Are Twins home free? Not yet, despite beating Royals

The Twins will be spectators today, hoping for champagne and not a flight to Chicago.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN, Star Tribune

Last update: September 29, 2008 - 12:08 PM

The small, flat-screen television in Twins manager Ron Gardenhire's office will be tuned to the White Sox game today for the first time in weeks.

With the American League Central race seemingly turning on every pitch, Gardenhire in recent days couldn't bear to watch Ozzie Guillen's squad.

But the Twins finished their 162-game schedule with a half-game lead over the White Sox on Sunday, as Scott Baker pitched the Twins to a 6-0 victory over the Royals.

A announced crowd of 42,942 at the Metrodome had its attention split between the on-field events and the out-of-town scoreboard, as Chicago defeated Cleveland 5-1.

Today, the Twins will watch and wait as the White Sox play their 162nd game, making up a Sept. 13 postponement against the Tigers at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field.

If Detroit wins, it's party time for the Twins, who would celebrate their fifth division title in seven years.

If the White Sox win, the Twins will fly to Chicago for Tuesday's one-game playoff.

"You know what, I'm going to come in here and maybe smoke a cigar," Gardenhire said. "And whether we go play those suckers or not, it's up to them. It's all on their shoulders now.

"I don't have to make a pitching move, I don't have to pinch-hit anybody. It's all on Ozzie's butt. So go get 'em, Ozzie. Let's see what happens."

The AL Central winner will open the playoffs at Tampa Bay on Thursday, but Chicago's victory Sunday sent the division race into overtime.

In fact, when Chicago's score went final, the Twins were clinging to a 2-0 seventh-inning lead over the suddenly resilient Royals.

A loss would have left the Twins nervous as can be today -- they would have been facing the possibility of elimination with a White Sox victory over Detroit.

"We've been playing a lot of Game 7s, and [Sunday] was a Game 7," Twins shortstop Nick Punto said. "Scott Baker took that ball and performed like a Game 7 starting pitcher."

Baker (11-4) held the Royals to four hits over seven innings, matching his career high with nine strikeouts.

With the Twins managing only two runs on two hits off Royals starter Brandon Duckworth (3-3) over six innings, they needed Baker at his best.

He struck out the side in the fifth inning. By then, his control was so good that umpire Derryl Cousins seemed to expand his strike zone on the outside corner, with Baker capitalizing on every extra inch.

"You have to earn it," Baker said. "Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. When it does, you have to take advantage."

Finally, Delmon Young lined a two-run single in the seventh, stretching the Twins' lead to 4-0, and Joe Mauer added a two-run triple in the eighth.

Mauer went 2-for-5, maintaining his AL batting lead at .330, though the stats on Tuesday would count toward the regular-season totals.

"Hopefully it doesn't happen," Twins closer Joe Nathan said of facing the White Sox in a one-game playoff. "But if it does happen, that's fitting.

"It was kind of an ongoing joke that nobody wanted to win the Central. ... [Today's] going to be the first time we're all going to be big Detroit Tigers fans."

While Gardenhire watches in his office with a stogie, Twins players will likely gather in the clubhouse near two larger televisions, hoping the White Sox fall so they can avoid another date at U.S. Cellular Field, where the Twins finished 2-7 this year.

Somewhere nearby, the champagne will be on ice.

"I'll tell you what, if they lose, it won't be subdued," Gardenhire said. "We'll have a little bit of fun here. These guys have earned it.

"We'll see what happens, and if that doesn't happen, we'll go to Chicago and try to get after those guys there."

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