I felt guilty about not attending the Twins’ final scheduled game ever in the Metrodome. A family commitment on Sunday took precedence in Rochester.
I did attend the final Twins game at Met Stadium and skipped out on work that afternoon to attend. I feel guilty about that, too. I thought going to the game was important but there were only about 16,000 of us who thought so.
A story from long ago is that a new Twins broadcaster, confident of his skills to promote interest in the club, pronounced that attendance would increase by 200,000 in his first season with the club. Before the last game of the season he was told, “If the Twins don’t draw 176,000 today, you’ll miss your prediction.”
The last games in the dome might be a final Twins goodbye to several players including pitchers Carl Pavano and Glen Perkins, catcher Mike Redmond, third baseman Joe Crede and second baseman Alexi Casilla.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire and his coaches did a lot with less including a starting pitching staff that had two guys left from the five-man rotation that began the year. Gardenhire, his staff and players deserved the capacity crowds and roars of approval heard in the final days of the dome and the regular season.
The fans turned out in attendance numbers of over 40,000 four times in the last five games. The season total of 2,362,149 is third best in franchise history.
Michael Cuddyer’s inspirational hitting and play at first base will long be remembered by Twins fans as one of the best late season performances in franchise history. Leo Durocher was wrong when he said, “Nice guys finish last.”
The Twins were 16-4 in their last 20 games. Their unlikely heroes included outfielder Delmon Young who hit his first career grand slam home run on Friday night, the same game that rookie starter Jeff Manship won his first game.
Then Young hit two home runs yesterday as the Twins swept Kansas City in three games to tie Detroit for first place in the Central Division and force a tie-break game at the dome with the Tigers tomorrow afternoon.
The joy in Twinsville helped Minnesotans feel better after a sixth straight loss to Wisconsin in football. After the Gophers lost to the Badgers on Saturday, Minnesota coach Tim Brewster said: “It just rips your guts out.”