Yes, that was the inning from the gates of hell. Gomez and Span banging into each other chasing Jim Thome’s fly ball when either one could have caught it and neither one did. And then Buscher went all fumble hands on the little Alexei Ramirez chopper and Peroxide Blondie got hit with an 0-and-2 pitch and Slowey got hit on the wrist by Uribe’s line drive (and compounded the pain with his gallant but wild throw to first). And Guerrier, reprising the role of the legendary Brian Bass, came in and kept the inning from being any worse with a strikeout.

1-0 Twins became 6-1 Sox.

Young220 followed along in Oklahoma on his computer, making (reasonable) mockery of the study hall that’s required of him by the fraternity he’s opted to join. At the Renaissance Festival, another friend asked for text message updates starting in the sixth inning because the radio in their booth had an incident with some beer that rendered both useless.

At Ms. Baseball’s compound, the elder Baseballette juggled some kind of advanced math assignment with some kind of comeback.

I’m gonna try to keep this (kind of) short because I’m really interested in what you all have to say. (First-time commenters especially encouraged to join in.) But some things have to be said. I will spare you musical links today, but you gotta know that those Tom Petty licks from yesterday are as right as they get about this team.

*It was Young220 who pointed out the justice of having Gomez and Span combine for so much of the comeback after their smash-up keyed Chicago’s six-inning inning. Three triples, two doubles, 7-for-9 with 5 RBI, 4 runs and a walk between them, not to mention Gomez’ skidding catch to end the ninth and Span holding Cabrera to a single in the seventh with a mad dash toward the right-field corner. And Casilla’s smart game-winning at-bat in the 10th after his rough one in the eighth was a totally appropriate way to end it.  The only questions I have are who fires the other up more, the youngsters or the crowd … and just what Carlos said it his exuberant postgamer with TellyMonster. (It was clear Telly didn’t know.)

*The reorganized bullpen did the job for a second straight night — two hits (Crain) and two walks (Guerrier) in 6 1/3 innings. Reyes’ fifth-inning strikeout of Griffey and Breslow’s perfect eighth were masterful, and Thursday’s Nathan looked sharper than Wednesday’s in his two innings. And I liked that Gardy had young Mijares readying for the 11th if the game had gone there. Boof was sharp for a second straight day and, while I know he wants to be a starter down the road, I’m thinking more and more he has the right stuff to be a kickin’ set-up guy.

*Joe Mauer gets three hits while getting smacked around behind the plate like a Kimbo Slice opponent. He’s gonna win the batting title and I’m thinking he could well be a Top 5 in the MVP race. Right now, without doing the numbers, I’d go Morneau… Youkilis… Pedroia… Cliff Lee… Mauer. But that could be the euphoria talkin’, so don’t hold me to it. (No, I’m not forgetting K-Rod.)

*The “Let’s Go Pooooooooon-to”  chant is priceless. I’m thinking he was so into hearing that in the 10th that he was distracted from swinging at bad pitches when he worked that walk. Seriously, that was a flawless night’s work at shortstop and a great call to take third on that short wild pitch in the 10th. His hustle changed the way Bobby Jenks had to approach that final AB with Casilla.

*Did anyone else notice that the postgame interview with (listed at) 275-pound Jenks took place right in front of the candy shelves in the visiting clubhouse? Did anyone else see how much of the Good and Plenty was gone from the jar? One of the clubhouse boys is going to Costco today.

*For all the wasted opportunities, the Twins went 4-for-13 (.308) with runners in scoring position.

*Finally, I commend to you Jim Souhan’s column on the game. It starts thusly: “Alexi Casilla, banished to the minors early in spring training, blooped the winning hit to center with two out in the bottom of the 10th. Denard Span, loser of the center field job in spring training, jogged to second, his fist in the air, before sprinting back to Casilla and flattening him with a chest bump. Nick Punto, who lost his starting job this winter, screamed as he ran home with the winning run. …”

Get ready for the weekend. Sealing this deal, as giddy and confident as we may be right now, is far from automatic. I know the Twins know that.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 1:08 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.