Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Indians at Twins: Well, Isn't This Fun?

Recap:
Monday -- Indians 3 - Twins 9
Tuesday -- Indians 4 - Twins 6
Wednesday -- Indians 1 - Twins 5

Record: 92-60, your 2010 American League Central Division Champions! 

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Not only is this team fun to watch, but they're also playing very good baseball right now. Obviously, it helps that the White Sox fell into a nasty swoon, but I believe that even if the Sox had played normally, the Twins would still have taken the Division -- they're that good. It is nice to give a few of the everyday-guys a day off now and then so they're fresh for the playoffs. They still have work to do; they want home-field advantage for the first round -- they have to have a better record than the Rangers to do that -- if not for both the ALDS and ALCS -- they have to have a better record than everybody for that. They also don't want to lose momentum. Fresh and sharp should be the goal now. I'm not worried; I think they'll be ok.

I'm still pretty giddy, and tired, from last night, so here are some random thoughts, in no particular order:
  • I watched the end of the A's-White Sox game after the Twins game. If you're not familiar with White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson, suffice it to say I'm not a fan. Anyway, right when I tuned in, he was doing his best to convince his listeners that the Twins are very good and they deserved the playoffs, blah blah blah. He sounded pretty despondent, but at least he was trying. Anyway, as he was talking about the Twins' season, he went on to talk about the man who was instrumental to the great record: Jon Rauch. Um, really? He even threw out the "the straw that stirred the drink" cliche. What, is he forbidden to talk about Jim Thome? I mean, nothing against Rauch, but I don't really think he did that much heavy lifting for the whole season. Whatever.
  • During the celebration, Denard Span was joking about Danny Valencia's swagger. It was hilarious; Danny was enjoying the attention. Denard even said that everyone should "hide your daughters" from Danny. But he never said anything about hiding Danny from us cougars. Rawr.
  • Speaking of the celebration, I liked how it was fun, yet not too wild. I think that if they're going to have an over-the-top-bachelor-party-type party, they should save it for a bigger championship. Also, you should go check out my buddy Betsy's pictures on her blog. She was one of the lucky fans who stayed at Target Field to celebrate with the boys.
  • On Wednesday, most of the back-up guys got to play. There was a lot of joking on Twitter about the degree of hungoverness the boys would be. I'm sure they weren't really in that bad of shape. That's what Red Bull is for. But I bet their eyes were still stinging from the champagne. However, they all did a nice job, so it's all good.

2 comments:

rghrbek said...

K-bro,

first time reading your blog,

as I posted in HTFP,

"I was switching back and forth between twins and chicago on wgn. Hawk, in talking about Delmon, said “He was gonna get his next year”. Then said “Torii slipped through the cracks a few years ago”, inferring he should’ve gotten his."

I really dislike him. Also, wasn't it him that had a mini feud with Hrbek during the 91 season, when the sox-twins rivalry first reared it's head?

k-bro said...

rghrbek,

Welcome. And, yes! You're exactly right about what it was Hawk said. I couldn't remember it exactly. Thanks for clarifying, and thanks for having a better memory than me (not all that hard to do, really). :-)

And regarding Torii, it's not like the White Sox never got their chance to "give him his." That play at the plate was in, what?, 2004? He was a Twin for 3 more years. Which just goes to show that the Chicago White Sox as a team has more class than their announcer.