Don't touch that dial!
...If you're watching this Twins-Royals series, that is.
I'm a Twins fan, of course, but even if equating "Twins-Royals baseball" with "must-watch-to-the-very-end TV viewing" sounds like a stretch--did you see the games the last two nights?
Tuesday: Twins up 3-0, bottom of the 9th. Rookie (and increasingly intriguing) Twins starter Nick Blackburn has pitched his most impressive game of the year--8 1/3 scoreless innings!--before giving way to closer Joe Nathan with two men on base. Two men on base? Not to worry. This is exactly the kind of situation in which Nathan (perfect on the year in save chances to this point) huffs a little and puffs a little and blows out the rally candle.
Except that this time, Royal Mark Teahan scoots one down the left field line...left fielder Delmon Young makes an ill-advised dive...and next thing you know, it's an inside-the-park home run. Tie game.
On to the 10th: and the Twins score a run and the Royals, well, don't. Twins win in 10--extending the Royals' losing streak to nine straight games, by the way.
--Blackburn didn't get the win; Nathan didn't get the save; Delmon Young coincidentally batted 0-for-6 at the plate over the course of the game. I wasn't in the clubhouse after the game, of course, but more than one report indicates that it wasn't a very happy clubhouse for a team that had just won a 10-inning game.
[On the other hand, I would assume that of the two teams' clubhouses, the Royals' might not have been the rockingest place in town, either...]
Then, Wednesday: Looked like the losing streak was over for the Royals--the Twins played a crummy game in the field (including two errors by Delmon Young!) and going into the ninth, the Royals were up 8-3. 8-3: that's a five-run lead! A couple of hits, etc., a couple of runs....and suddenly a two-out, three-run homer by Twins pinch-hitter Craig Monroe (who has been, frankly, pretty useless up to this point in the season)...and it's tied!
So then in the top of the 10th, Justin Morneau pops a line drive just over the right field fence, and Joe Nathan comes in for the bottom of the 10th inning and this time he gets the save...
I suppose if were a Royals fan, I might consider touching the TV or radio dial (possibly even with the business end of a boot, sledge hammer, or shotgun), but as a Twins fan....
I can't wait for the series finale that's scheduled to start in approximately 30 minutes.
Or should I just wait until about 9:30 p.m. and turn the game on then?