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Whatever hopes I had for Cole De Vries for next year may have just flown out the window. I know we're dealing with an exceptionally small sample size, but after two relief appearances and one two-inning start looking the way they did I'm not sure there's another conclusion to draw. Small sample though it is, in those scenarios where a guy is playing for his fringe future with the club, it's all we have.
I'm not going to say that Twins players or management are complacent, because it's impossible for any of us to really know that. Yet in a season that's gone as terribly as this one has gone, when all things are lost, you still look for signs of drive and desire and a will to win. We may as well be chasing fairies, since we generally assign those things to performance. But today, only Minnesota pitcher had a clean line. De Vries, Shairon Martis, Josh Roenicke and Brian Duensing all gave up at least one run this afternoon. Caleb Thielbar's ninth was good.
Oswaldo Arcia drove in six of the Twins' seven runs, although on that last two-run single in the eighth he was then tagged out rounding first. He probably thought the relay was going home and not behind him at first. Rookie mistake.
The story of the afternoon though will be the A's clinching the AL West title before winning the game, thanks to the Royals taking out the Rangers earlier. It's Oakland's second division title in a row, and also their sixth since 2000. They'll be making their seventh trip to October in that same time frame. They're just two games off the pace set by the Boston Red Sox for the best record in the American League this season. Can they catch Boston with seven games to go?
There's not much else to say about this game, other than it really puts the cap on an amazing Minnesota sports Sunday.
ROLL CALL!
- SooFoo Fan (27)
- twinsbrewer (24)
- kenzertz (20)
- Brananorama (15)
- twinsgirl197 (11)
- The last Twins rookie to collect six RBI in a game? Tony Oliva, in 1964.
- Oakland outscored Minnesota 39-14 in this series. Four you non-Mathletes of the world, that's basically almost ten to three and a half every game. Let's not calculate batting and earned run averages.
- Arcia's day was pretty good, with the exception of that moment at first base in the eighth. 3-for-4 with a homer, six runs batted in, and a walk. I mean, c'mon.
- Alex Presley picked up a pair of hits and Brian Dozier was good for three, including a double and a run batted in.
- Presley was active in the field today. Nice work.
- Josmil Pinto got a hit. Of course.
- Coco Crisp has loved Twins pitching this series.
- Crisp arrived in Oakland for his age-30 season, and then proceeded to steal more bags than he ever had in his career. This is not your early 00s Moneyball squad.
- While I'm cheering for the Pirates in the NL come the playoffs, I haven't decided who to cheer for on the AL side. It might be Oakland.
- I saw Bridesmaids for the first time last night. Finally. What, that has nothing to do with the Twins? You're welcome.
- And because you want to know: the Twins were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position today. Better than usual!