The Twins came up with enough to squeak past the A's in the 10th inning last night, in pitcher Kevin Slowey's first major league start. The game was tied 1-1 going into the 10th, and in true piranha fashion, Nick Punto had scored the first run by reaching first on a bunt single, stealing second, getting a sacrifice bunt to move over to 3rd, and coming home on a sacrifice fly, while the A's scored off a solo home run. The Twins added a couple in the 10th by getting a couple piranhas out on the base paths and keeping things moving: three hits, two walks, and a ground-out all moved enough runners in scoring position to send two home, until Lew Ford grounded into a double play and ended the inning... more on that later. The A's started their own rally (and presumably put their caps in the rally position, which some Chicagoland be-seens apparently balk at) and got the tying run to second base with the winning run on first, but used two outs getting the first run, and lost the game when Bobby Crosby struck out swinging. I kind of wonder about leaving the guy who's gone 0 for 4 to face Joe Nathan with two outs, but then I don't really know much about the A's roster, Nathan wasn't looking lights out, and there was a potential 11th inning so maybe yanking the shortstop wasn't a great option. I do think it's ironic that he might have avoided this situation if Travis Buck hadn't dawdled so long on second base. Milton Bradley hit a single into deep right field, where Michael Cuddyer was playing so deep Buck could have made it home if he'd taken off right away, instead of wavering and being held at third, requiring the A's to sacrifice an out to get him home.
There's also something I associate with the A's that was interesting in light of Ozzie Guillen's comments to reporters after the Twins swept the Black Sox to start the week. The part of Guillen's comments the press has focused on was his statement that if anybody was looking for somebody to blame, they should blame him, and this fueled some overblown speculation as to whether Guillen was trying to get fired. The actual intelligible point he made though was that in his opinion he had just faced a very good team, where 25 guys all work together and as a result, the Twins keep winning division titles. I thought Guillen's meaning was obviously that the Black Sox under his leadership were failing to work well together as a team, and this was the explanation for their slump. When A.J. Pierzynski recently called out teammates publicly, Ozzie expressed exasperation about bickering teammates, and his latest comments struck me as in keeping with that spirit. As I understand it, the whole key to the Black Sox putting together a World Series win was when they stopped fielding nine mercurial power hitters and trying to overpower everybody, and instead retooled their roster to put out nine guys who could work together in the field to prevent some runs, and work together on offense to manufacture runs instead of praying for home runs. In essence, they were more like the Piranhas that Ozzie was praising, noting that he's the only person in baseball who gives the Twins credit for being as good as they have been in the past few years. This was in contrast to the Twins-A's play-off series in 2002 that always comes to mind when the Twins go to Oakland, where after losing three straight, including blowing two home games to never say die late inning rallies by the Twins, the homer broadcast crew assured the viewing audience that this just proved the best team doesn't always win. That kind of lack of class pretty well soured me on the A's, and makes me appreciate Bert Blyleven that much more. He's a wise-ass but still manages to be familiar with the opposing players, and not act shocked when anybody outside California wins a game. Ozzie Guillen may be nuts, but at least he doesn't finish a series by claiming his team of supermen got struck by lightning three times in three days.
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