Friday, September 29, 2006

What can you say about a day like that?

Brad Radke comes back from the terrible injuries to throw 5 very good innings, Joe Mauer ties up the game in the 9th with a solo HR, and the Twins come back to win in the 10th. Oh yeah, the Tigers lost, meaning the Twins are tied for the division lead.

I can get used to this.

For 7 innings, the Twins could muster only 4 singles against the indomitable Luke Hudson and his 5.12 ERA, but with 2 outs in the 9th, Joe Mauer hit his 13th HR of the year the opposite way to tie it up and send the game to extra innings.

In extra innings, the Twins loaded up the bases for Jason Bartlett, who hit one over CF David DeJesus for the walkoff hit. Pretty much a good script for how the season has gone.

But more important than pulling out a win... and more important than tying the Tigers for the division lead was the fact that Brad Radke was able to come back and pitch very well. He coasted through 5 innings giving up only 1 unearned run. This should mean he should be able to start Game 3 of the first round series against either the Yankees or the Athletics. I feel a whole lot better with Radke on the mound than Silva.

So now it comes down to 3 games... if the Twins win 1 more than the Tigers, they win the division and will be starting the playoffs at home. If they don't, they'll travel to Yankee Stadium.

Here are the starting pitchers for Friday's games:

Twins: Boof Bonser (7-5, 4.15) vs. Freddy Garcia (White Sox)
Tigers: Wil Ledezma (3-3, 3.58) vs. Runelvys Hernandez (Royals)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I feel a whole lot better with Radke on the mound than Silva.

I feel like maybe now I won't be driven to drink (well, drink as much, anyway) during the playoffs if The Jackal is not in the rotation.