TWINS WIN IN 163!

I happily will eat my words from a post a few months back entitled "Twins are Toast." I was as wrong as I could be, and I am happy to admit it. Not only did the late season pick up Orlando Cabrera come up huge, but the whole team showed more than just resilience against the Tigers in their 12 inning miracle victory in their second consecutive 163rd game. I just witnessed one of the greatest baseball games I have ever seen, and the Twins deserved this decisive victory.

Alexi Cassila made up for his base running blunder by tagging late causing him to get thrown out at home with a huge base hit to the right side scoring the winning run in the 12th.

I also believe that the Twins victory depended on the quality play of these individuals:

Scott Baker for overcoming a 3-0 deficit and settling down and giving the Twins three more solid scoreless innings. 

Jason Kubel for his huge 6th inning home run.

Orlando Cabrera for his uncharacteristic 2-run home run in the 7th inning, and heads up double play with the Tigers threatening in the 9th. 

Nick Punto for his amazing patience at the plate, and his ability to get on the bases.

Bobby Keppel for keeping his cool in the 12th with the bags juiced. Keppel was able to prevent the Tigers from crossing the plate and scoring a decisive run in this close contest.

Carlos Gomez for getting a 12th inning single, when almost all Twins fans must have been counting him out.

The Twins winning 17 of their last 21 games to overcome a 7 game September lead to those hated Tigers is nothing short of remarkable, and all this done without Justin Morneau. 

This is Ron Gardenhire's 5th AL Central Division Title in 8 years. 

Congratulations Twins!

Now, on to the best team in baseball, the New York Yankees. The Yankees won all 7 meetings this year against the Twins, but remember 3 of those were walk offs. And I will argue that no team is hotter than our very own Minnesota Twins.

*