Here’s a pretty good attempt at a transcript of the TellyMonster/Carlos Gomez interview after last night’s win. There’s a little bit of clean-up here and the intent is not to make fun of anyone, but to capture a truly tumultuous and joyful moment. You try interviewing or answering questions when 43,000 people are going batpoopy, regardless of whether English is your first or third language.

TM: How does it feel right now?

CG: You know, I feel great because you know I come to the clubhouse today and I saw a lot of good thinking in the clubhouse. And I say, tonight the team is coming here to play like every day and you see what happens.

TM: In the eighth inning when Denard hit that ball down the line was there anyone in the building that was going to stop you from running?

CG: No, no, no, no! You know, When I saw that ball go down the line I don’t look at nobody. You know, the only thing I look for was the plate.

TM: Four hits tonight. You guys are in first place. It must feel good.

CG: Last year, I got the experience. This year, it’s more fun to me because we’ve got a new team and, you know, they brought me here and I feel so excited when we play here.

TM: One last question, your friend Alexi Casilla came through with another big hit. You’ve got to feel good for one of your best friends.

CG: You know, when I’m on the bench and there’s a guy on second base I know he’s going to get him home because I have a lot of confidence in him, and he’s got a lot of confidence too.

If we were the Psychic Friends Network, or some such nonsense, the best thing we could do today would be to channel good thoughts to Nick Blackburn.

We’re not much for channeling in Section 220, unless its in the care and usage of the remote control, so we’re gonna put it right out there:

Nick, you’re last two starts were brutal and at Tampa Bay you reverted to that one-pitch thing that always gets you into trouble. You’re a big, strong guy, so I’m not buying that you’ve hit some kind of wall. And, furthermore, I went through your pitching log and I found four terrible starts when you came back the next time and shoved the ball down the opponent’s throats. You gave up four homers to Milwaukee and then shut out the Tigers (on three hits) in seven innings in your next start. You got rocked at Yankee Stadium and then took it out on Cleveland next time out. There were others. Remember?

That’s what you’ve gotta do tonight. It’s that simple, and totally within your control. If you want to be on a major-league baseball field next week, taking in the excitement of the postseason, then you go out and do to the White Sox what Scott Baker did last night. You’re playing for one of only two teams in the American League that doesn’t know what they’ll be doing come this time next week and, tonight, you as much as anyone else will determine that fate.

You up to it?

With that out of the way, we can go back and relive last night a bit.

**It was good to see the Twins treat the victory like something they were supposed to do — both with their on-field demeanor and their post-game comments about how Tuesday won’t mean diddly if they don’t win Wednesday. The only time they veered from that path was when Delmon took about 12 minutes to round the bases after his home run. But if you’re Delmon and the 35,000 people are bonkering out after you and Kubel just went back-to-back deep, I understand him wanting to savor that for as long as he could.

**Gardy did the right thing by ignoring the past-performance charts of Vazquez vs. Kubel and Cuddyer, when he went with Kubel even though Cuddyer had much better career numbers against Chicago starter. Kubel is obviously an improved hitter and none of Cuddyer’s numbers were put up after a three-month layoff. It’ll be interesting to see if Gardy revisits the idea of starting Cuddyer tonight against Mark Buerhle, the Chicago lefty.

Buerhle has actually been tougher on righties this season: .267 average against/.313 on-base percentage/.403 slugging against righties as opposed to .309/.341/.486 against lefties. Kubel is .286/.340/.506 vs. righties; .240/.333/.385 against lefties.

Whatever the case, those are good numbers to know with Span, Mauer and Morneau sure to be in the lineup.

**I’m really feeling bad for Matt Guerrier, but there’s no way that Gardy can use him the rest of the way in key situations.

It was depressing enough to see him pitch mop-up in the ninth last night, coming in with an eight-run lead, and even more so to watch the two-out walk to Konerko and the two-run homer by Griffey. In the 22 games since the sucking started in earnest, Guerrier has a 10.52 ERA, including 41 base runners in 17 innings. Gardy needs to work the game so that he takes advantage of his other options, even though some of them are pretty tenuous, too.

I hope that 2009 brings a return to form for a guy who has done a boatload of good and doesn’t deserve to be judged only by his recent numbers.

**Has anyone else noticed that Justin Morneau seems to be hitless in his career when people chant “M-V-P” while he’s at the plate? My suggestion: Save it for after he’s on base and, don’t worry, Kubel will know it’s not for him (even after last night)!

**Joe Cowley, who covers the White Sox for the Chicago Sun-Times, offers up in-game thoughts on his Twitter page. Among other things, he observed last night: “I will say this about Twins fans - no group gets more excited about false hustle than them.” Joe’s just jealous that he hasn’t spent the season watching Nick Punto dive into first base.

**There are some funny/Comments in the prior post/Impromptu haiku.

**And, finally, for the sake of discussion, do you think that sticking with Carlos Gomez through the tough times is paying off in the stretch? Since the Twins returned from their RNC  eviction trip, Gomez is batting .305/.358/.475. And two other numbers that impress: 18 RBI in those 17 games and only 12 strikeouts in 67 plate appearances.  (A comparison: Morneau has 20 RBI in that stretch, Kubel 11, Mauer 9 … and Punto 3.)

Yes, it’s a small sample size. But so is October.

Let me help sort out a few things.

Nick Punto v. Brendan Harris: Punto could be Gardy’s love child for all I know, but there isn’t a single solid argument for benching him and playing Harris at shortstop — only emotional ones.

On offense: Punto’s numbers are .285 average, .341 on-base, .399 slugging. Harris’ are .261/.319/.388. Punto has struck out about once in every six at-bats; Harris about once in every four. Punto has one extra-base hit every 12 at-bats; Harris one every 11. Harris has drawn 9 more walks than Punto in 135 more plate appearances. Punto has 11 steals, Harris 1.

On defense: The best defensive metric readily available is zone rating. Among AL shortstops who qualify to be among the league leaders (according to STATS, Inc.)  the top three shortstops are Cabrera (.841), Betancourt (.834) and Bartlett (.833). To qualify, a player needs to have played the position in two of every three of his team’s games. Punto’s ZR in 388 innings is .844; Harris’ is .762 in 462 innings.

Among “qualifying” shortstops in the AL, the lowest ZR is .808. Harris doesn’t come close to that. If you remember back to the mid-80s, it’s like the Smalley v. Gagne debate at shortstop. One got to balls (Gagne), the other didn’t (Smalley).  To his credit and the Twins benefit, Roy found other ways to contribute.

Despite his regular Web Gem appearances, I have been among those skeptical of Punto’s overall fielding prowess and, as an everyday player, I suspect he’d be a middle-of-the-pack shortstop by the numbers. But right now there’s no reasonable measure for anyone to make the argument that Harris should be in the lineup and Punto should be sitting. Yes, Punto has made some errors and takes some maddening ABs (the bases loaded/one out pop fly against Detroit on Saturday was a classic groaner), but the garbage he takes is disproportionate to what he deserves.

At third base, by the way, Brian Buscher has a ZR of .781 and Harris .780. Those numbers would put them at the bottom among qualifying third basemen, ahead of only Kansas City’s Alex Gordon. So don’t be thinking that Buscher, for all of his fielding faults, is the lesser option compared to Harris. Neither is exactly championship caliber, which is why I avert my eyes any time a ball is hit toward third (and Gardy looks for chances to play Tolbert).

Someone commented in Monday’s post that they “want some answers to why Harris has been benched.” You need any more?

Joe Mauer, wuss?: When Joe Mauer gets a day off, there are complaints about his toughness, his durability, his manliness, whatever. Innings caught is a reasonably objective indicator of durability. Mauer is second in the AL to Oakland’s Kurt Suzuki. (I’m assuming we’d swap ‘em straight up, right?) Mauer is also second in the percentage of runners caught stealing and he’s third in the league in hitting. He’s also hitting .371 against lefties. I’m trying to figure out exactly what he does that warrants the derision that he seems to get, and the derision directed at people who are unwilling to nitpick criticisms. Struck out with the bases loaded and one out Saturday? Ohmyfreakinlord. Not enough big hits? Not enough home runs? I guess those people really want him to be St. Joe.

Glen Perkins, Rookie of the Year: Only if the voters are all from Stillwater. Yes, he’s 12-4. But the Twins have lost five games in which Perkins has been given a lead of at least three runs. On Sunday, in a game the Twins needed against Detroit, he suffered another mid-game meltdown and couldn’t get through the sixth inning. Perkins has had a nice season despite his inability to be a bulldog with a lead, but to mention him as among those in the ROY running is silly. Of the Twins current five starters, I see him as the one most likely to lose his spot in the rotation as younger talent develops or the Twins look elsewhere to bolster their staff in 2009 and 2010. Would I mind if he proves me wrong on that one? Not at all.

Carlos Gomez should have been sent to the minors: Gomez is exactly where he should be right now — playing center field more often than not and batting ninth. I think some of the “he shouldn’t be here” venom comes, understandably, from the painfully excessive amount of time it took Gardy to decide that Gomez didn’t have to bat leadoff and play every day to protect a tender psyche. Yes, it’s been excruciating to watch Gomez at the plate much of the time. But, again, using the zone rating measure, Gomez is the best center fielder in the majors. Using the less meaningful Range Factor statistic, the difference between Gomez and the others is even greater. There isn’t another center fielder in baseball who has more than three putouts/assists per nine innings. He simply gets to balls that others don’t. Do some of you people miss Jason Tyner, or what?

Yes, I think the Twins would be better off at this point if Gomez had been in the lineup for, say, 20 fewer games. But I also think they’d be worse off right now if he’d spent time in the minors. Go back and look at Curtis Granderson’s early-career numbers and look at the player he has become. That’s what I see for Gomez in a couple of years, in part because of the Twins being willing to give him a major-league apprenticeship. Sometimes it’s inconvenient to be patient.

Free Matt Tolbert: Some people are romanticizing the work that Tolbert did before he head-firsted his way to the disabled list in May. The truth? His numbers are .264/.309/.352 in 99 plate appearances. I guess he really gets after it and battles his tail off.

Hey Toronto: Nice job. You guys gotta be wishing you were in the AL Central, right? Sometimes geography’s a bear.

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But I’m not letting myself get my hopes up right now.

If the bullpen doesn’t return to bailing out this team and the fielding doesn’t get better, the only way the Twins will pass the White Sox is through sheer good fortune or statistical freakery over the final three weeks. (Statistical freakery  example: The Twins hitting a couple of homers per game) I’d love to be able to find a way to say the Twins actually deserve to win the division. But, on the other hand, before the final three weeks of last season, did the Rockies look like a team that deserved to make the World Series? And the Phillies made the postseason in ‘07 only because the Mets pulled off a stupendous collapse.

We spent Saturday at the Dome and it felt through the first six innings like the Twins were ahead by a whole bunch of runs instead of a handful. But the feeling and the scoreboard were different things, and that came back to bite the Twins when the bullpen executed its latest blow-up. I don’t think Gardy can be faulted for choosing Reyes to face Granderson (0 for 7 until the homer) and Guerrier to face  Ordonez (1 for 11 until the homer). Baker’s four walks were troubing, especially the walk to Detroit’s No. 9 hitter — Ramon Santiago — that prompted his departure in the eighth. With every pitcher in the rotation, you can see the leap that needs to be made from promise to reliability.

There were other things that went wrong, but either you know them from watching the game or you don’t need to see ‘em recounted two days after the fact. Sunday was discouraging because it featured yet another Glen Perkins middle-inning meltdown. As Bert said on the telecast (and I’m adjusting his words slightly), that’s pretty much a between-the-ears thing more than a stuff thing. The one thing it tells me is that if the Twins somehow make the postseason, Perkins is the guy who’d be my odd-man out in a four-man rotation. We can debate that, but right now that seems like a hollow exercise.

A day off to regroup and then three with Kansas City, a series that begs to be swept. A 2 1/2-game deficit can disappear in three days … but not if the Twins continue like this.

I went to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City last Saturday with Ms. Baseball and the Baseballettes and I think I was one of six people there not wearing a Twins jersey. (I had on my “Sprewell Racing” hat to represent, albeit in kind of a perverse way.) It’s a total must-visit when you’re in Kansas City. As a friend of mine said when we talked about it, one of the points that gets driven home by those who played during the Negro League era is that, for all the struggles they went through, the African-American players of that time — despite the indignities and hardships of the era — were convinced they were having more fun than the whites-only major leaguers. It’s a generalization, and even if you disagree, you have to at least give the Negro Leaguers credit for handing out better nicknames.

In that spirit, I give you a nickname for the Twins’ left fielder who did his best to establish himself as a Yankee killer this week with a three-run game-tying jack against Mariano Rivera on Tuesday night and another three-run jack Wednesday afternoon that made the difference in the 4-2 victory.

Introducing Three-Run Jack Young.

Three-Run Jack has three homers in the Twins last five games, all of them important. His boomer to left on Saturday put the Twins ahead of Kansas City 2-0 and began the unraveling of Zach Greinke, who decided to serve his five-game suspension for what happened the weekend before against Chicago rather than appeal, have a hearing and also try to explain why he also threw at Three-Run Jack’s head later in the game.

Much was expected of Young in the deal that brought him here, including the silly comparisons to a young Frank Robinson. In reality, Young is playing like a second-year Delmon Young, with an on-base percentage 20 points higher than last season, as many walks already as he drew in all of 2007 and more steals than in ‘07, as well. Obviously, Three-Run Jack needs a better sense of the strike zone and more patience at the plate — and his defense needs to go beyond just having an excellent arm. But I expect him to be nothing but better in the seasons to come and a staple of the Twins outfield.

Keep it up, Three-Run Jack Young.

A few other scattered thoughts:

*People have been discussing and disagreeing about whether the Twins were foolish not to make a claim on reliever Chad Bradford, who was claimed by Tampa Bay recently. I think that, despite his good overall numbers, he may have been frustrating as a ground ball/low strikeout pitcher working out of the Metrodome. I’m assuming that Bill Smith and friends are working on the reliever issue. In the meantime, however, I would swap out Brian Bass for Bobby Korecky, who was OK during his April/May stint with the Twins and showed the stomach for late-game situations.

*Check out this cheery take on Wednesday’s game from the New York Post: “The pinstriped coffins have been delivered and when the final game at Yankee Stadium is played, it likely will be turned into a cemetery. The headstone will read: March 31-Aug. 13. Looking to build on a stirring victory Tuesday night the Yankees ended a 10-game road trip with a sloppy, 4-2 loss to the Twins in front of 35,187 at the Metrodome. The voyage through Texas, California and Minnesota ended 3-7. And the finale was repulsive.”

*Young220 and I took in our final game of the summer together, as he leaves for the University of Tulsa on Saturday. We abandoned Section 220 for seats in Section 119, nine rows above the Yankees dugout. That meant when Justin Morneau’s bat shattered in the eighth inning, most of it flew in front of us and above head height on its way to the aisle between Sections 119 and 120, where it landed next to a young boy, who got a heck of a scare and souvenir at the same time. If the bat hadn’t landed in the aisle, someone would have been hurt. If you’re in that position, folks, duck and cover.

*Props to commenter dnygard for finding the Larry Gura bobblehead atop the pop machine at the Straight River rest area south of Owatonna on I-35. As he/she explained: “You saved our traveling party from having to negotiate joint custody of the one Gura that we were able to scrounge up after Saturday’s game.” Glad to be of service there and, in answer to your question, I have no idea about the pot of honey near Gura’s feet on the bobblehead. Anyone?

*I hope the Metrodome soundmeisters play this song when Carlos Silva takes the mound on Friday at the Dome. After starting the season 3-0, Silva has been on a 1-13 regression beyond his norm — with the victory barely counting because it came against San Diego. On top of that, Silva called out teammates after losing to Tampa Bay last Friday. Among other things, he went into a third-person rant and suggested: “Maybe Chief has to come and grab somebody in his neck and pin them to the wall. I’m very close to doing that, so write that down.” This is the same Mr. Tough Talk who asked out of a game in Houston a couple of years back after running the bases. Enjoy him, Seattle.

*Speaking of clueless guys signing fat contracts (not to be confused with fat guys signing clueless contracts), there was a funny (pathetic) story in the Kansas City paper last weekend about Gil Meche figuring out that he needs to change speeds and pitch inside in order to be effective. Among other things, it was reported that: “Meche is pitching effectively inside for the first time in his eight-year career. It required a new approach that is only now starting to feel comfortable, but the results are undeniable.” Seems like this is something that should have been figured out before Kansas City signed Meche to a five-year, $55 million deal. For the entire bag of nonsense, click here.

*Light blogging for the next week or so as I try not to be too much of a weirdly nervous and overbearing parent. Note to self: Good luck with that.

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