It’s finally here, the 81st and final home game for the Twins at Target Field. The last home game every year marks fans’ final opportunity ever to see their team as it is currently constituted. While obviously that’s a good thing when you’ve endured another 90+ loss season, it still means saying a good-bye to an as-yet undetermined number of “our guys.”
It’s also the Twins final opportunity to influence the MLB postseason since their final series of the year has them facing fellow also-rans from Toronto.
So, with the Vikings and the rest of the NFL playing this afternoon, not to mention the final day of Ryder Cup golf going on, why should anyone watch the Twins? Honestly, I’m the wrong person to ask because I’ll be watching the Vikings and the Ryder Cup, but then watching the Twins isn’t an option for me in Iowa anyway. But there are a couple of story lines to follow at Target Field. After all, we have the Tigers trying to keep ahead of the White Sox to represent the AL Central in the postseason and Joe Mauer trying to catch Miguel Cabrera for the AL batting title.
Beyond Target Field, the final few days of the MLB season are shaping up to provide some pretty incredible drama. I sure wish the Twins were playing a greater role in all of it, but it’s still going to be a pretty exciting few days to be a baseball fan.
| TIGERS |
@ |
TWINS |
| Jackson, A, CF | Span, CF | |
| Berry, LF | Revere, RF | |
| Cabrera, Mi, 3B | Mauer, C | |
| Fielder, 1B | Morneau, DH | |
| Young, D, DH | Doumit, LF | |
| Dirks, RF | Parmelee, 1B | |
| Peralta, Jh, SS | Plouffe, 3B | |
| Avila, C | Casilla, A, 2B | |
| Infante, 2B | Florimon, SS | |
| _Sanchez, An, P | _Hendriks, P |
| Detroit | ||||||||||||
| Minnesota |
Flipping Fielder.. That was a fantastic start from Liam Hendriks and sadly because of a 2-run HR from Fielder off of Burton, he just doesn’t get the credit. But I would like it to at least be on record that he pitched 7 scoreless innings against the Tigers offense. That is really saying something.
Honestly, it was a well-played game from all sides. Alexi Casilla made a show of things stealing both 2nd & 3rd in the bottom of the 5th but ended up being stranded at 3rd.. *SIGH* LOB strikes again.
The lack of offensive production from the Tigers also means something else – the battle is even closer for that batting title. Cabrera is at .325 currently and Mauer is at .323 – which means the last few games are really going to matter. I would like to see something good come out of this season.
