The Twins came into their three game series against the White Sox with two fewer wins and three more losses. To get back into contention they would need to win all three games and thus also hand the White Sox three more loses too. So their goal was simple. Win all three games and they controlled their destiny. All they had to do was just keep winning.
On Tuesday night the Twins ran up the score 9-3 backing up Scott Baker's brilliant pitching performance. Then on Wednesday night the bullpen held an early lead and the Twins edged the Sox 3-2. Now Thursday night's game was the single most important game of the season. Win and they would be in first place. Lose and they would be counting on the Indians to do their work for them.
My friend Brian and I agreed that while riding bikes would be fun, going to the Twins game was just that much more essential. As I was preparing for the game, Nicky sent me a text message. It was a prayer to Kirby Puckett to "guide us in our quest to win the division", that "our hits may be guided through the gap", that "our fielding be strong" and "our pitching be accurate." It's basically what the Twins needed to do. Play strong fundamental baseball and get just a little assistance from luck. I loaned Brian my Santana home jersey and I wore my Mauer home alternate jersey and we were off.
The Twins began the game well. Mauer poked a ground rule double over the center field fence to score Denard Span from second and Kevin Slowey pitched three perfect nine up, nine down innings to give the impression this would be a small ball victory. Hell, I was even excited about the prospect that I might finally see a no-hitter.
Then came the inning that almost undid the entire Twins season. In the top of the fourth the second batter for the White Sox, Orlando Cabrera, hit a one-out barely-homerun into the second row in left field. Then Jermaine Dye singled. Then Jim Thome doubled advancing Dye to third. Then Dye scored and Thome took third on a Konerko fielder's choice. Then Ken Griffey walked. Then Alexi Ramirez singled with Thome scoring and Griffey being forced to second. Then A.J. Pierzynski ended a long at bat by being hit by the eighth pitch he saw.
So the bases were loaded when Juan Uribe hit a line drive right back at Slowey. The ball glanced off of Slowey's pitching wrist and when he went to throw the ball to first everything went haywire. Morneau couldn't dig the throw out of the dirt and Griffey, Ramirez and Pierzynski all scored to make the game 6-3 in favor of the visitors. This single play could've been the Twins 2008 season going down the drain. But the Twins kept on clawing back. Casilla scored in the 6th to cut the margin to two runs.
Then came the inning that saved the entire Twins season. Brendan Harris began the inning by doubling and scored when Carlos Gomez took a single off of Chicago closer Bobby Jenks. It was at this point I turned to Brian. "Do you think Gomez can score from first?" I asked. "I mean, I'd certainly like to see him try." The next batter Denard Span was up to the task. His groundball to the rightside of the infield slipped under Paul Konerko's glove and Gomez got on his horse. As he crossed home plate the crowd reached ThunderDome levels. All 43,601 fans in attendance were jumping up and down, screaming and giving each other high fives.
The game ended up going to extra innings and that's were the Twins closed the deal. Joe Nathan pitched two perfect innings, often falling behind in the count during the tenth only to get the guy out anyhow. The bottom half of the inning was even more dramatic. Nick Punto walked, took second on a fielder's choice and then stole third on a wild pitch. After Span was intentionally walked, Alexi Casilla came to the plate.
Casilla had previously had an opportunity to win the game in the eighth following Denard Span's RBI triple. He tried to drop down a suicide squeeze bunt and missed. On the very next pitch he struck out waving at the pitch as it went by. The inning ended when Mauer grounded out to first. Now, two innings later, Casilla had the chance to win the game again.
He looked at the first pitch at the belt for a strike and then blooped the second pitch at his knees into centerfield scoring Punto to win the game.
From the drama of coming back from being down by four to the playoff like atmosphere in the crowd, this game eclipsed all but one other that I've ever attended in my lifetime. The Twins squeezed out a must-win victory over a hated division rival at a time when they could assert themselves as the better team. They used sound baseball fundamentals to outmanuever their opponent and to do so as a team. Even when they were down by four I thought to myself, "There's some way they're going to back into it and win this game." Then when they did, it was that much sweeter. As the line from the new Conor Oberst song goes, "Victory is sweet/Even deep in the cheap seats."
Now there just need to be a combination of Twins wins and White Sox losses that equal four and the post-season is ours. So this weekend say your Hail Kirbys as Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins and Scott Baker take the hill. As I said to Nicky when we saw a game earlier this month, "To be a Twins fan is to know how to succeed by wit, cunning and advancing the runner."
P.S. The greatest game I ever attended? Well, y'know...
