All's well that ends well.
Talk about a see-saw game. The Twins scored four runs in the second, capped by Brian Dozier's two-run double to go up 4-0. Duff-man was cruising, and it looked like it might be an easy win. Then a two-out infield single was followed by three straight walks (I have no idea if C. B. Bucknor and His Amazing Flexible Strikezone was a factor) and a real single and it was 4-3. Cotts got out of that inning, but in the sixth Fien gave up a two-run homer to put the White Sox ahead and it looked like the Twins were going to let one get away.
Then in the seventh, with Dick Bremer saying the Twins needed a jolt, Migue Sano jolted a three-two pitch over the fence to tie it up. In the eighth, Gladden had no more said something like "This is where in the past the White Sox would fall apart, but they've really cleaned up their fielding" when they made two errors, leading to three runs and an 8-5 lead. Perkins came in to pitch the ninth and made it interesting, giving up three singles (one of the infield variety) and a run, but eventually got the last out and the Twins had a win.
I'm not as down on Torii Hunter as some around here. We make fun of the idea of his veteranny veteran leadership, but I'll concede that it's reasonable to think that younger players, especially outfielders such as Hicks, Rosario, and Buxton, might learn something from him. Given that we didn't really expect to be competing for a playoff spot this year, I can understand why they signed him.
But last night, judging from Gladden's play-by-play, there were two balls in the sixth inning that a major league outfielder should be expected to catch that Hunter didn't get to. One was the Abreu double shortly before Garcia's homer, which cost the Twins at least one run, and the other was the LaRoche double, which did not. In fact, Gladden came as close as a Twins broadcaster is ever going to come to criticizing Hunter for not being able to get to those balls.
I don't expect the Twins to take Hunter out of the starting lineup at this point in the season, although I would certainly "rest" him every chance I got (and it's interesting that Molitor pinch-ran for him last night). But the interesting question is, what happens next year? With Rosario, Hicks, and Buxton, and Kepler not far off, they really have no use for Torii Hunter. On the other hand, the Twins have spent the entire season, including a lot of their marketing campaign, telling us what a great player Torii Hunter still is. What happens if he wants to come back in 2016?
Now, Hunter may take the Twins off the hook. He may look at his dwindling numbers and decide to retire before he drops below the Mendoza line. But what if he doesn't? If Torii Hunter decides to play next year, will Terry Ryan give him a hearty handshake and wish him well in his efforts to find employment? Or will he decide that the Twins simply cannot afford to let him go, both from an on-field and a marketing standpoint? The answer to that question will tell us a lot about the mind-set of the Twins' front office.
Just one more thing. Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that we're discussing a game that was played in September, and it was a meaningful game for the Twins? This is the first time since 2010 that this has happened. I have no idea how the rest of the season will play out, but no matter what happens from here, it's been a really fun year, and I just wanted to make sure we recognize that fact.
The Twins go for their third straight win tonight. Tommy Milone, who hasn't gotten blown out but also hasn't actually pitched well for a while, goes against Carlos Rodon, who pitched pretty well in the month of August. Unfortunately for him, it's now September. Did I say I have no idea how the rest of the season will play out? Well, I lied. Of course I no how it'll play out. The Twins will have a season-ending thirty-three game winning streak! We'll just have to settle for 99-63!
I keep telling myself this every day. The best part of this season was that there were NO expectations of this team competing, and here they are in the hunt for October baseball. If they finish 6th best in the AL and miss it altogether, I'm still incredibly proud of this team and very excited for next year when we'll have a full year of Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Duffey, and Hicks. And hopefully Berrios. There is good reason to be excited.
It'll be interesting to see who gets playing time when Hicks returns. My bet is it'll be Hunter sitting the most.
I really don't see him coming back in a starting role next season unless it's a situation similar to Juan Castro where they're just challenging Buxton to force his way onto the team.
His slash line over the last 28 days is .131/.232/.213. Brutal.
I think I'd rather they challenge Buxton with Hicks, Rosario or Arcia.
I'm resigned to the fact that Arcia is going to be traded to a smarter team (the Rays probably? Oakland?) for peanuts and absolutely rake for the next handful of years.
Same, although I'm fairly confident the pain will be lessened by a Hicks-Buxton-Rosario outfield. They will get ALL of the flyballs.
That will be beautiful. I'd still love to have Arcia even if he's just playing 7 innings against RH starters and is subbed defensively late in the game. Also, I'm hoping the bench next year isn't 4th outfielder, 2nd catcher, and futility infielder.
I haven't given up on Arcia, but his slash line of .202/.260/.379 in AAA isn't exactly inspiring confidence. I wonder if he's still hurting and playing through it. There's no obvious reason he should suddenly have forgotten how it hit.
And in another year or two, a Kepler-Buxton-Rosario OF?
There have been some doubts about Kepler in the outfield because of shoulder troubles. He's played more outfield than anywhere else but he has 12 games at DH and 37 at first this year.
The games at first were mostly early in the year, when they had Buxton in center and didn't really have a first baseman. They've been playing him in center since Buxton left--it seems like if they had concerns about his outfielding, they'd put him in a corner position.