MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 29.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-3 with two doubles.  Todd Sears was 2-for-2 with a double.  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer, his twelfth.

Pitching stars:  Eric Milton struck out six in five shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk.  Rick Reed struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Bob Wells pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Jon Garland pitched seven innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.  Aaron Rowand was 2-for-4.  Willie Harris was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  There was no score until the third, when Luis Rivas hit a two-out single and scored from first on Jones' double.  The White Sox nearly tied it in the fifth, but were thwarted when Aaron Rowand was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on an infield single.  They did tie it in the seventh, when Rowand scored on a double by Miguel Olivo.  The Twins started the bottom of the seventh with two singles but did not get the runners past first and second.  The first two Twins in the eighth were retired, but Matthew LeCroy walked and Kielty delivered a two-run homer to put the Twins up 3-1.  Joe Crede opened the ninth with a double, bringing the tying run up to bat.  The next two batters were retired, but a wild pitch and a walk put men on first and third.  Harris then struck out to end the game.

WP:  Bob Wells (2-1).  LP:  Mike Porzio (2-2).  S:  J. C. Romero (1).

Notes:  The Twins again treated this like a spring training game.  The only player to play the entire game was Michael Cuddyer, and he shifted from right field to third base in the fifth inning.

Jones raised his average to .300.

Sears ended the season at .333 (4-for-12).

A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-2 and closed out his season at .300.

Michael Restovich was 0-for-1 and ended the season at .308 (4-for-13).

Reed made his only relief appearance of the season and his first since 1997.  Presumably he just wanted an inning to help stay sharp for the playoffs.

Eddie Guardado was held out of the game.  As shown above, Romero got his lone save of the season.

Record:  The Twins closed out the season 94-67, in first place, leading Chicago by 13.5 games.  They would take on Oakland in the American League Division Series.

MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 28.

Batting stars:  Michael Cuddyer was 3-for-3 with a double.  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer, his eleventh.  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse struck out seven in five innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits and four walks.  Johan Santana struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Mark Buehrle pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out seven.  Frank Thomas was 2-for-4.  D'Angelo Jimenez was 1-for-3 with two walks.

The game:  The White Sox put men on first and second with none out in the first and failed to score.  LeCroy singled home a run in the bottom of the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Twins missed a chance to increase the lead in the second, opening the inning with two singles but not bringing them home.  In the fifth, an error and two walks loaded the bases and Maggilo Ordonez delivered a two-out two-run single to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.  The White Sox had men on first and second with one out in the sixth and did not score.  They had men on second and third in the seventh but again did not score.  The Twins had a similar failure in the bottom of the seventh, putting men on first and third with none out and not scoring.  In the eighth, Kielty came through with a two-out two-run homer to put the Twins up 3-2.  Chicago got a walk leading off the ninth but did not advance the runner past first base.

WP:  LaTroy Hawkins (6-0).  LP:  Mark Buehrle (19-12).  S:  Eddie Guardado (45).

Notes:  LeCroy was the DH in place of David Ortiz.  Ortiz came in to play first base later in the game and went 1-for-2 with a double.

Cuddyer was the right fielder.

A. J. PIerzynski was 1-for-2 to make his average .301.

Denny Hocking was the second baseman in place of Luis Rivas.  He moved to short later in the game, with David Lamb taking over at second.  Hocking was 0-for-2.

The Twins basically treated this like a spring training game.  The only players to play the entire game were Cuddyer, Hocking, and Corey Koskie.  Lohse came out after five innings, throwing 81 pitches.

The Twins won a bunch of games late in 2002, and that's reflected in the won-lost records of some of their relievers.  Tony Fiore was 10-3.  J. C. Romero was 9-2.  As shown above, LaTroy Hawkins was 6-0.

Santana got his ERA below three at 2.99.

Hawkins' ERA was 2.13.

Guardado pitched a scoreless inning to drop his ERA to 2.93.

Chicago stranded eleven runners and went 1-for-10 with men in scoring position.

While it was basically a meaningless game, one suspects the Twins may have taken some pleasure in denying Buehrle his twentieth win.

Record:  The Twins were 93-67, in first place, leading Chicago by 12.5 games.

MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 27.

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 2-for-3 with a stolen base, his ninth.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifteenth.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out four.  Tony Fiore pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jon Rauch, who is tall, pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out four.  Jose Valentin was 2-for-4 with a double.  Aaron Rowand was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

The game:  The White Sox took the lead in the first inning, as Valentin doubled and scored on a Magglio Ordonez single.  Chicago put men on first and third with none out in the second but failed to increase their lead.  The Twins tied it in the sixth on three consecutive singles, the last a bunt single by Cristian Guzman that tied the score 1-1.  In the eighth, Koskie hit a two-out two-run homer to put the Twins up 3-1.  The White Sox had men on first and second with one out in the ninth, but Willie Harris popped up and Miguel Oliva fanned to end the game.

WP:  Fiore (10-3).  LP:  Gary Glover (7-8).  S:  Guardado (44).

Notes:  Jacque Jones returned to the lineup and to the leadoff spot, going 1-for-3.

A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-2 to lower his average to .300.

The Twins used three different first basemen.  Doug Mientkiewicz started, Matthew LeCroy came in to start the sixth, and Todd Sears started the ninth.  There do not appear to be any injuries involved, and there were no pinch-hitters or pinch-runners.  One surmises that Mientkiewicz was simply being given half the game off, and that Sears was brought in for defense once the Twins got ahead.

Guardado lowered his ERA to 2.97.

This was Rauch's best game of the season, although it didn't have a lot of competition.  For 2002, his rookie year, he was 2-1, 6.59.  He was a starting pitcher until July of 2004, when the White Sox traded him to Montreal.  He made two starts for the Expos and one the next season for the Nationals, but was primarily a reliever after the trade.  For all of that time, however, he remained tall.

Record:  The Twins were 92-67, in first place, leading Chicago by 11.5 games.