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BOSTON - The Minnesota Twins were in great shape just two days ago. Now they’re on the brink of being eliminated by the New York Yankees for the second straight year.
This series sure turned around in a hurry.
After losing 8-4 in Game 3 on Friday night, the Twins need ace Johan Santana to save their season Saturday, when he will start on only three days’ rest. Even if the Twins’ Cy Young Award candidate wins, someone else must pitch Minnesota to a Game 5 victory at Yankee Stadium — no easy task.
But even with that ahead of them, the Twins hardly looked, or sounded, like a defeated bunch in the clubhouse. When asked what Ron Gardenhire said to the team, outfielder Shannon Stewart said the manager told them: “Turn the music on, we’ve got to play tomorrow.”
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“We’re all right,” Stewart said.
Torii Hunter reminded reporters that the Twins came back to force a Game 5, which they won, two years ago against Oakland’s solid rotation of Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson.
“I’ll take my chances with these guys,” Hunter said.
But it’ll take more than loud music and confidence to force a decisive game with the Yankees. For one, the Twins will need much better hitting.
Other than Jacque Jones’ first-inning homer Friday night, the Twins — who were eliminated in four games by New York last season — displayed none of the opportunistic play that gave them a third-straight AL Central title and an impressive Game 1 win on Tuesday.
They stranded four runners early in the game and had two major baserunning mistakes in the sixth inning. New York’s powerful lineup, meanwhile, was too much for starter Carlos Silva.
Hunter’s 12th-inning home run that gave the Twins a lead in Wednesday night’s Game 2 seems like a distant memory. The solo shot put Minnesota up one run, and the Twins were two outs from taking a 2-0 lead in this best-of-five matchup.
The players weren’t interested in talking about what might have been.
“We don’t want to have to think about what happened in the past,” Silva said. “We have to play two more.”
Even after the Yankees pulled off an improbable rally in Game 2 for the 7-6 victory, the Twins were feeling good for having earned a split at Yankee Stadium and stealing homefield advantage.
Things got off to a promising start when Jones’ homer on a 2-2 pitch from Kevin Brown drew a roar from the Homer Hankey-waving crowd at the Metrodome.
But if five consecutive two-out singles by the Yankees in the second didn’t quiet the crowd, Minnesota’s inability to drive in baserunners did. Michael Cuddyer was one of Minnesota’s best hitters with runners in scoring position this season (.356), but he stranded four runners in the second and fourth innings.
“It is frustrating but in the same sense, that’s why we have a team,” Cuddyer said. “We rely on picking each other up and tonight we weren’t able to do it.”
Cuddyer came through too late in the ninth when his bases-loaded single made it 8-2.
The Twins, who finished with 12 hits, looked desperate on the bad baserunning by Hunter and Corey Koskie in the sixth. Trailing 7-1, Hunter had a double but tried for third when Hideki Matsui kicked the ball in left field. But Matsui came up firing and his throw easily beat Hunter.
Two batters later, Koskie tried to stretch a single into a double but Bernie Williams’ throw beat him.
Hunter defended their decisions.
“It wasn’t a bone-headed play, it was aggressive,” Hunter said. “Anyone who says it was a bone-headed play hasn’t played the game. ... I like that. That’s the way we play.”
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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.
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Silva: 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 NFC teams.