Date: 9/15/09

Opponent: Cleveland Indians

Home/Away: Home

Starting Pitcher: Baker

Final Score: W 5-4

Record: 73-72

Best Moment: Another come-from-behind win was nice, but my favorite part was when we were down by 1 run going into the bottom of the 5th. My sister commented that a "solo home run will tie it". I laughed and told her it wasn't likely with Cabrera up. The words were no sooner out of my mouth than Cabrera went deep. I couldn't stop laughing after that. He would have to prove me wrong.

I also was highly amused when Gardy said that winning pitcher Jon Rauch has "been huge". He hasn't been huge. He's always huge. Giant Man has sure picked up a lot of wins since he joined our team. Baker wasn't great in this outing, but he did okay and only allowed 3 runs. The top and bottom of the order did all the work today as Cuddyer and Kubel were basically MIA. Cabrera and Mauer had had 2 hits and an RBI apiece, while Punto incredibly went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Coupled with a loss by the Tigers, the Twins pulled within 4 and a half games. And hell, we're on one of our longer winning streaks of the year, a whopping 3 games!

Most Questionable Moment: Matt Tolbert has one good game, and now he's our starting 3rd baseman? Why am I not surprised...And then there was Brian Buscher, who ran through a stop sign and hit a pedestrian scored the 5th Twins run. We needed that run, and I'm glad he scored, but he would have been a dead duck if the throw hadn't taken a funny hop.

In an unrelated to baseball Most Questionable Moment. I just read this story about a couple getting held up in a dumpster. According to the article they wanted to be alone. I want to be alone frequently as well, but I can think of better and less disgusting places for privacy. Like an hourly-rental motel room, a tree house, an underwater cave, or a Port-a-Potty. Okay, maybe not the last one. I'm a little disturbed by the comment that the couple were "engaged 'in an intimate moment'". I hope that doesn't mean what I think it does...

Worst Moment: Joe Nathan decides to make things interesting again. I generally have gotten to the point where I hope we can get at least a 4-run lead so we avoid the whole Nathan situation. He's gotten the job done the past few opportunities, but not without sending me into fits of terror. And in this game he even gave up a solo home run to make it a 1-run game. At least the rest of the bullpen has been better of late.

Quotations of the Day:

• "We need everybody. Tonight, a lot of guys stepped up and got it done." - Ron Gardenhire
• "I think that's the kind of guys and the kind of character that's on this team. Guys are going to step up and do what they need to do. Buscher, Punto, all these guys that are a little bit of scrappy players, getting opportunities now to play every day. They're doing their best and doing their job, and we're winning games." - Jon Rauch
• "[Morneau] is a luxury. He's as good as they get, but we can't just lie down. We know that we have to do other things, and that's what I'm talking about—the bottom of the order, hitting and running and some bunts. When you lose a power guy like that you have to figure out other ways to get it done." - Ron Gardenhire

Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Michael Cuddyer (0 for 4, 1 strikeout, 4 left on base) and Jason Kubel (0 for 4, 1 strikeout, 4 left on base).