Twins and Fans Party in Dome!!!! [Archive] - NFL Picks | Sports Betting Picks

Durango53

10-02-2006, 12:51 PM

Sunday after the Twins' 5-1 victory over the White Sox when Torii Hunter and a couple of teammates decided to remain in the dugout to watch the video of the Tigers and Royals, who were in extra innings.

They watched briefly and returned to the clubhouse. But five minutes later the entire roster returned to sit in the dugout, and it was something to watch players' antics as they cheered for last-place Kansas City. Hunter was at this best as he led the crowd in cheers.

Meanwhile, family members of players and coaches had gathered in the visiting dugout.

So when the Tigers made their final out -- giving the Twins their fourth AL Central title in five years -- there was a celebration like you have never seen with the crowd, players and players' families.

some 35,000 fans and the Twins players cheering for Kansas City to beat Detroit on Sunday so the Twins could make one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports, winning the AL Central title on the final day of the season.

Durango53

10-02-2006, 01:29 PM

Jason Bartlett, the late-arriving shortstop who rates very high on the Twins' MVP list, threw out Ryan Sweeney to end a 5-1 victory that enabled his club to finish 30 games over .500 (96-66). It was 4:07 p.m., and a roar accompanied the players as they congregated near second base.

Once this ritual was concluded, the big screens went to the telecast from Detroit. And that's when a scene for the ages played out.

There was still a mob -- call it 35,000 -- in the Dome, and these now-rabid folks wouldn't go home until they found out whether these Royals could offer a final gift to the Twins.

The indoor zanies agonized with every pitch as Kansas City's Joe Nelson and Jimmy Gobble worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation with the score still 8-8 in the bottom of the 11th.

Bert Blyleven, the Twins' television analyst, was standing in the back row of the press box, transfixed by a crowd going crazy over something that was happening two Great Lakes away.

"This is unbelievable," Blyleven said. "This reminds me of '87, when 50,000 fans were here to welcome us back from Detroit."

The strangeness became otherworldly a few minutes later, when Kansas City scored twice in the top of 12th. The 35,000 cheered for every called ball, every baserunner and both of those runs.

By then, Torii Hunter, Luis Rodriguez and other Twins were in front of the dugout, acting goofy and signaling for the crowd to get louder.

Gobble got three more outs in the bottom of the 12th -- the last on a Sean Casey groundout. It was 4:44 p.m. Officially, the fans had stayed for 37 minutes for the chance to share this moment with their heroes.

And here the Twins came, racing from the dugout and staging a wilder tangle behind the pitcher's mound than was the case six nights earlier when a wild-card berth was guaranteed. Now, they were champions of the Central.

"How crazy has this whole thing been?" Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Our last game had been done for a half-hour before we got into first place by ourselves for the first time all year."

The madness came from being rewarded for a relentless pursuit -- for winning 71 of 104 since June 8, for playing .683 baseball for 16 weeks, for doing it ultimately without Liriano, without Stewart, with Radke gritting his teeth on every pitch, with Bartlett and Punto and Tyner and Reyes and Neshek going from afterthoughts to vital parts.

On the last day, the Twins and their newly raucous fans had a first-place finish to celebrate -- and a chance to start baseball's grand second season under their Teflon sky.

"Now they can come into here ..." said Gardenhire, shouting through a hand-held microphone to the fans still not wanting to leave, "and play baseball in our house."
Wow.... I know I was hanging on every pitch also on the broadcast.