A Full Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day, in case you didn't notice. For Dad, we got him tickets to the Twins game. To make it early enough to get our Harmon Killebrew statuettes, we had to leave our house by 8:30. Of course, my brother didn't go to the bathroom or eat before we left, so we had to stop in Blue Earth at McDonald's. Then we had to stop again at the exit off of I-35 where you get off to go to St. Olaf's because my brother can't hold a small pop for 2 freakin' hours.

We almost didn't get a figurine because of that kid. The security guard gave us the head's up that this gate was gone, but if you go down to the next one that they still had some. We went over to the next gate and they had boxes full. They are pretty sweet. Mine is sitting on my desk at work right now.

The pregame was awesome. They had the Mascot Softball Game going on. Early on in the game, the Culver's Ice Cream cone tried to go home on a single. As he rounded third, TC got the ball and sprinted towards the plate. TC dove to protect the plate. The two met in a flurry of fur and cone. TC pulled a reverse Erstad and left the cone flat on his back. A feeling of Deja Vu would washover me not two hours later.

The game itself got off to a really good start. Johan stuck out 3 of the first six hitters he faced. He didn't allow a hit until the third. The defense, though a bit out of the norm, was a great help. Rivas made is first career start at shortstop, while Cuddyer played second base and the hot-hitting rookie Glenn "Gerald" Williams started at third. Joe Mauer got the game off since it was a day game after a night game. Lew started in right and LeCroy was the DH. He got some help from Rivas, of all people, to end the second inning. Rivas made a great diving play up the middle to get Miguel Ojeda. In the 3rd, Geoff Blum hit a rocket off of the top of the baggie, but Lew Ford played it perfectly and threw a laser back to Cuddyer to hold Blum to a single. The next batter would ground into a double play. In the 4th, Shannon Stewart preserved the 0-0 tie with a throw to Redmond that beat Phil Nevin and brought the crowd to its feet. That deja vu I mentioned eariler? Watch the video and see Redmond put his shoulder into Nevin, not the other way around. From our seats, Shannon picked up the ball pretty much right in front of me, so I had a great view of the whole thing.

If only the Twins could hit. When it was announced Jake Peavy would not be starting, and Darrell May would, I was torn. I was looking forward to seeing the Padres' ace all week, but I was lightened by the fact the Twins wouldn't have to try to hit off of the reigning NL ERA king. It really didn't matter much. Shannon got a single and stole 2nd in the first inning. The next hit would come in the 4th inning from "Gerald" Williams, who has hit safely in all 7 of his major league appearances. In the 5th, Matty LeCroy hit a home run over the baggie to give Johan a 1-0 lead. Dad kept saying up to this point that "1-0 might win this thing" and it looked like he was going to be right. The Twins would only get one more hit for the game when Lew doubled with 2 outs in the 9th. But alas, the Twins were already down 5-1 at that point and Torii struck out to end the game.

The 7th inning was something else. Johan walked the first two batters of the inning. The pitches were close, very close, to the strike zone, but were called balls. Johan was getting visibly frustrated with not getting the calls. After getting popout, he walked the next guy to load the bases. This whole time, I kept glancing at the bullpen, wondering if or when Gardenhire would get someone warming up. I understand having faith in Johan, but with the offense as weak as it has been, I would not be inclined to leave anyone in too long. The game was 1-1, and Johan wasn't getting the ball over the plate, at least according to Kevin Kelley. There's not really much of a reason to not use the best bullpen in baseball, is there? It's times likes these, where the offense is a little low, that the defensive side of the ball needs to step up and help carry the team. That may mean a few more innings than you'd like from the pen right now, but those will be repaid when someone gets a 7 run lead to work with and throws a complete game.

As for Johan he ended up giving up a double down the line that scored three, and I knew rally cap or not that this game was over. The Twins' punchless offense is only scoring 3.9 runs/game over the last ten games. They are 3-7 in that span. In the previous ten games, during which the team was 7-3, the Twins were scoring 5.5 runs/game. That run and a half decline in offense has been noticible. 11 games ago (June 8th), the Twins were 35-22 (0.614 WP) and thw White Sox were 40-19 (.677). Now the Twins are 38-29 (.576) while the White Sox are still at .677 (46-22). The gap is widening, from 4 games back to 7.5. The Twins went from a 7 game lead over 3rd place to 1 game. Since last Monday, both the Indians and Tigers have gained on the Sox (+2 and +1 game, respectively), while the Royals stayed steady at 21 back. Over the last week, only the Twins have lost ground. I don't know how you feel, but 3rd place is unacceptable for a team with the kind of quality players in Minnesota. We can only hope that the offense decides to wake up in conjunction with the Sox taking a collective crap.

Post Game

I talked Dad into making a detour to Mystic Lake on the way home. I'd been legal to gamble in Minnesota for almost a year (I'll be 19 tomorrow. I went 363 days without gambling when I could have.) but had never taken advantage. I wanted to go, but several factors conspired against me, primarily my laziness and unwillingness to drive 3 hours. That and usually because I go to night games and just want to get home afterwards. I can't go before because I have to leave straight from work to make the game. This time we got out of the game around 4 and had plenty of time. My sister threw a mini-hissy fit, so I promised that I'd let her have whatever I made. She agreed, but little did she know I was only going to play $10. I just wanted to be able to say I'd done it. With my brother and sister along who are well underage, I had to go with just my grandma. There's nothing wrong with Gramie, but if I'm going to lose more than $10, I'm going with the guys and not in front of my grandmother. I headed to blackjack because I'm pretty decent at it. Anyway, I changed a $5 into chips. Then I realized that $5 was the minimum bet. So I lost that hand. I gave the dealer my other $5, promising myself that that was it. It was just me, the dealer, and another guy. The other two were really cool about my not knowing what was exactly going on. The dealer couldn't say "Changing 5" without laughing. He followed it up with "Here's five. All in." and laugh some more. I hit 21 on that hand, and was back to $10. I'd told myself I was either losing $10 or leaving once I got $15. I figure no good gambling story ends with "I left even for the day." I won the next hand with 16 after the dealer busted. The dealer actually helped me on that. I said "Oooh, I guess I'll have to stay" and he said "Good choice, I have a break indicator up" Which he did and I hadn't realized. With my $15 dollars in tow, I thanked the dealer for helping me out and was on my merry way. After that, I gave my sister the $5 I promised her. I think I'll head back soon with the guys.