Piranhas? Try pira-nahhhh. The Twins, once again, had to play catch-up against the A’s who, thanks to some timely hitting (a three-run double by Marco Scutaro) and a deplorable defensive performance by the Twins (three errors), beat Minnesota to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 1990.
Like the first two games, Minnesota kept it close, but an intentional walk to Frank Thomas with two outs in the seventh inning proved to be the Twins’ undoing. Eric Chavez walked, then Justin Morneau made an error, loading the bases. Nick Swisher walked, scoring Thomas from third, and then the big slugger Marco Scutaro doubled to right, clearing the bases. One hit, four runs.
Torii Hunter was also the center of attention on a questionable call, getting thrown out on a play at the plate, even though Oakland catcher Jason Kendall didn’t appear to tag him. The throw beat Hunter to the plate, and the home plate umpire did not put himself in the position to get an unobstructed view of the tag, so he put two and two together…only he was wrong. Still, when you don’t have the lead in a single inning of the postseason, you don’t get the calls, simple as that. And frankly, any team that puts Jason Tyner, who has yet to hit a home run in the majors, in the lineup as a DH deserves whatever they get.
Oakland is now in the driver’s seat, getting to rest their pitchers and reshuffle their rotation for the winner of the Tigers/Yankees series, which is proving to be the most interesting series thus far. Sorry, Twinkies. Maybe next year, when/if Liriano is healthy.
Oh, and I’ll let Mr. Statler blog the Yankees/Tigers game, but Alex Rodriguez got totally hosed on a play at third base where he tagged out Pudge Rodriguez but was called safe.
