Twins still COMPLETELY IN IT

The Twins have played so well the past few weeks, the lead-off double in the eighth didn't dampen my spirits. The (too) early hook from Gardenhire, Mijares' pitiful performance and Jon Rauch's inability to clean up the mess left them tied... but I still felt good about their chances. The Royals bullpen is terrible, and their manager is worse, as Santa Claus came down the Metrodome's chimney, and gave Michael Cuddyer a left-handed pitcher to hit, and hit hard. He did not miss his chance, and he gave back the lead that the Twins never should have lost. Cuddly.

I felt bad for Greinke. To come back from all those anxiety issues, dominate all year, and leave his worst outing of the month for the last day of the season. He missed more pitches than I expected him to, and once Joe Batman broke the scoring dam, they might as well have ended it right there. Of course they didn't, and Delmon Young's second bases-clearing hit of the weekend became absolutely necessary.

Nick Blackburn out-pitched the Cy Young favorite, striking out just as many batters, walking fewer, and doing it all on less pitches. You could catch swordfish with the sinker he had today. Unfortunately he stuck with it a little too much, as Jacobs keyed in on it, catching up to a good one that caught the inside corner. Sometimes, good pitches get hit. Same with the ground-rule double that got him the hook. It sunk out of the zone, but was down the middle, allowing whats-his-name to sweet-spot it to the gap. I wouldn't have pulled Bob Black (his first name is Robert? Awesome). He had everything working nicely, and only used eighty-eight pitches to that point. You want to protect a relatively young arm on three-day's rest, but who do you have to turn to? Rauch would have worked straight out. Mijares was shot from pitching the previous two games and whatever revenge Delmon Young took. Gardy protected his starter, but at the expense of throwing a younger, more fatigued arm out there. Look what happened. I felt so bad for him, hating himself in the dugout. It wasn't right.

All's well that ends well though, and the Twins have been tied. Through their own perseverance yes, but mostly through the Tigers' epic choke job. Who cares about them though. Beat them Royals, and the Metrodome lives on for at least one more game.