As I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for these things, but I was at the Twins groundbreaking ceremony today, and it was pretty cool. It didn’t change the disappointment of the current season, but for a few hours, it was fun to picture baseball — outdoors, downtown in 2010.

For one thing, the weather was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. Seventy-four degrees with a slight breeze. Pale-skinned fella that I am, my biggest problem was forgetting my sunblock. I made my way under a tent and realized, I was sitting where a good seat along the third-base line would be. The view of the IDS Tower was striking.

Martin Zellar was singing. They sold hot dogs, peanuts and soft drinks for a buck. The ceremony itself had the usual cheeseball stuff, including the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” followed by “Let the Sunshine In.”

But the highlight, without a doubt, came when Kent Hrbek got up to speak. “I came for the beer,” he said. So, sure enough, someone handed him a cold bottle of Bud Light. Hrbek turned around, asked Carl Pohlad if it was OK, popped the top and took a swig. “That’s the first of many here at the old ballpark,” he said.

(Note — I enjoyed the sun while I could. Tomorrow, I’ll be inside the Metrodome for about 14 hours, covering both ends of the doubleheader. Check back here for lineups, news and notes.)

It seemed rather fitting that the Twins season, for all intents and purposes, ended moments after a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Nick Punto. It’s been a year of failed execution, and I’m not just talking about Punto.

How about a front office that failed to address the offensive shortcomings that were evident by early May? How about an ownership that approved only a $70 million payroll, allowing the front office to expand it to $74 million, and only then with a wink-wink agreement that it come back down if the team wasn’t firmly entrenched in the pennant race by late July?

Today is the official groundbreaking for the new ballpark. Thoughts will drift away from this 2007 mess and toward 2010. Call me a cynic, but the way things have been handled this year — with payroll restrictions and no progress on important contract talks — do you see the ballpark opening with Torii Hunter (a free agent after this season), Johan Santana (a free agent after 2008), Joe Nathan (2008) or Michael Cuddyer (2009)?

“Over? Did you say over? … Nothing is over until WE decide it is…”

And besides, WE need something to blog about. Seriously, I did not view last night’s loss as the final nail in the Twins’ coffin. In so many of their defeats this year, they have looked disturbingly overmatched. But that wasn’t the case last night — or, to a lesser extent, Monday. I originally felt they needed to win four of these last six against Cleveland, and that now means sweeping the final four.

It starts tonight with Johan and Sabathia. Break it down however you want, this is the Twins’ last stand.

I’m going to wade into the pool of despair this morning with a question that will probably get me eaten alive: How about that defensive gem by Nick Punto?

I know it gets negated by another 0-for-3, 2K night at the plate. I know the Twins have pretty much sealed their playoff chances this week. But I’d like this thread to be about defense. I can’t remember two better plays by a second baseman than Punto’s sixth-inning masterpiece last night and the charging, throw-while-he-dives acrobatic special at Yankee Stadium in July.

And for those who have faulted Hunter, how about his wall-rattler in the seventh inning? Say he separates a shoulder there. It could have cost him tens of millions on the free agent market, but nothing was going to stop him from catching that ball. Gee, do you think the Twins will miss him next year when all those balls are falling in for extra-base hits?

So yesterday, I zeroed in on the statistics Paul Byrd and Carlos Silva had generated in their past three starts, thinking that might be some kind of indicator for how Game 1 of this pivotal series would go. I should create a new category for that post: Pure Blogging Buffoonery.

What seemed more relevant, as La Velle pointed out in his series preview box, and our editors reminded us with a big graphic in today’s print editions, was how Byrd and Silva had fared against their respective opponents. For some ridiculous reason, the Twins can barely touch Byrd, and the Indians pretty much own Silva. With that in mind, here are some numbers heading into Game 2:

Past 3 starts

Career vs. Opponent

(Note - Jason Tyner hit his only major league home run off Westbrook to give the Twins a 1-0 lead in the third inning on July 28.)