ST. LOUIS - Joe Nathan took the mound with a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth Friday in St. Louis. He immediately gave up a double to Colby Rasmus, and just as immediately knew he had created the most delicious moment in baseball -- a power pitcher facing a power hitter with the game on the line.

"I knew who was coming up next," Nathan said.

Albert Pujols sauntered up representing the tying run. Nathan and his manager didn't even discuss an intentional walk. "It's dangerous, but that's the way our game is supposed to be played," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "People didn't come here to see us intentionally walk Albert Pujols. They came to see him hit, and our best pitcher pitch to him."

Nathan did just that. He had converted 12 consecutive saves before Friday, but he hadn't faced Pujols during that time. "I had thrown one pitch to him in my career," Nathan said. "First-pitch curveball in San Fran, and he flew out to center."

Nathan hadn't familiarized himself with Pujols' body of work, and his body language. "He's the rare guy who will make adjustments during an at-bat," Nathan said. "Not between at-bats. While he's at the plate."

Nathan threw a fastball on the outside corner and noticed Pujols pull his left foot toward left field. "I think he was looking for something in, so he could tie this game," Nathan said.

Elliott Polk (Clickability Client Services) — Dml - Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Twins closer Joe Nathan

Pujols took a low sinker, then Nathan "jumped on" a fastball, giving it a little extra. It sailed in higher than Nathan wanted, and Pujols took a vicious cut, fouling it back.

Nathan threw another sinker, low. "He made me throw another pitch," Nathan said.

Nathan threw a slider, down and away, and Pujols missed, and the Twins were two more routine outs away from a 3-1 victory and Nathan's 13th consecutive save.

"You have to be so careful," Nathan said. "You could throw him a good slider, and then throw him the same one and he'll pound it 10 rows deep.

"You've got to be able to command both sides of the plate, occasionally get him off the plate, change his eye level up and down. He makes you work.

"He raises your game. You know your focus is going to be there, your concentration is going to be there. If it's not, he's going to kill you."

Nathan was still standing at his locker, dripping sweat off the end of his nose, 20 minutes after the game, still relishing "the challenge."

He has risen to many. It's difficult to believe that Nathan had never been a closer when the Twins traded for him before the 2004 season. He has compiled 219 saves since arriving, just 35 shy of Rick Aguilera's team record. A season and a half after the Twins raised eyebrows by signing Nathan to a four-year contract worth $47 million that will run through at least 2011, when he'll turn 37.

The question then was why the Twins would invest that much in a closer. The question now is how they could survive without him.

"I don't even want to think about it," pitching coach Rick Anderson said.

Nathan is 1-1 with a 1.52 ERA and 18 saves, a year after having a 1.33 ERA and 39 saves. The Twins wouldn't have contended last year, and wouldn't be afloat this year, without him.

Unlike most closers, he has cultivated a variety of pitches -- four-seam fastball, sinking fastball, slider, curve, changeup -- that should lengthen his career.

"I need to have everything working for me," he said. "I felt a couple of years ago that my slider was the pitch people were sitting on, so I had to re-develop my sinker. I've got to keep hitters guessing."

Instead of walking Pujols, Nathan went after him with those sinkers and sliders, leaving him pouring sweat and relishing the encounter long after the game.

"There are a lot of good hitters in the game," Nathan said. "They don't get much better than him."

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP.