Yesterday, about 30,000 people were in the Dome to witness Johan Santana strike out 17 Texas batters in eight innings. Probably 20,000 of them have blogs and will write a breathless entry about it. I am one of them.
That was indeed something to see. I was there with my oldest son, who is a bigger Twins fan than me and who was keeping score. You can see the score sheet here. We started getting excited after the second inning. Even from our crappy seats (front row by the Twins bullpen -- they are crappy because it's hard to see the plate from there), we could tell Johan was dealing and the Texas batters had no idea how to handle those pitches (except -- damn you, Sammy Sosa). Redmond behind the plate was like a craps player who could do no wrong. Fastball, change-up. Change-up, fastball. Up. Down. In. Out. Simple.
After Cuddyer's solo homer in the second inning, I said to my son "That's probably all the run support Santana will get today." He said "That's probably all he'll need."
The crowd was getting into it, too. In the eighth, Neshek started warming up in the Twins 'pen. My son yelled "Sit down, Neshek!" Santana struck out the side in the eighth, sitting Neshek down.
For you non-Twins fans, you should know that no pitcher in Twins history, not even Aaron Fultz, had struck out more than 15 in a game. That it came in a one-run game made it all the more special.
Wow, Johan. Just wow.
WOW. That score card is a thing of beauty. Don't see that very often. I have a lovely one from a game where Kerry Woods pitched. Kerry who, you ask? Yeah - too bad.
ReplyDeleteKerry (Norwegian) Woods...I remember him. Pitched brilliantly for the Cubbies, then got hurt and was never the same. A more reserved version of Denny McClain.
ReplyDeleteSammy Sosa was Woods' teammate and it was Sammy who marred Johan's otherwise perfect game. Baeball is so full of ironies.