Where to begin?

Maybe at the end, with the unexpected exacta of Carlos Gomez scoring the winning run on a single by Alexi Casilla. If someone had asked you to name the game’s heroes and you picked those two,  I suspect you would have been hauled away for a drug test. And Bobby Keppel as winning pitcher? The same Bobby Keppel who had rung up embarrassing numbers in his previous tries to be a major league pitcher and again last season when his ERA banged up close to 6 in Class AAA. Little wonder he was at the head of the posse to greet Gomez when he scored the winning run.

But go through the box score of this incredible game and you will find pieces of heroics next to many, many names. There was the big stuff — the OC and Kubel home runs, the Cuddyer triple and the marvelous play that Punto made getting the force at home in the 12th. And there was the small stuff — Mauer nursing shaky pitchers through tough times, new hires Rauch and Mahay retiring key batters in brief stints, Gardy getting a clearly overmatched Jose Morales out of the game midway through the game, the Cuddyer walk that chased Tigers starter Rick Porcello. Everyone who batted for the Twins got a hit except for Morales anmd Brendan Harris, who got hit by a pitch instead.

Gardy and Rick Anderson pretty much co-managed their a$$e$ off over those 4 3/4 hours. They ran eight pitchers out to the mound, and worked their way through some unexpected situations. Most notable was Guerrier’s shrinking strike zone in the eighth, which forced Joe Nathan to come in early to get through that inning and the ninth. The trade-off for Gardy taking no chances early was that he was forced to take chances late — keeping Keppel on the mound and warming up Manship and Liriano at times in the late, late going.

Meanwhile, Jim Leyland was more of a minimalist, which meant that his closer, Fernando Rodney, was in his fourth inning of work when Gomez led off with a single and scored on Casilla’s one-out bouncer to right. Had the Twins lost, the “why pull Nathan?” chorus would have been a loud and lengthy one. You know that, right? Both managers had to choose their poisons and then hope they wouldn’t be lethal. Leyland got stung when he opted to keep Zach Miner in for the seventh, when Cabrera hit his home run that moved the Twins into a 4-3 lead that lasted until Magglio Ordonez homered off Guerrier to start the eighth

But enough about the game. For fans, both the buildup and the play itself did a pretty good job of replicating the World Series years while providing a new batch of memorable wrinkles. The Dome got that loud when Cabrera homered, and again at various times as the Twins and Tigers jabbed and danced while looking to deliver a knockout. There was an older man sitting next to me whose eyes were probably better in the ’80s and ’90s, as he often asked me for details so he could fill out his scorecard while we watched from halfway up the second deck. But he was as loud as anyone around us when it came to the cheering part. There was an infant smiling through much of the din whose parents came to the game separately, so when Junior had had enough, one could go and the other could stay. That boy will grow up well-parented.

Our friend Sooze, the Babes Love Baseball blogger, was thrilled that she saw nine innings after a crazed search for parking that caused her not to arrive until the third inning. She was the one with the Spantastic banner in the upper deck and the baseball tattoo on her shoulder. We shouted, we yelped, we took pictures. We called people so they could hear the noise when the winning run scored. We waited with atypical urban patience in the parking lot afterward and didn’t mind a bit.

Perhaps my best move was the TiVo TBS for 5 1/2 hours starting at 4 p.m. So I have the entire fabulous game to watch if I don’t get enough of a highlight fix from ESPN and KSTP over the next few hours. I hope you get a chance to hear Dan Gladden’s radio call of the winning hit. There are no memorable catchphrases — “And we’ll see you tomorrow night,” for example — but it is clean and it is minimal and the excitement is conveyed by tone of voice.

And now the Yankees. I’ll let Game 1 pass before I deal with that. You deal with it, Gardy!

The Twins are on a business trip.

Their fans are on a joy ride.

Not going very deep today. Win and the Twins are in and we have baseball at least through the weekend.

Lose and the Twins join 22 other teams on the sidelines.

I liked having a day to breathe between Games 162 and 163, even though it turns everything into a scurry on the other end for the winning team.

The thing I keep thinking about today is how much fun this has been. That was reinforced for me last night while I was watching the Vikings-Packers game and, more specifically, watching Brett Favre.

The guy has fun playing football, and that makes him fun to watch. And I say this as someone who has retained one hometown loyalty on the pro sports landscape — to the Bears. They may be fine and perfectly serviceable quarterbacks, but T-Jack and Rosenfels don’t give off the exuberance vibe that has set Favre apart during his Vikings months.

I can’t get inside the heads of those who reduce sports to ongoing curmudgeonly commentary. Yes, there are times when your team will make you crazy — and it’s perfectly OK to call them out for it. Because when that happens, the game isn’t as much fun for the players, and probably isn’t as much fun for you. Watching baseball is fun (almost) regardless. Watching Sean Henn, to name one earlier this season, wasn’t as much fun.

I don’t care right now that the AL Central is the weakest of the American league’s three divisions, which makes it the third best among baseball’s six divisions, right?  It’s October 6th and I’m going to a baseball game — which I also hope to be doing on October 11th, for that matter.

Back in my traveling basketball coaching days, I used to tell my players that I was all about having fun — but that we weren’t going to have fun by getting our brains beat out. You work hard in practice and we can have a lot of fun. Get a 20-point lead and the big kid can bring the ball upcourt and the point guard can post up.

Advice for today: Knock off work early, find a gathering place, prepare for so much tension that you won’t notice when it gets dark outside and get ready to celebrate. Have a “fired up/ready to go” afternoon and evening.

Figuring out how to survive the Yankees can wait for a day.

Having attended 1,000 or so baseball games, I can say without hesitation there’s little that I haven’t seen at one time or another: No-hitter (check). Game 7 of the World Series (check). Spring training (check). A 3,000th hit (check). A 3,000th strikeout and cycle in same game (check). Blowing 10-run lead (check). Ball stuck in Dome roof (check).  The list could go on with events both sacred and mundane.

But the thrills of recent days are an unprecedented combo platter of things that make baseball even better than a last-second touchdown pass or an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer. From Wednesday night, when all seemed lost, through late Sunday afternoon, when the Dome again shook and then went all misty-eyed, there was hour-by-hour, inning-by-inning churn of drama that I don’t think you can find anyplace else.

Whether it was rubbing the thumb callous while the Twins were turning their 10-0 romp into a 10-7 semi-thriller… Cy Young Greinke v. M-V-P Mauer (and Kubel and Delmon) on Saturday… adopting the Mighty Whiteys in a Bloomington bar on Saturday night… watching Delmon create a new identity in these last few days… overlooking the flaws and relishing the over-achievements… and all of the events during and after Sunday’s game, baseball can do sustained drama like no other sport.

I may be biased about that, but you’ll just have to deal with it. And I understand that others — like the guy who had his purple van parked near the Metrodome at 6:30 this morning — likely have a different point of view.

Maybe it’s because there were so many valleys in this season that we feel like we’re standing on the highest peak right now — even if there’s no guarantee that there will be baseball for the Twins beyond Tuesday. The Twins are making this run with a Factory Outlet infield, their fourth-strongest defensive outfield, a patchwork starting rotation and a bullpen that’s been revised and re-revised in all spots except the very end.

This is better than 2006 because the stakes are higher. The final-weekend burst that season was only the difference between a division title and Wild Card berth. Tuesday, it’ll be like the title game for one of those college basketball conferences where only the winning team has a chance to go to the NCAA tournament. And the’re the added craziness of winning and then heading right to New York to open the playoffs, assuming the Yankees will want to get their postseason party started right away.

(Here’s the mlb.com explanation of the first-round playoff schedule: “In the Division Series, the New York Yankees will host the AL Central Champion (winner of the Tuesday, Oct. 6th DET @ MIN tie-breaker), while the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will host the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees have clinched the best record in the American League and thus have the right to decide whether they will play in the seven-day or eight-day Division Series (i.e., whether it will start its Division Series on Wednesday, Oct. 7th or Thursday, Oct. 8th). The Yankees must make their selection no later than one hour following the completion of the DET @ MIN tie-breaker.”)

Whatever happens, this has been a season to remember — and to forgive and forget some of the things that some people were saying earlier, whether it those who misguidedly questioned Joe Mauer’s toughness or Jason Kubel being in the lineup every day, or whatever.

A 162-game season offers up plenty of chances for blockhead pronouncements. We all make them and we shouldn’t hold them against one another, especially we’re on the cusp of what would be a fantasy for so many suffering cities. I mean, have you ever talked to a Royals fan? Or a Pirates fan? Or … you get the idea.

Play on, guys.

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.

When Delmon Young swung in the first inning last night, it made the kind of sound Twins fans have been waiting for since the beginning of last season — that sweet-sounding thwack that carries back to the seats behind home plate while the baseball carries long and without question over the wall in left-center. The standing ovation Delmon received after giving the Twins that 5-0 lead was the sort of noise that filled the Metrodome in 1987 and ‘91, the kind of pounding that the heart loves and the ear (after a while) needs relief from.

Nothing reached that level again, although the Dome was a merry place as the Twins took their 10-0 lead in the fourth inning and an increasingly nervous one as the bullpen set out to remind us of Luis Ayala, Sean Henn, Philip Humber and the others who came and went during the more troubling days of 2009. The crowd was divided between those who were there for the baseball and those who came to say there were there for the final weekend of baseball at the Dome. The latter group were the ones who were filing out of the Metrodome while the Royals pulled uncomfortably closer.

And the scoreboard watching was a game of who-could-see-it-change first. Ms. Baseball and I listened in the car to Scott Podsednik go deep to lead off the White Sox-Detroit game and, in our section, it was a race to overhear who would be the first to call out as the Mighty Whiteys (our term-of-affection for the weekend) added to their lead.

Will the Twins’ best personnel move of this season be that the White Sox made that trade for Jake Peavy?

The task gets tougher today. Nick Blackburn of three days of rest vs. Zack Greinke, who will be trying to nail down the Cy Young Award. You can work hard to pull out numbers that can give you hope — Greinke is 2-9 pitching on artificial turf and 5-7 pitching in Domes, with similarly medicore statistics across the board in those environments. Blackburn has been at his best (a 3.18 ERA) pitching in day games.

But finding those numbers is pretty much like fishing for carp from the dock, hardly an exercise worth pursuing. Greinke has been masterful on a consistent basis and Blackburn has been maddening in his inconsistency, although the 3 earned runs given up in his last 3 starts gives good reason for hope. Best practice today isto throw out the past and let the weekend do its magic.

This is also a day to put aside what happens if the Twins manage to pull off this thing and become the first team since divisional play started 40 years ago to win a division title after trailing by 3 games with only 4 left to play. Let’s bag the “all-this-to-play-the-Yankees” sentiment.

The Twins just need to take it one mountain at a time.