Babes Love Division Champs

Minnesota Twins
2006 Central Division Champions

Minnesota 5, Chicago 1

After Minnesota's 5-1 victory over Chicago, all anyone could do was wait. With the Royals/Tigers game tied at 8 and headed into the 12th inning, fans and players alike gathered and watched Kansas City battle back against former Twins pitcher Kenny Rogers. He completely unraveled on the hill, loading up the bags and walking in a run before Motown lost their grip on the division title 10-8, helping the Twins secure home field advantage against the Oakland Athletics in the ALDS. Their final record is 96-66, the most wins for Minnesota since 1970.

That all but topped off an afternoon of excitement and honors for the club. Joe Mauer went 2 for 4 on Sunday as the designated hitter, bringing his batting average to .347 on the year, finishing ahead of Derek Jeter (.345), who went 1 for 5 during New York's 5-7 loss to Toronto. Mauer is the first ever catcher in the American League to win the batting title. Aside from making history, Joe has been a huge part of the Twins' success throughout the season at the plate and behind it. In 120 games this year, Joe has a .991 fielding percenage: only 5 passed balls and 4 errors, picking off 22 of 36 potential base-thieves, and finishing with 4 assists. He would tell you in all his modesty that the Title never really mattered to him until today. His focus has been on the team's success as a whole, not on an individual player award. Congrats Joe!

Joe clinches the batting title

Same goes for Johan Santana and Justin Morneau, who are up for the American League Cy Young Award and MVP, respectively. Johan has had yet another dominating year on the hill for the Twins. Leading the league with a 2.77 ERA, 245 strikeouts, 19 wins (tied with NYY's Chien-Ming Wang) and 233.2 innings pitched, he gets the pitching triple crown, making it loud and clear that he deserves another Cy Young Award. The difference between this year and last? A contending team behind him.

The Canadian Crusher has been vying for the American League MVP Award since everyone outside of Minnesota noticed the Twins weren't going away. But he's been playing well all year, driving in 130 runs and smashing 34 homers with a .321 average. He wasn't half bad at first base, either (a tough shoe to fill after the loss of Doug Mientkiewicz) with a .994 fielding percentage, 110 assists, 112 double plays and only 8 errors. Justin has grabbed the attention of MVP-voting sports writers everywhere with his big swings and great D, but he's got tough competition in Derek Jeter, as far as they're concerned.

Whether on offense or defense, Piranhas Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett have been amazing. If Punto doesn't belong over at third base, I don't know who does. The Twins have finally found the guy to replace Corey Koskie's robotic arm. Playing second, third, short, left and center, he boasted a .961 fielding percentage, turning 34 double plays with some huge stops at third base, not to mention his .290 batting average with 45 RBIs. Bartlett turned 45 DPs this year, with an impressive .970 fielding percentage, batting .309 on the year. Luis Castillo proved to be a sweet pickup for Minnesota, really showing a hot bat at lead-off (.296 avg) and the ability to flash some leather up the middle, fielding .991 and turning 78 DPs with 6 errors.

With so many questions in the outfield (the off-season loss of Jacque Jones coupled with Shannon Stewart's season-ending injury and Jason Kubel's knee trouble), Torii Hunter has been a rock out there in center. Spidey had another gold-glove calibur season while adding another hot bat to the line up, hitting a career high 31 home runs with 98 RBIs. Jason Tyner proved he could play with the big boys too, playing only 62 games but batting .312 with some clutch moments late in the season. Leeeeeeew Ford has done well pinching for Rondell White and filling in on his off-days, as Rondell finally came around after a rough first month as a Twin. And Michael Cuddyer. Going 2 for 3 in the season finale, he ended the year with 109 RBIs, 24 home runs and a .362 on-base percentage and a hell of a cannon in right field.

Accompanying Johan as one of the most feared pitchers in the league was rookie phenom Francisco Liriano (12-3, 2.16 ERA). The Rookie of the Year candidate's season-ending injury was tough on the Twins, but they managed to stay alive even after such a significant blow to their starting rotation.

In what may have been Brad Radke's last regular season of Major League Baseball, he was benched with a 12-9 record and a 4.46 ERA...and a severe shoulder injury, making his comeback story quite possibly the most heroic of all. But that is another blog...

Boof Bonser finished the year with a winning 7-6 record and a 4.22 ERA. Boof stepped up when it mattered most, giving Minnesota an opportunity to win important games, not unlike Matt Garza (3-6), who started the year out in Single A, began his Major League career with a 23.62 ERA and got it down to 5.76, getting the Twins some important late-season wins along the way.

Carlos Silva (W 11-15, 5.94 ERA) proved Sunday that he's still got it, pitching 5.1 outstanding innings and allowing only 1 run on 5 hits, striking out three White Sox with 2 walks. A well-deserved standing O filled the space between Carlos and Dennys Reyes (0.89 ERA), who finished the sixth as part of the best bullpen in the biz. Jesse Crain (4-5, 3.52 ERA) and Matt Guerrier (1-0, 3.36 ERA) round off the middle relief section of the pen, with Matt even getting a start later on, his first since joining the Majors. Juan Rincon has had his share of consistency issues as much as anyone this year, but finished 3-1 with a 2.91 ERA. In 74.1 innings pitched, he allowed 24 earned runs on 76 hits, walking 24 batters.

Minnesota Native and fan favorite Pat Neshek (4-2, 2.19 ERA) has lended his submarine-style antics to an already elusive pitching staff, striking out 53 batters in just 37 innings. I can't wait to see more of him in the postseason along with Willie Eyre (1-0, 5.31 ERA), but without Glen Perkins (1.59 ERA), who will come along for the playoff ride in case of dyre injury.

Then there is Mr. Automatic, Joe Nathan. He was the DHL Delivery Man of the Month in July. Seven wins, zero losses and a stunning 1.58 ERA. Joe converted 36 of 38 save opportunities this year, allowing only 12 earned runs on 38 hits, striking out 95 batters in just 68 innings. The numbers say it all.

And where would all these guys be without a battery mate? Backup catcher Mike Redmond has been the definition of clutch this season, playing the afternoon games that Joe rested, facing each game with optimism. Redmond is responsible for coining the "smell 'em" phrase, referring to Twins RBIs. He finished the regular season batting .341 in 47 games, with 23 RBIs.

This is a complete team. From top to bottom, the Twins play the best kind of beaseball: exciting baseball. The most come-from-behind wins in the league have made for some dramatic finishes, giving a reason for fans to keep watching them and opposing teams to keep fearing them.

If they're gonna do it this year, they'll be doing it for Kirby.

VS.

Minnesota heads to the postseason hosting Oakland at noon on Tuesday, with their Ace and probable Cy Young winner Johan Santana (19-6, 2.77 ERA) against Barry Zito (16-10, 3.83 ERA). The Twins are 6-4 vs. the Athletics this year, scoring 1.1 more runs per game.