The Candlestick Maker

Tuesday, October 06 2009 @ 01:02 PM EDT

The Minnesota Twins hope this man can light the way to the postseason as they take on the Detroit Tigers in a winner-take-all for the American League Central Division title.  He's the subject of our POTD.

Scott Baker gets the ball for the Twins against the Tigers Rick Porcello at 5:07 p.m. EDT today at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.  Baker saved the day for Minnesota the last time they faced the Tigers.  He earned the win by giving up just one unearned run over five innings as the Twins salvaged a split of their four game series with an 8-3 win last Thursday at Comerica Park.  Had the Twins lost that day, the Tigers would have won the A.L. Central flag.   After missing the start of the season with a shoulder injury, Baker overcame a 2-6 start by winning 13 of his last 16 decisions.  He's 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA against the Tigers in 2009. 

The Tigers will look to Rick Porcello, a contender for the A.L. Rookie of the Year award.  He's been 5-2 since August with a 3.19 ERA and is 14-9 on the season.  At the Metrodome, he has struggled by going 0-2 but his last two starts against the Twins in September were quality efforts even though they didn't result in a win.

The Twins were just 70-70 when they left the Rogers Centre last month after taking just two of four against the Blue Jays but they won 16 out of their last 20 games to force today's tie-breaker.  The Twins managed to get by probable Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to complete a three game sweep of the Kansas City Royals at the Metrodome. 

Minnesota experienced a 163rd game of the season last year when they lost 1-0 to the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field for the Central Division flag.  Will their experience of a year ago prove to be beneficial this time around?

How about the Tigers and their state of mind?  They managed to blow a 7 game lead to the Twins from September 6th, which included a split of a four game series against the Jays in Motown.  They only got the split thanks to a rare off night by Marco Scutaro with the glove as Detroit escaped with a walk-off win in extra innings.  The Tigers also had to deal with the distraction of a weekend altercation between Miguel Cabrera and his wife which resulted in no charges being laid.  However, a game-saving catch by Curtis Granderson in the eighth inning on Sunday helped Justin Verlander and company avoid a sweep by the Chicago White Sox as they held on for a 5-3 win at Comerica Park.  They hope that momentum will carry over to today's game.

So, Bauxites?  Who do you like in this one?  I predict a 4-3 win for the Twins.  Baker gets the win by going six solid innings, Joe Nathan gets the save and Michael Cuddyer, stepping up for the injured Canadian Justin Morneau, knocks home the winning run.  I think the Metrodome will see more playoff baseball before giving way to the new Target Field in 2010.

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