ALDS 10.06.06
Oakland Athletics 8, Minnesota Twins 3
*Oakland sweeps series 3-0 and advances to the ALCS
Detroit Tigers 6, New York Yankees 0
*Detroit leads series 2-1
NLDS 10.06.06
San Diego Padres @ St. Louis Cardinals
Saturday, 12 CT on ESPN2
*St. Louis leads series 2-0
New York Mets @ Los Angeles Dodgers
Saturday, 6:30 CT on FOX
*New York leads series 2-0
I cannot offer any words of solace or an explanation. No excuses or fingers to point, only a giant Thank You to our Minneota Twins for another great season - this one seeming more special than the rest. With the death of Hall of Fame Twins Great Kirby Puckett, this seemed like our year. A season where our boys could go all the way for the first time in 15 years.
After a rocky 25-33 start that no one wishes to reflect upon, those thoughts were echoed by the insanely dominant pitching performance by rookie Francisco Liriano after being moved to the starting rotation from the bullpen in June. Suddenly, the Twins had the one-two punch of Liriano and former Cy Young Award Winner Johan Santana.
Not only was Minnesota's pitching a force to be reckoned with, they had a few hot bats in the lineup as well. In early June, Justin Morneau started seeing pitches like never before. He hit 34 homers and knocked in 130 RBIs, something that hadn't been done in a Twins uniform since 1987.
Joe Mauer joined in on the fun having a month that we might never see again in our lifetime. Hovering near .400 into July, he simply could not be stopped. Our hometown hero's sweet sideburns were immortalized with "Joe Mauer Sideburns night" at the Dome and players around the league began trying to grow their own, seeing if it might just help them to immitate his sweet swing. It came down to the very last day of the season with two Yankees (Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano) on his tail for the best batting average in the league, but Joe finished ahead, batting an impressive .347 on the year. Congratulations to Joe for becoming the first catcher to win the American League Batting Title and the first catcher in Major League Baseball history to lead both leagues in hitting for an entire year.
After Brad Radke had finally had enough pain from his broken shoulder in August, he was rested for a month and thought to be done for the season. But the Twins' starting rotation was in dire straights after Liriano's year was cut short due to an untimely arm injury, just to force an early come back that lasted three innings, shutting him down for good. Radke came back to help the Twins get to the postseason, and pitched what could possibly be his last Major League ball game in Game 3 of the ALDS.
Minnesota found some relief in submariner Pat Neshek, whose delivery boggled the minds of Twins fans everywhere. The same goes for his opposing hitters: Neesh struck out 53 batters in just 37 innings, allowing a total of 9 runs. Nine.
Ozzie Guillen coined the term 'piranhas' when referring to the Twins' everyday players such as Jason Bartlett, Nick Punto, Jason Tyner and others. No one wanted to face this ballclub. Not even the defending World Series Champs.
Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer each had career years at the plate as well: Torii hitting 31 homers with 98 RBIs and Cuddy blasting 24 bombs with 109 RBIs.
On the final day of the regular season, sitting one game behind the Detroit Tigers after what had been a roller coaster month in the standings, the Twins pulled off the win and waited. They sat in the dugout watching the Tigers/Royals game on the Jumbotron with fingers crossed, while fans waited patiently in the stands, cheering and groaning with every pitch. When Kansas City won in extras, the Twins celebrated winning the Division for the fourth time in five years, high-fiving fans around the Dome. It's truly a great story. It seems like it just couldn't end here, but it does.
Heading into the ALDS with home-field advantage, Minnesota dropped the first two at home and left for Oakland with the postseason lying on Brad Radke's broken shoulder. It's not a fun way to end your career, Brad. We know. But you have given us your all the past 12 seasons, and we love you for it. Thanks for sticking with us and we're sad to see you go.
On a lighter note, Santana is the best (and pretty much the only) candidate for the American League Cy Young Award. He also gets the Pitching Triple Crown for leading the league in wins (19-tied with Chien-Ming Wang), strike-outs (245) and ERA (2.77). The Canadian Crusher has MVP consideration and of course, Man Muscles is the Batting Champ. We have a lot to look forward to as Twins fans in the upcoming years. With Liriano returning next season to help beef up the pitching rotation and our rookies getting a little playoff experience, the outlook is rosy. Maybe they'll land a DH in the off-season?
We'll see. Babes that love baseball will be around. We'll continue to follow the playoffs and talk baseball into the winter months right up until Spring Training, when we swear we could kill at the sight of another snowflake. Go Twins! Thanks again for a sweet season. It was awesome while it lasted.
Feel free to add your own memories from this season in the comments section and forgive me if I haven't mentioned them.
Oakland Athletics 8, Minnesota Twins 3
*Oakland sweeps series 3-0 and advances to the ALCS
Detroit Tigers 6, New York Yankees 0
*Detroit leads series 2-1
NLDS 10.06.06
San Diego Padres @ St. Louis Cardinals
Saturday, 12 CT on ESPN2
*St. Louis leads series 2-0
New York Mets @ Los Angeles Dodgers
Saturday, 6:30 CT on FOX
*New York leads series 2-0
After a rocky 25-33 start that no one wishes to reflect upon, those thoughts were echoed by the insanely dominant pitching performance by rookie Francisco Liriano after being moved to the starting rotation from the bullpen in June. Suddenly, the Twins had the one-two punch of Liriano and former Cy Young Award Winner Johan Santana.
Not only was Minnesota's pitching a force to be reckoned with, they had a few hot bats in the lineup as well. In early June, Justin Morneau started seeing pitches like never before. He hit 34 homers and knocked in 130 RBIs, something that hadn't been done in a Twins uniform since 1987.
Joe Mauer joined in on the fun having a month that we might never see again in our lifetime. Hovering near .400 into July, he simply could not be stopped. Our hometown hero's sweet sideburns were immortalized with "Joe Mauer Sideburns night" at the Dome and players around the league began trying to grow their own, seeing if it might just help them to immitate his sweet swing. It came down to the very last day of the season with two Yankees (Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano) on his tail for the best batting average in the league, but Joe finished ahead, batting an impressive .347 on the year. Congratulations to Joe for becoming the first catcher to win the American League Batting Title and the first catcher in Major League Baseball history to lead both leagues in hitting for an entire year.
After Brad Radke had finally had enough pain from his broken shoulder in August, he was rested for a month and thought to be done for the season. But the Twins' starting rotation was in dire straights after Liriano's year was cut short due to an untimely arm injury, just to force an early come back that lasted three innings, shutting him down for good. Radke came back to help the Twins get to the postseason, and pitched what could possibly be his last Major League ball game in Game 3 of the ALDS.
Minnesota found some relief in submariner Pat Neshek, whose delivery boggled the minds of Twins fans everywhere. The same goes for his opposing hitters: Neesh struck out 53 batters in just 37 innings, allowing a total of 9 runs. Nine.
Ozzie Guillen coined the term 'piranhas' when referring to the Twins' everyday players such as Jason Bartlett, Nick Punto, Jason Tyner and others. No one wanted to face this ballclub. Not even the defending World Series Champs.
Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer each had career years at the plate as well: Torii hitting 31 homers with 98 RBIs and Cuddy blasting 24 bombs with 109 RBIs.
On the final day of the regular season, sitting one game behind the Detroit Tigers after what had been a roller coaster month in the standings, the Twins pulled off the win and waited. They sat in the dugout watching the Tigers/Royals game on the Jumbotron with fingers crossed, while fans waited patiently in the stands, cheering and groaning with every pitch. When Kansas City won in extras, the Twins celebrated winning the Division for the fourth time in five years, high-fiving fans around the Dome. It's truly a great story. It seems like it just couldn't end here, but it does.
Heading into the ALDS with home-field advantage, Minnesota dropped the first two at home and left for Oakland with the postseason lying on Brad Radke's broken shoulder. It's not a fun way to end your career, Brad. We know. But you have given us your all the past 12 seasons, and we love you for it. Thanks for sticking with us and we're sad to see you go.
On a lighter note, Santana is the best (and pretty much the only) candidate for the American League Cy Young Award. He also gets the Pitching Triple Crown for leading the league in wins (19-tied with Chien-Ming Wang), strike-outs (245) and ERA (2.77). The Canadian Crusher has MVP consideration and of course, Man Muscles is the Batting Champ. We have a lot to look forward to as Twins fans in the upcoming years. With Liriano returning next season to help beef up the pitching rotation and our rookies getting a little playoff experience, the outlook is rosy. Maybe they'll land a DH in the off-season?
We'll see. Babes that love baseball will be around. We'll continue to follow the playoffs and talk baseball into the winter months right up until Spring Training, when we swear we could kill at the sight of another snowflake. Go Twins! Thanks again for a sweet season. It was awesome while it lasted.
Feel free to add your own memories from this season in the comments section and forgive me if I haven't mentioned them.
3 comments:
Nice recap soozy. I'd be proud too, at least you're not a Brewers fan.
*sigh
No team has greater fans, no fans have a greater team.
Thanks for a beyond wonderful season.
And Brad, at least come back and help coach. :)
Thanks Sam and Meg.
After a weekend to reflect and read the Trib, I feel better. I'm really, really looking forward to next season.
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