MPR's William Wilcoxen previews playoff baseball’s return to Minnesota as the Minnesota Twins host the Oakland Athletics in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. The last post-season baseball game at the Metrodome was the Twins' Game 7 victory in the 1991 World Series. This year's team hopes to recapture some of the Twins' postseason Metrodome magic.
WILLIAM WILCOXEN: The Twins raised some eyebrows around the country when they took the first game of the series from the heavily-favored A's in Oakland. Now a successful defense of their home field in games 3 and 4 would send Minnesota to the American League Championship Series. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz says this time of year, the Twins appreciate the difficulties visiting teams face in the Metrodome.
DOUG MIENTKIEWICZ: You don't get too wrapped up in home field advantages in baseball, but when you're talking about the Metrodome, it's a huge key. I mean, there's an extra person in the field, and that's the screaming fans we have in the stands. So it's a tough place to play.
Now, all of a sudden, you can't see the ball. The ball gets stuck in the lights. The ball gets stuck in the roof. And now the ball is going to get stuck in Homer Hanky. So you got to pay attention, otherwise you're going to get hurt.
WILLIAM WILCOXEN: The Twins expect 53,000 fans to fill the Dome. The noise they make will reverberate off a fiberglass roof that just happens to be the same color as a baseball, providing a challenging backdrop from which to pluck a fly ball. As challenging as the Metrodome is for visiting teams, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is reminding his team not to depend on the building to deliver a win.
RON GARDENHIRE: It's very loud. It's unfortunate that the Dome can't win the game. The Dome is not playing. We are and we have to go out and play. Our team has to go out and win the baseball game. The fans are going to help, we know that. It's going to be loud and they'll be on our side, and that's exciting. But we still have to go out there and play.
WILLIAM WILCOXEN: Most of the Twins are playing in the big league playoffs for the first time. The games in Oakland gave them a taste of the limelight, but third baseman, Corey Koskie, acknowledges he's hardly an expert on the playoffs.
COREY KOSKIE: The biggest difference is there's a lot more excitement in the crowd where they hinge on every pitch, any strikeout they're screaming, and that was one of the things that I've noticed. But I've played, what, two postseason games, so you can't really-- I'm not really a good guy to make a comparison between regular season and postseason.
WILLIAM WILCOXEN: The Twins hope to see a difference in their play during the early innings. They fell behind the A's in each game in Oakland, thanks to three errors in game 1 and a rocky pitching performance in game 2. Fielding was one of the team's strengths during the regular season, and Gardenhire expects the Twins will be more comfortable catching the ball on their home field.
For pitching, the Twins will turn to Rick Reed. Reed is the only Twin who's pitched in the World Series, having been through the playoffs as a member of the New York Mets in 2000. He's been one of the Twins most reliable starting pitchers this season, and is one of the few starters who did not spend time on the injured list this year. Catcher A. J. Pierzynski says Reed is a rock.
A. J. PIERZYNSKI: He keeps us in games. He puts the ball in play. Keeps the defense ready. He doesn't walk a lot of guys. And he's been great for us. I mean, he's done a lot. He's put in a lot of innings for us and we needed that.
I mean, with all these guys we had go down and all the people we had that got hurt, to see him step up and give us the innings the way he did. Him and Kyle Lohse were the two guys we had in the rotation the whole year, and they were solid for us.
WILLIAM WILCOXEN: When they come to bat, the Twins will face Barry Zito, whose 23 wins this season were the most in the American League. Zito throws a wicked curveball and does it with his left hand. The Twins have struggled against left-handed pitching this year. A's manager, Art Howe, is aware of the Twins troubles with southpaws, but Howe says Oakland has confidence in Zito, not just because he's a lefty, but because he's good.
ART HOWE: We know that Minnesota's had some problems, more so against lefties and righties, but it doesn't really matter. Barry's just a competent pitcher, and we feel good no matter what the numbers are against any team when he's on the mound.
WILLIAM WILCOXEN: Game 3 gets underway at 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. Game 4 is scheduled for noon on Saturday. I'm William Wilcoxen, Minnesota Public Radio.
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