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Pudge Supporter
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Detroit
Posts: 575
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Twins take another shot at the Tigers, and fail!
Quote:
MINNEAPOLIS -- They huffed and they puffed -- but they couldn't put much of a dent in the Tigers' lead.
So now they'll try to do it themselves. Face to face.
You remember the Twins, of course. No introductions are necessary. But reminders never hurt.
The Twins are the team the Tigers swept at Comerica Park in April, outscoring them, 33-1.
The Twins are the team that came back to Detroit in May and said they wouldn't get swept again but did.
One more thing.
The Twins are the team about whom Tigers manager Jim Leyland said, after that second sweep, "Don't be fooled, they'll be back."
Why did he think that?
"They have baseball players," Leyland said. "Sometimes people think that if a guy is a great athlete, he can play major league baseball. That doesn't always hold true.
"I like baseball players. The Twins have baseball players."
In May, though, it didn't appear the Twins would be back.
At the time, it sounded like Leyland was just being nice. Even after the first week of June, when the Twins were 25-33, it looked like they were dead in the water.
There must have been something in that water, though, because the Twins have kicked up their heels so much since they've already reeled in one of the teams they were chasing -- and hope, with this series, to begin the process of landing another.
Which brings us to the matter at hand -- the Tigers and Twins for the next three games on their turf.
Let's get this out of the way first, though: "Right idea, wrong team."
It's been the Twins, not the White Sox.
We all thought a trailing team would come back hot after the All-Star break. But no one knew the White Sox would do what they've done.
Stink, in other words.
The White Sox are 2-10 since the break. They trailed the Tigers by one game July 7 but have slipped to 8 1/2 back.
Not only that, they led the Twins by nine games July 7 but are now tied.
It's been a stunning turnaround -- a reversal that has seen the champion White Sox rapidly lose ground, and just as rapidly drop in the estimation of many as the team most likely to pester the Tigers.
That team now, because of its pitching, is the Twins.
Offensively, they're not as scary as some. The M&M boys can rake, of course -- Joe Mauer is hitting .375 and Justin Morneau, the biggest offensive difference for the Twins since the Tigers last played them, has been on a roll.
How does .393 in July sound -- with 16 home runs since June 9?
But it's pitching that leads the Twins to victory more often -- and it's with pitching the Twins hope to give the Tigers a particularly hard time this weekend.
Francisco Liriano starts tonight. He's, uh, 12-2.
Brad Radke starts Saturday. He said he's going to retire at the end of the season, and earlier this season you could see why. But in his last 11 starts, he has a 2.58 ERA.
On Sunday, it'll be Johan Santana -- who is 7-0 at home.
For that matter, this trio of pitchers is 19-3 at home this year.
"There's no doubt in my mind that when Liriano and Santana go out there, the Twins think they're the best team in baseball," Leyland said. "And they might be."
A different struggle
Whatever the Tigers do this weekend, they'll have to earn it.
That's nothing new. Teams haven't always played their best against the Tigers this season.
But you don't get to be 68-33 without earning it.
That segues to what must surely be the Twins' frustration, whether or not they want to admit it.
Since they were 25-33 on June 7, the Twins are a remarkable 34-8. Such excellence, such domination, such marvelous baseball -- but, above all, such a tough climb.
Catching Ozzie Guillen's flopping White Sox is one thing. The Twins have done that.
But closing ground on the Tigers, that's different.
While winning 34 of 42, the Twins have gained three games on the Tigers -- from 11 1/2 out to 8 1/2 .
The Twins have won at a pace few teams ever put together but are up against a team that nearly has matched them.
In their last 42, the Tigers are 31-11 -- and not since early June when they went 3-9 have they looked the least bit catchable.
Imagine what it's like to play better than .800 baseball for more than 25 percent of the season, as the Twins have just done, and gain three games.
Imagine how much you'd like to take matters into your own hands.
As the Twins hope to do in this series
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goes to show who the better team is this season! I have been really suprised with how they have picked up their game and done well!
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Lets Go Tigers, Woohoo, Go PUDGE!!!! 
*Proud Baseball and Hockey Fan*
*Back in Black - Ac/Dc* 
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Twins take another shot at the Tigers, and fail!
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