(Note from Howard: Sometimes I’ve thought to myself that frequent commenter Jason Iacovino has enough to say that he should get his own blog. When he told me that he was going to Kansas City for the weekend, I figured he’d be a perfect candidate to file on behalf of the Twins fans who made the Twins. Jason is an attorney and a play-by-play announcer for KRFO Radio in Owatonna, Minnesota. He’s a 2001 graduate of the University of Minnesota, with a bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication and a 2006 graduate of the University of St. Thomas School of Law.)

When I was in little league, the worst player on the team took right field. The Royals reminded me why Friday night. So went Day One in Kansas City for Jason and the boys…

The Twins kept a finger on the playoff limb they are hanging from Friday night, despite once again falling behind early, because the Royals’ right fielders behaved like Little Leaguers while our All-Star closer got the job done with a mulligan. The boys and I are still scratching our heads as to why Josh Anderson wasn’t charged with 2 errors for his misplay of Denard Span’s triple-turned-homerun, which ended up being the signature play in Friday’s game. Perhaps Howard, an official scoring veteran, can enlighten us, but it seems obvious that Span would not have scored on his liner to right but for two misplays by Anderson–the first which allowed him to stretch a double into a triple, and the second which allowed him to score.

Either way, it was a Bad News Bears moment that energized a Kansas City hotel bar filled with Minnesotans who up until that point were more interested in cheering a Brett Favre drop back than anything the Twins did.

But in the end, the Twins stole the show. A two-out, two-strike ninth inning homerun by pinch hitter Brayan Pena ended up only prolonging the fireworks show that Kauffman Stadium generously provided for visiting Twins fans after Joe Nathan closed the deal with his mulligan in the tenth. While tonight we witnessed those fireworks from our eleventh floor hotel room, tomorrow and Sunday we’re eager to see some Joe Mauer fireworks at Kauffman in person, which to me is the best ballpark in baseball.

And for my money, Trey Hillman is more than welcome to give Anderson or Willie Bloomquist right field for the rest of the weekend.

Friday night won’t be remembered for Favre’s 1-for-4, for Casilla or Go-Go’s rejuvenation to a Punto-less lineup, or for a blown save by Nathan in a rare second half save opportunity–it will be remembered for one hilarious play by the Royals which reminds us how lucky we are to have Kansas City in our division. Basically, Josh Anderson suffered a Tavaris Jackson moment in right field, except this time it was for Minnesota’s benefit.

As such, we hang from that playoff string another day. The rest of the weekend should be fun…here’s hoping I don’t need a Joe Nathan mulligan on the golf course this morning.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 am and is filed under Guest post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.