September 6, 2002
I hate to say I told you so but...
I told you so!
Just as I so brilliantly predicted, the Twins ended the A's historic win streak tonight.
Okay, so I didn't specifically predict a win tonight.
But still!
Brad Radke got out of some trouble early and went on to pitch a 6-hit shutout.
This is the kind of game the Twins need to play in the playoffs.
They got good starting pitching and like they have done most of the season, the hitters sent balls flying into the gaps all night long (5 doubles and a triple).
Now that the streak is over, I think it must be kind of scary for the A's to have won 20 in a row and only be 2 games ahead of Anaheim (who, by the way, have won 8 in a row) for the division title.
On second thought, there is that stupid thing called the Wild Card, so it doesn't really matter what their division lead is.
Remember when I said I didn't want to play Oakland in the 1st round and that I really was hoping Seattle would win the division and play the Twins?
Well, I still don't want anything to do with Oakland.
But I have almost given up on Seattle and now I am focusing all of my brain power on willing the Angels to the division title.
If the Angels win the division they would, in all likelihood, play the Twins in round 1.
And as good as the Angels have been this year, they don't scare me like Oakland or New York does.
Back to the game tonight...
I was a little disappointed to see that the crowd was only about 27,000.
I would have expected more considering the team is almost guaranteed to make the playoffs, the A's had a 20 game win streak going and the strike talk is behind us.
Of course I don't know how much I can talk, considering I didn't even go to the game.
The Twins' attendance for the season is slightly above 24,000 per game.
That ranks 20th in the majors, which isn't really too bad considering the size of the market and the quality (or lack thereof) of the stadium, not to mention the great anti-sales job Seligula did prior to and during the season.
The Twins attendance ranks ahead of 2 teams with new stadiums (Pittsburgh and Detroit) and slightly below a 3rd (Milwaukee, which is averaging about 700 more fans per game).
Plus, the Twins draw more fans than Chicago, which last time I checked was a pretty big market.
It sure is fun to see your team end a 20 game winning streak AND bust out the Homer Hankies on the same night!
