I had no intentions of watching the one game playoff between the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers last night. Somehow, almost as if it was fate, I came upon the game while channel surfing and paused only because I heard Ron Darlings voice. “Wow’, I thought to myself, “at least one 2009 Met made it to the post season.”
It was the seventh inning and I figured, what the heck, I’ll just watch and see who gets the honor of being mauled by the Yankees later this week.
The high definition drama that would then unfold before my very eyes swallowed me whole. The game sunk its claws into me and it didn’t let go.
By the time everything was said and done, I found myself cheering for the Twins and rooting for guys like Joe Mauer, Orlando Cabrera and of course our old friend Carlos Gomez who scored the dramatic winning run in the bottom of the 12 inning. From the time I tuned in until the end, I watched the lead change hands five times. What a battle…
“This is the most unbelievable game I’ve ever played or seen,” Twins shortstop Orlando Cabrera said.
Their thrilling victory stirred me inside, and I was so happy and grateful that fate led me to watch one of the most exciting finishes to a game that I had seen all year.
Immediately after the game, I quickly went online while the festivities ensued on TBS. I was curious about the makeup of their roster. Surprisingly, I hardly recognized most of the names. Who are these guys I thought, and why are they going to the Divisional Series while my Mets wallow in self pity?
The Twins are mostly comprised of one huge mega-star in catcher Joe Mauer, who is then surrounded by a host of quality complimentary players like Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Orlando Cabrera, Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young. Cabrera and his .312 OBP is the spiritual heart of the team, and yes grit and leadership does trump statistical nirvana.
Who could believe that the Mets would swindle the Twins out of their ace Johan Santana, and that they would be the ones to go to the post season first?
Last night I filed for temporary custody of the Twins as my new adoptive team… at least for the duration of their joyride. A ride that I hope leads them to the pinnacle of baseball.
They are everything I wanted the Mets to be.
Join us for a LIVE CHAT tomorrow at 8:00 PM, as we will field questions about the current state of the Mets, and what the Hot Stove Season may have in store for the Amazins. It will be part of a regular feature all off season long as we track and discuss all of the Mets off season moves. Mets baseball never ends on Mets Merized Online.
The Twins were in a playoff last year as well, while not technically POST season, they were playing when no one else was-literally. After the 86 season, The MEts tried to become an All Star team wi the acquisition of McReynolds, then Juan Samuel(I still shudder) Frank Viola etc etc. -it does not work. Omar is trying that again. Wont work. GREAT baseball teams/dynasties are the confluence of some GREAT players and some good players and quality bench players coupled wi deep pitching. NOT 4 Hall of fame guys and a cast of bad to mediocre players(see the SF Giants of the 60s or Mil Braves post 57)-quality, hard playing, intelligent players who bust ass EVERY PLAY(Jose, David can you hear me?)-The Twins play hard all the time. Whatever faults they may have re talent, payroll, or Lineup construction(Aaron Gleeman can talk for years on these subjects), they always seem to be in the hunt
Joe: I second what you just said. Moreover, Cabrera is a winning player; stats don’t always tell the contributions he makes to a club. The Mets could use some gritty players to round out their lineup (I think Francoeur is one, though).
Sometimes teams just click, and the Twins might make the Yankees nervous. No one wants to play a hot team, but the Yanks have way too much talent to be upset.
If I could use one word, it’s execution. That is the difference in the play of the Twins versus the Mets. They got it done and we’re at home watching.
Definitely agree on your post Joe. The Twins were seven games back and made an incredible run in September and last night’s game winning walk off against the Tigers to win the AL Central. Winning is the organization’s blood and its the Twins. Not a big budget team like the Yanks and the Mets, they win with the players they have who don’t make big bucks.
I agree with you, Joe. I watched the entire game, from 5PM until almost 10PM I was afraid to look away from the TV for a moment. I knew Ron was doing the game (he’s also doing the Yankee series) and since I consider him the best guy working these games, I wanted to hear him. As usual, very impartial and very informative. Both teams played their hearts out, but it was the old, crafty managers who did themselves proud. Never letting the players get crazy over the game and keeping everyone as calm as possible. I suppose they realized long before we did that it was possible that the game would go into extra innings. I didn’t have a favorite, but since the NFL has blacked out the football team there due to lack of sales (Detroit’s economy is the worst in the country right now) at least this was a way for sports fans to see something.
What they got was the best game of the season.
Another excellent post, Joe D… What teams like the Twins prove again and again is that statistics are not everything. Sure, if you’re betting on a game, in the long-run you’ll do fine by only looking at statistics. But even the best bettors are only right a little more than half the time. And the variance is not explained by “luck” (especially over the course of 162 games – a huge sample size where good and bad luck should cancel each other out) – on the contrary, there’s an (as yet) unmeasurable metric, and that’s will to win, hatred of losing, team spirit and cohesion … all of which influence things like preparedness, grit under pressure, refusal to quit when down, clutch hitting etc. Yes, clutch hitters and clutch pitchers exist. To deny this (as sabermetric buffs often do) is to be willfully blind, since anyone can look at their own experiences in any field – we all know some people thrive under pressure, others choke, make excuses, seek consolation prizes etc.
All the injuries this year … that was the worst thing that could’ve hapened to the Mets. Not because they would’ve won without them, but because it will prevent the kind of rebuilding and reorientation this team needs, not least by keeping Omar and Jerry at the helm. Then again, if the Wilpons didn’t see the writing on the wall after 2007 and 2008, who knows how many collapses they’d be willing to excuse.
Quite simply, you should aim to build a team around character. That also has the merit of pleasing the fans. A guy like Miguel Cabrera, who’s getting shitfaced as his team spirals to an almost 2007 Mets-level collapse, is not necessarily more valuable than a hard-working team guy with less talent. Watching the Twins game last night, I realized Morneau wasn’t around. Turns out he has a stress fracture in his back. But good teams don’t make excuses.
When Morneau went down for the season, Kubel and Cuddyer picked up the slack and were hot during last month’s run.
awesome game what a great comeback, both in the game and in the season for the Twins. I guess Johan is wondering where it all went wrong for him. The mets were on the tail end of something like this the past two years and clung to the hope that they coud pull something like this this year….until about mid august when we realized nothing good could come from this debacle of a season. Well, congrats twins and have fun in the playoffs. Games like this make me actually like baseball again.
The Twins were the ultimate winners so it doesn’t matter, but…..lets not forget they had a runner on 3rd with no one out and couldn’t get it done until 2 innings later……..
I would call it an exciting ending, but an epic or great game it was not, there was some poor fielding and some tepid baserunning on both sides.
With that being said – Go Twins (ANYONE except the Yanks and Phils)
For one who hates to see anyone nit-picking on the Mets, you sure do a fine job of nit-picking on what was a great game.
You didn’t actually watch the game, but are quick to dismiss my opinion of it being great or not……….brilliant…..
So the prospect we thought was no good, and traded for the best pitcher in best baseball to get us in the playoffs is now home watching TV while that no good prospect is off to the playoffs. Irony or what. Now, I understand that Charles Gomez did not live up to the hype the Mets gave him, but that can be blamed on the Mets for hyping the him up to much.
I am so sorry that I missed this game due to work. I was able to watch the last couple of innings on mlb.tv and loved it. Go Twins!
99% of all opinions have been exactly the opposite. The fans of the New York Mets do not have any patience to build a winner like the Twins have. It takes time and giving it’s prospects the time to develop, not trading them for big name, big contract guys.
great post Joe…and what a great game that was. I couldn’t name you any of the Twins’ relief pitchers besides Joe Nathan before last night, but they sure did a nice job. And you just knew they would tie the game and then eventually win.