Swept Away

The Twins swept away the Rangers, winning the last game of their series behind Brad Radke last night, 2-0. During the game, I was watching Kenny Rogers' velocity on the stadium radar gun. I saw one pitch at 88, one at 86, and a majority of his pitches were in the '70s. He was wild, walking seven batters, and seemed to be on the ropes the whole night. But, in six innings he gave up just four hits, and one run. Not a bad performance by the old guy, in fact it was a Quality Start.

Really, though, the Twins should have clobbered him. Offensively, it was a very disappointing night. None of the Twins players (other than Shannon Stewart) seemed to be able to sit on Rogers' slow, slower, and slowest stuff. But, Radke saved the day, humbling the Rangers hitters himself. In addition, Joe Nathan was impressive in the ninth. It seems that he's put the wheels back on the wagon.

I was disappointed not to see Li'l Harmon do something though. He was 0-2 with two walks. He also struck out with the bases loaded. Sigh. I have to admit that I love Bat-Girl's nickname for him, Justin "Credible" Morneau.

The highlight of the night was seeing Ron Gardenhire get tossed. After Torii Hunter was called out at first on an inning ending double play (with the bases loaded, no less), Gardy argued the call and he got a quick thumb. Hunter was clearly safe, and Gardy did what he had to do, which was get an early shower.

The lowlight? Hank Blalock fouled out to Cristian Guzman to end the eighth. Blalock's ball would have been out of play, had it not hit a speaker and headed straight to Guzman. Gotta love the Metrodome. Inexplicably, Buck Showalter came out and argued the play. Perhaps Buck has never paid attention to the discussions about the ground rules in our lovely park.

With losses by Cleveland and the White Sox the division now seems to be a done deal. In a way, it is kind of disappointing that at least one of those teams didn't hang in there and make it a race. Nevertheless, there are some things to watch in September.

First of all, the Twins are now the 3rd seed in the playoffs. It would be great if the Twins could catch the Oakland A's and get the homefield in the first round of the playoffs but that seems a little unlikely. Once again, the A's are pounding the opposition in the second half of the year. What a tremendous organation the A's have. I'm sure a lot of you have read Moneyball, Michael Lewis' great book on the A's and Billy Beane. (And if you liked that, pick up Liar's Poker, Lewis' book on bond trading in the '80s. Although a little dated now, I remember those days quite well and it was a fantastic read.) Beane's ability to put together teams that just blow through the regular season every year on a shoestring budget is phenomenal. I just don't think the Twins can catch the A's, especially since they have to hold off Anaheim and Texas.

Frankly, I'd like to like the A's, but I cannot. My hatred goes back to the early 1970s when, as a young Twins fan I took serious abuse from bandwagon A's fans in my hometown. Those were great A's teams, but they were beating my Twins. The late '80s early '90s teams, with Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, did little to engender a warm feeling in my heart either. So, I respect the A's and admire them, but damn it, I HATE THEM.

The second, and most important issue is who will win the wild card. With Boston's current hot streak, they've now put 4.5 games between themselves and Anaheim. Unless things change, it looks like the Twins first round playoff opponent will be the EVIL EMPIRE. Unless... the Red Sox catch the Yanks. Then, the Twins will get the Red Sox, who will obviously have been hotter than a pistol. Call me crazy, but I'd rather see the Yanks than the Red Sox at this point.

It's great to see the Twins locking up the division. But, there seems to be little excitement about September baseball because of the lack of competitiveness.

Tonight it's Johan Santana, my Twins pitcher of the Month (oh, and the AL's pitcher of the month) against the Kansas City Royals. I'm going to be out of town this weekend, so I won't get a chance to see any games. I won't lose any sleep over the weekend series...

Thanks to Seth for giving me a plug. Hope all of you new readers like what you see, and stop by once in a while to give me a read and drop me a line. Have a good holiday weekend.