It certainly was a productive and exciting weekend for the Minnesota Twins. In a much-hyped three-game series against the Detroit Tigers, the Twins put together two wins to reach within three games of first place.
Rookie Brian Duensing cruised for six-plus innings on Friday and Michael Cuddyer hit a two-run blast to help the Twins to a 3-0 victory. Duensing has been the team's best pitcher as of late with a 4-1 season record and a 3.22 ERA. And with the absence of All-Star Justin Morneau for the remainder of the season, his first-base replacement has been Michael "Clutch" Cuddyer.
In a 3 p.m. start the next day, the Twins looked like they would be losing the ground they had gained. The magic happened in the five-run bottom of the eighth inning. Down 2-1, the Twins had some help from the Metrodome roof in order to prevail. Detroit's leftfielder lost a fly ball in the lights/roof which allowed runners on base. Jason Kubel followed with a two-run single to left, and "Clutch" smashed a homer to left-center.
Saturday's win was a big one. It gave the Twins a series win, with a chance to sweep the Tigers. It marked the team's sixth consecutive win, it's longest streak of the year. It put the them four games above .500, a place where they have hovered all season long. It also brought the Twins to within two games of the Tigers in probably the worst division in baseball.
The Twins ended up losing the rubber game to fall back to three games out, but the momentum was theirs. The Tigers can't feel too good after being dominated by the lowly Royals, and then losing two of three at the Dome. But they can take heart in knowing that they will host the Twins for four games at the end of the month.
Familiar territory
This has been another up-and-down season for the Twins. While they have played great lately, they need to keep up the pace. A .500 team such as Minnesota tends to go on good runs, and then collapse into bad tail spins for a few games.
It was the same way last season. I thought there was no way the Twins would have any chance at the playoffs, but they kept sticking around and ended up playing game No. 163 in Chicago. This year I've been saying the same thing about this team. They step up and win games they shouldn't (on paper), and then they play lousy against teams they should be cleaning up on.
Now here we are again. It's mid-September and the Twins are in the thick of a pennant race, despite the fact that it's a race in a very weak division. And keeping in mind that the winner of the AL Central will most likely be playing baseball's powerhouse, the New York Yankees. They're practially unbeatable for the Twins.
There are still a couple weeks left in the regular season, so it's really a waiting game to see how the Twins will respond after a big series win at home. They go on the road for three divisional series before playing their final three games at the Metrodome.
If nothing else, I hope the Twins can keep up the intensity and play some exciting baseball until the end. Whether that's through game 162 (or 163), or deeper into October, we'll just have to see what happens at the finish line.
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