Back in the Seats

By David Jensen

There I was, back in Vermillion and loving every minute of it. One day, Tyler calls me and says we need to go to a Twins game. When you’ve just driven 1,100 miles, what’s another 300 to see the Twins? The next morning I met him in Sioux Falls. He said he would drive to the cities. It was a welcome break from behind the wheel. Unfortunately, I had to leave Mary in Sioux Falls. I hope she will find it in her heart to forgive me.

As we drove through south-central Minnesota, and over the Minnesota River, I could hear the cheese in the hills calling; come and get me, come and get me. Unfortunately, I did not have my pan with me. We arrived at the dome well before the gates opened, so we bought our tickets and went across the street to Hubert’s. The inside was crawling with yuppie scum. We took our beers to the patio where we could sit in peace and smoke like Americans. Sitting in the shade, High Life in hand, we watched the U.S. Open and listened to an old hen waitress and a young waitress droll on about nothing, of which they knew little. When the yuppies started spilling into our corner, we made tracks for batting practice.

Stadium security hadn’t opened the gates, so we stood in line and baked in the humid air, the one thing I hadn’t missed about the plains. When they finally let us in, we made a bee-line for the most beautiful place in southern Minnesota: Section 210. After soaking in the glory for a moment, we went to the rail and started shouting down to the Braves in the outfield shagging balls. You probably saw it on web gems, but someone threw one up, Tyler bobbled it and when it was on its way back to the field, he swatted it under the railing and caught it in the back of his knee. Later on, a brave hit a home run that bounced a few rows behind us that bounced back to the field. Some kids shouted at the fielder to throw it up to them and when he did, he over shot them and it fell right into Tyler’s hands. So he got two balls, all the while I just wanted to play catch with Andruw Jones from the upper deck, but that was not to be. Not long after that, Sanquist showed up fresh from the cheese mines, giving Tyler someone else to brag to.

With the Twins trying for the sweep the game promised to be a good one. Santana was pitching against Tim Hudson. In the first, Santana gave up a single and a walk with one out, then retired Andruw, and struck out Jeff Francoeur. He wouldn’t give up another hit until the fourth.

Hudson was just as good in the early innings. Torii Hunter hit a double in the second, but Hudson cut him down at third on Mike Redmond’s grounder to the mound. Luis Castillo collected a two-out infield hit in the third, but Joe Mauer lined to left to end the inning.

Atlanta finally broke through in the fifth when Brian McCann led off the inning with a homer. Chipper Jones led off the sixth by coaxing a walk, then stole second. Andruw and Francoeur followed with infield pop-ups. Left fielder Matt Diaz came through with a double putting Atlanta up 2-0. Johan gave up a hit and struck out two in the seventh. Santana’s final line: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 ks.

Johan was very good that night, but Hudson was great. After Castillo’s single, Hudson retired the next 10 batters. He only struck out two, but working quickly, he engineered an endless parade of ground balls. The biggest threat against him was in the seventh. Dorn led off with a walk. Justin Morneau, grounded to short forcing Dorn at second, and advanced to second on an error by the second baseman. Hunter got him to third on a groundout. But Redmond failed to get him in, popping up to the first baseman.

Jason Kubel led off the eighth by grounding out to second for the third time. With a 2-0 count on Nick Punto, Bobby Cox came out to the mound. After a brief discussion, Hudson left the game due to tightness in his shoulder. Hudson ended with 7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks. He was relieved by Rafael Soriano who got Punto and Jason Tyner to fly out.

Braves closer Bob Wickman came in in the ninth to face the top of the order. Castillo led off with the Twins’ first hit since his infield hit in the third. Mauer grounded out to short, getting Castillo, who was running on the play, to second. Then Dorn ripped one into the corner for a triple making the score 2-1. That’s when the Braves really fell apart. Morneau grounded to short, keeping Dorn at third, but Edgar Renteria bobbled the ball and couldn’t make a play, giving Justin an infield hit. Next, Hunter hit one to third baseman Yunel Escobar. Dorn broke for home on contact. Escobar’s throw home was high, getting by McCann and tying the game. With runners on second and third, mighty Redmond stepped to the plate. Failing in two previous chances with runners in scoring position had only made him mad. The best hitting catcher in the game didn’t disappoint us a third time. He lashed a Wickman delivery into left, allowing Morneau to trot in with the winning run.

It was a great game, probably the best I’ve seen in person. Afterwards, we raced down to Mankato for the post-game party. There wasn’t a riot, but we still had a good time.