I can’t tell you what was better — watching the Twins bounce back to beat the Royals in the afternoon or watching at Joe Senser’s in Bloomington as the Mighty Whiteys took care of Detroit and turned the AL Central into a tie. As the Detroit loss grew closer, more and more people turned their attention away from the other TV games and cheered on Chicago, a very strange feeling even when done for totally justifiable reasons. (Is it the best of both worlds when the White Sox win and AJ goes 0-for-5? That means he’s due for a big hit or two today, right?)

They were both better, and all the more because the Twins have total jurisdiction over their fate. If they win today and (if Detroit wins too) follow up by winning the one-game playoff on Tuesday, the Twins end this improbable stretch run with the division title and a postseason trip.

And they will end it largely owing to the unexpected heroics of Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer. After going grand-slam deep against sad Lenny DiNardo on Friday night, Delmon opened the Twins lead from one run to four with a bases-loaded double off Zack Greinke, who should be as certain a choice for the Cy Young Award as Joe Mauer should be for M-V-P. At the time, it was a break-open-the-game hit. In time, it became incredibly needed because Jose Mijares again looked like a compilation of all the dreadful lefties who have pitched relief at the Dome over these 28 seasons.

And Cuddyer, reveling in the late-game decision to keep an overmatched left-handed September call-up on the mound in the eighth, got another of the clutch hits (his 31st home run) that run counter to the puke-spewing from some of those who pull apart statistics like string cheese.

Those people are not haters, they’re simply wrong — and somewhat stubborn.

For all of the grumpiness that has been a part of the season — including quite a bit that I have put forth — we are now in the final stages of a fantastic voyage. It’s like getting on the airplane thinking that you’re going to Cedar Rapids or Decatur and ending up in London or Paris. No matter the ultimate outcome, we will always have this ride to remember.

We watched Nick Blackburn pitch like a stud for the fourth straight outing, when excellence was needed, and we should be able to forgive his midseason horrors — all the while challenging him to pitch like this for enough of future seasons that he becomes the well-above-.500 pitcher that many of us think he can become. We are watching Delmon make a pitch for becoming a no-brainer choice in the outfield after this season, even when Justin Morneau returns to health. That would turn Carlos Gomez into a fourth outfielder and supreme high defensive replacement. We are seeing Denard Span gun himself into being one of the elite young outfielders in the majors, a .300+ hitter who plays well in center and dazzles in the corner outfield spots

We are seeing a team that still needs enhancements and improvements for 2010 and beyond. But it is a team that may find those moves easier to make, especially when it comes to free agents, because of the pluck that is being shown by the current roster. If you’re Chone Figgins and want out of L.A. … (Wait, that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Way ahead.)

By sundown, one of three things will happen — a division title, a one-game playoff or a mad rush that ends in disappointment. This from a team that was seven games behind the Tigers a month ago and 5 1/2 games back three Sundays ago. In two of those three outcomes, the Dome gets an extended farewell beyond the formalities of the regular-season finale.

I suspect that some of the members of the ‘87 Twins who are part of this weekend’s festivities see a little bit of themselves in what’s happening right now. And we all know how their season turned out.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 10:57 pm 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.