My flight for New York leaves in less than seven hours, so I’ll make this quick.

I caught up with Twins president Dave St. Peter in one of the only dry spots of the clubhouse, as players soaked each other in champagne and beer celebrating the 6-5, 12-inning victory over Detroit that gave them the AL Central title.

“I can’t imagine there’s ever been a better regular season game played in this building,” St. Peter said. “Obviously, I don’t want to compare it to ‘91 — Game 6 or Game 7. But from a regular season perspective, that game had everything you could ever ask for, and the crowd was as electric as I’ve seen it here, certainly since the ‘91 Series. It was a classic.”

Added St. Peter: “I don’t know what’ll happen [against the Yankees], but we’ve been on a roll. These guys are confident. You’ve gotta give credit to the manager and the coaching staff. I think about Bill Smith, and the moves we made. I know people were critical at times, but we’re not here without Cabrera, Rauch, Mahay and Pavano. So you’ve gotta give credit where credit’s due, and ownership stepped up on that.”

St. Peter said he’d been thinking about late owner Carl Pohlad and was pretty emotional.

Later, Manager Ron Gardenhire mentioned Pohlad, too.

“I sure wish he was here tonight,” Gardenhire said. “He’s been through quite a few of these, but this is in honor of him, what he’s meant to this organization and this city. I’m proud to be a part of this. He gave me an opportunity here.

“I know he’s sitting up there telling me I probably could have made a couple different moves, and kept it a shorter game, but I tip my hat to Mr. Pohlad.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.