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SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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Reuters
MINNEAPOLIS - Barry Zito, Frank Thomas and the Oakland Athletics proved it was possible to beat Johan Santana — even at the Metrodome.
Zito kept Minnesota off balance with his big curveball, Thomas hit two huge home runs and the Athletics defeated the Twins and their ace 3-2 Tuesday in the opener of their first-round AL playoff series.
“First blood, I think, means a lot — especially when you’re playing on the road,” Zito said.
Zito quieted the Twins and their fans at the noisy, quirky ballpark for eight innings. He gave up four hits, three walks and one run and struck out one.
Oakland emerged in excellent shape after beating Santana, who was 16-0 over a span of 23 regular-season starts in which the Twins won every time since Aug. 1, 2005.
Santana led the league in ERA, strikeouts and innings, and tied for the AL high in wins.
“Santana’s probably going to win another Cy Young,” A’s first baseman Nick Swisher said. “For us to overcome the noise and all that stuff and win against him is something special.”
Minnesota rookie Boof Bonser will start against Esteban Loaiza in Game 2 Wednesday afternoon. A season-ending elbow injury to All-Star Francisco Liriano and right-hander Brad Radke’s shaky shoulder have left the rotation looking a little thin.
This is a team that was a whopping 10½ games behind Detroit on Aug. 7, though, before overtaking the Tigers to win the AL Central division on the final day. Comebacks are nothing new for them.
“Same as we’ve been doing all year,” said first baseman Justin Morneau, who went 0-for-4. “Everybody’s going to say we’re done again, but we don’t believe that.”
Thomas went 3-for-4, homering in the ninth off Jesse Crain. The 38-year-old became the oldest player to have a multihomer game in postseason history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“It was a big day,” Thomas said. “I’m just happy to win this first game, because this is a tough place to win ballgames.”
Closer Huston Street gave one back after a leadoff triple by Michael Cuddyer was lost in the ceiling by right fielder Milton Bradley. Torii Hunter drove in Cuddyer with a groundout, but Rondell White — who doubled in the fifth and homered in the seventh — flied out to center to end the game.
“This team’s pretty resilient,” catcher Joe Mauer said, the major league batting leader who went 0-for-3 with a walk. “We’ve dealt with coming from behind before. We’re not going to quit until it’s done.”
The stadium was filled, of course, with 55,542 fans wiggling those white Homer Hankies and roaring every time Santana so much as made a move on the field in the minutes before the game.
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But one out after Thomas homered in the second, Jay Payton singled and Marco Scutaro smacked a two-out double down the left-field line to give Oakland an early 2-0 edge.
Zito ran with it, no-hitting Minnesota through 4 2-3 innings and only twice letting a runner get past second base. The left-hander with the big leg kick and even bigger curveball consistently kept the Twins from hitting their sweet spots.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
