some tandem with Liriano and Slowey. In any event, Jesse Crain just got up, so Baker is done for the night.

Bottom of the 7th

My mistake: Mauer made the last out of the 6th and so we began the inning with Justin Morneau again foiling the fans' "MVP!" chants by grounding out to first. Even with his double tonight, Morneau has been as cold as Gomez has been hot the past two weeks.

Boom! Kubel just jacked his second homer and registered his 10th total base of the evening, this one a mere 342 that hit the first row of metal railing above the baggie. It was Boone Logan's first pitch to him. And then Boom! Again on the first pitch, the much maligned Delmon Young homers to left center, a 397 foot job that should shut up the complainers for at least a night or two. It's 9-1 and Boone Logan is done for the night, having made four pitches and served up two homers. Despite being a righty, DJ Carrasco somehow managed to retire lefties Buscher and Punto to get out of the inning. But that's four multi-run frames against three different White Sox pitchers. It has become a laugher for the Twins and now it is all about psychologically keeping the boot on the neck the rest of the way.

Top of the 8th

Confession: I don't have much faith in Jesse Crain. If he's the primary set-up guy to get to Joe Nathan, I think the Twins are in trouble if they manage to make it to the postseason. (Leaving aside that there are many other things that will also be troublesome if they go up against the Rays, Red Sox or Angels.)

Yup, Crain just walked Uribe on five pitches. How do you put the leadoff guy on via walk with an 8-run lead in the 8th? Fortunately, Punto comes up with a grounder up the middle and completes a 6-3 double play despite a take-out slide. Then Delmon Young, who has traded his ankle to the devil for a much better joint, just scampered a long way to snare the foul fly by AJ near the wall in left. The Young-haters are looking pretty sorry tonight. Finally, who is the person responsible for the Twins playing the absolutely horseshit faux-country song "Into the Night" every home game? It is the kind of blunder that stamps the Twins organization as dickwads when it comes to taste-making. Seriously, every game?

Bottom of the 8th

New catcher in the game for AJ, and when he pegs the ball down to second after the warm-up tosses, Cabrera and Ramirez do a fire drill figuring out which one is going to catch it. Yup, the White Sox really have their heads in the game tonight. Yet another lefty on the mound for the Pale Hose, Horacio Ramirez. The notes say lefties are hitting .318 against him this season (albeit just 14-44) but he retires Span and the righties on either side of him in order, which I believe is the Twins' first 1-2-3 inning since the 1st. Matt Guerrier has just been announced for the mop-up.

Top of the 9th

Jermaine Dye skies a speaker shot, a welcome reminder to all of us who would be freezing our wet rears off tonight outside that baseball is still meant to be played under the clouds, even if they are divulging themselves of precip. Dye hits another towering fly but this one is playable by Gomez.

Big roar from the crowd--drunk on the loose! He does an admirable job eluding the phlanx of security personnel (one actually dove at his legs and missed him, leaving what I imagine is a nasty burn on his elbow) before two guys converged at the same time and then about 8 of the security folks surrounded him and led him off as the crowd roared. I recommend depants-ing other run-ons, and not giving the clothes back.

Thome grounds out into the shift and now it is Paulie, the man the south side of Chicago loves so dearly, who has the distinction of being the last out. Except he walks. Leaving Griffey in the godforsaken, A-Rod-like position of being shunned by ChiSox fans if he continues his wretched hitting and annoying the hell out of them if he chooses two out in the 9th down 9-1 to get his groove back. This is not the way for a Hall of Famer to go out.

So naturally Junior jerks one on the outside corner over the wall in right for a two-run dong. I'm liking Jesse Crain more and more as Guerrier continues to demonstrate that his head may be willing but his arm is toast. A fly to left wraps up the 9-3 thrashing. From the Twins perspective, it's too bad the White Sox get to go back to their hotel rooms knowing they drew last blood.

Postgame

Ron Gardenhire has learned how to be the master of the folksy recap, saying things like "Kube had a heck of a day, putting it into the seats a couple of times." It wasn't until a media member brought up something that was apparently a hot topic during Gardy's pregame chat with the press--the manager starting Kubel over Cuddyer despite Kubel's 2-19 mark against Chicago starter Vazquez--that Gardy chided them for the second-guessing, saying with satisfaction, "I told you, Kubel is my DH. I sat in here and watched every one of his at-bats in that 2 for 19 and there were 7 or 8 quality at-bats in there. That's my side."

Gardy also praised Delmon Young ("He was running all over the place out there") and Scott Baker ("He pitched very well and had 100 pitches exactly, maybe 101. I asked Andy"--pitching coach Rick Anderson--"if he could go out for the 8th and Andy said no."). And he put the series in perspective: "Now we have to throw that out, winning the game--it won't mean anything tomorrow." When a writer said Ozzie Guillen seemed unconcerned before the game and told the press that the pressure was on the Twins, who were the chasers, Gardy said, "Well that's the way it is, isn't it?" But should they be concerned? the writer persisted, looking for a retort to Guillen. Not as much as we should be concerned, Gardy replied.

Tom Powers of the PiPress said, it is good to be pumped up in football, is it good to be pumped up in baseball? "Better than being a dead ass," Gardy wisecracked. When Powers said it didn't look like Gardy was going to go home and relax tonight, the manager went along with it, claiming that instead of jumping into the jacuzzi he could "make his own bubbles" in the water tonight.

Surrounded by a throng of reporters four rows deep, Scott Baker was running boring but effective Anderson tapes through his head. "I think our objective tonight was to go out and have some fun," he said soberly. Asked by Mark Rosen what was working, he said, "just mixing up my pitches and getting ahead of the hitters." Having heard all this many times before, I started walking away just as Baker was gently denying that this was automatically the biggest game he ever won.

It was a big one though. Just one and a half back with five to play.