Date: 10/3/09

Opponent: Kansas City Royals

Home/Away: Home

Starting Pitcher: Blackburn

Final Score: W 5-4

Record: 85-76

Best Moment: Wow. There were so many great moments during this game. Mauer's huge RBI single against Greinke. Delmon's bases-clearing double. Blackburn's 7 stellar innings. Cuddyer's game-winning home run. Nathan's 47th save. Or maybe just the fact that we beat Zack Greinke in a game we couldn't lose. I'm pretty sure the neighbors must have hated us given all the screaming we did. Coupled with a Tigers' loss, we are now tied for the division. Who thought that we could come back from such a deficit? I thought we were done in August, but the Twins just kept going, not quite falling all the way out of the race. And even then, part of me hoped that the Twins would take themselves fully out of contention so I wouldn't have false hope. Turns out it wasn't so false.

Despite everything that has happened, we just won't give up. Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel and Young have really been on fire lately. Cuddyer has morphed into the clutchiest (I don't think that's a word, but whatever) player on the team, Delmon Young is dangerous, and Kubel has continued his solid production. Blackburn just pitched amazing today on short rest. He pitched into the 8th inning, giving up a solo home run in the 7th and then a leadoff double in the 8th that got him pulled in favor of Mijares (bad idea). Mijares immediately gave up a home run to make the score 4-3 and then another hit put the tying run on the bases with no outs. In came Jon Rauch, who gave up a single before getting a double play and the final out. Unfortunately, the tying run scored on the double play. Luckily, Cuddyer came through in a big way with the home run, and Nathan had a mercifully quick save. Giant Man loves the wins, what can I say. I think he's gotten 5 wins in the short time he's been with the Twins. It's kind of funny, actually. He just seems to end up in those situations.

Most Questionable Moment: Pulling Blackburn. He'd only given up 4 hits, and the two biggest hits, the home run and the double, weren't even on that bad of pitches. It's not like he was falling apart by any means. He was also at an economical 88 pitches. How could Gardy have forgotten the way the bullpen bled runs the day before, turning a romp into a save situation? And if we were bringing a relief pitcher in, I don't think the headcase Moojares needed to be the choice. He'd pitched 2 days in a row, and especially with the whole Adam Everett incident in Thursday's game, I think he could use a day off.

Worst Moment: Mijares allows the tying run on base. Blackburn deserved a win for that effort, and Mijares sucked it up. Fortunately the Twins won, otherwise there would be no end to my anger.

Quotations of the Day:

• "This is what it's all about. When you break spring training, you hope to experience this. All 162 games are going to count. You can't go wrong with that." - Michael Cuddyer
• "What we've done and the run we've had up to this point has been pretty special. These guys really have just huge hearts out there." - Ron Gardenhire
• "Nothing amazes me anymore. I take that back, this team amazes me because of the courage they're showing." - Ron Gardenhire
• "It was Cy Young against MVP. That makes for great drama." - Michael Cuddyer, on Mauer's big at bat with 2 outs and a runner on 3rd versus Greinke. In the end, Mauer singled in the run and opened the door for a big 4-run inning.
• I think what happened was, they did such a bad job of hitting my fastball the first five innings, that I started to think that they weren't going to hit it. And then that last inning, Mauer hit a fastball. Kubel hit a fastball. Delmon Young hit a fastball. Just maybe got a little overconfident with it." - Zack Greinke
• "They're the only team I've faced over the years that can actually, they elevate their game when the pressure is on the line. Most teams either stay the same or get tight and try to do more than they can do." - Zack Greinke on the Twins.
• "I can't imagine having a bigger, more exciting victory than that one. That just does so much for this team right now. To get a Cy Young contender...This guy is having a unbelievable season, and to put up 4 runs on him, I'm at a loss for words. That was impressive." - Nick Blackburn

Suck-Ass Performance of the Game: Jose Mijares (0.0 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 home run, 1 inherited runner scored, 2 earned runs)