The game was spectacular. But Chip Caray showed that not only does he have an propensity to say, “FISTED” and “SPANKED”, but he can also blow calls with the best of them.
However, that’s not the reason for this post. It’s again the impressive speed in which Turner Sports churns out these press releases after an event is finished. This comes less than an hour from TBS’ signing off after one of the best baseball games you’ll ever see. Here’s the release:
Notes from the MLB AL Central Tiebreaker Game on TBS – Tuesday, October 6, 2008
The MLB Postseason begins on TBS on Wed., October 7 beginning at 2 p.m. ET with TBS MLB on Deck followed by a tripleheader featuring the Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies (2:30 p.m. ET), Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees (6 p.m. ET) and St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers (9:30 p.m. ET).
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Detroit Tigers (5) @ Minnesota Twins (6) in 12 innings- Twins advance to the MLB Postseason
Game announcers: Chip Caray (play-by-play), Ron Darling (analyst) and Craig Sager (field reporter)
Darling on Twins All-Star catcher Joe Mauer: “He’s got to be the closest thing to “The Natural” in Minnesota.”
Darling on the Twins two centerfielders, Denard Span and Carlos Gomez: “(The Twins) have two centerfielders who can cover a lot of ground. Denard Span and Carlos Gomez, who sits on the bench, are both amazing defensive centerfielders.”
Darling on Joe Mauer’s catching style: “What you want from your catcher is a low target and to be very quiet (behind the plate). It doesn’t get any quieter than Mauer, he gives the sign and receives the ball. He waits for the ball to come to him, he doesn’t stab at the baseball.”
Darling on what Twins shortstop Nick Punto brings to the team: “Punto is one of those guys that doesn’t hit too much and he doesn’t do too much (that shows up) in the box score. (Twins manager) Ron Gardenhire has said that he’s got a bunch of ballplayers. What are ballplayers? Those are guys that take the extra base, guys that know when to steal a base, guys that throw to the cut-off man, guys that back up bases, all those little things that you love to see. Punto does all of that.”
The TBS booth spoke to Tigers manager Jim Leyland during the game.
Leyland on the difference between Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez before the All-Star Break and afterwards: “He was really tentative early in the season. He’s much more aggressive (now).”
Darling on teams trying to limit the pitch count of young starting pitchers: “It’s really the state of the game right now that if you have young pitchers, you try to limit their innings in their first couple of seasons. The most famous (case) is the ‘Joba Rules’ (with the Yankees and Joba Chamberlain) because it’s in New York. But every team is trying to limit the pitches of their young pitchers.”
Darling on the city of Detroit rallying around the Tigers: “Sometimes what happens when you have these kinds of teams, the community can really rally behind the team. Certainly they’ve done that with the Tigers this year (in Detroit). Makes you think of 1968 when there was so much racial strife in Detroit and they rallied around that (Tigers) team that year.”
Darling on the maturation of Tigers rookie starting pitcher Rick Porcello: “It’s nice to see young players grow up right before your eyes. That’s what we’re seeing from (Rick Porcello) tonight.”
Darling on how to pitch dangerous hitters: “Baseball is a very strange game. The more dangerous the hitter, the more you have to pitch them inside. You have to crowd them so they can’t advance the ball on the outside part of the plate.”
Darling on Joe Mauer mediating a disagreement between his pitcher José Mijares and home plate umpire Randy Marsh: “Joe (Mauer) will try to be like (former United Nations Secretary General) Dag Hammarskjöld at the UN and try to appease both parties.”
Darling on Twins outfielder Delmon Young: “(Twins manager) Ron Gardenhire told us that (Delmon Young) is as talented a player as has ever seen. He just goes through streaks of inability to repeat his mechanics at the plate. But he can hit it out of sight.”
Darling on the struggles closers sometimes face when pitching more than one inning: “We’ve seen this happen many times to closers. They come in (the game) in the eighth inning, they spend up all that adrenaline. Then they sit for 15-20 minutes before going back out there (for the ninth inning) they lose the snap on the curveball or some velocity on the fastball.”
Darling on the strategy that managers have to use regarding pitchers in extra inning games: “The hard part for managers in games like this is to try and decide which starters (pitchers) are you going to (use and) take away a start if they go on to the Postseason and which ones can come in and throw a few innings.”
TBS field reporter Craig Sager interviewed Twins shortstop Orlando Cabrera after the game
Cabrera on winning the tie-breaker game and heading to the Postseason: “This is absolutely the most unbelievable game I have ever played (in) or seen. I’m really proud of my teammates. When we were down, we got together and we had to pull it out. Here we are, we’re going to the Postseason.”
Cabrera on the support the Twins received from the sold-out Metrodome: “We knew that 55,000 (fans) were going to help us win. They always support us and we did it for them.”
TBS field reporter Craig Sager interviewed Twins catcher Joe Mauer after the game
Mauer on playing in the tie-breaker game: “(It’s) unbelievable. One of the best games we’ve played and one of the best games I’ll ever play in. Detroit doesn’t need to get their head down for anything, that was a hell of a game. It was a well-played baseball game and I’m happy to have been a part of it.”
Darling on the Twins facing the Yankees in the LDS: “(After) Jubilation and a huge win in game #163 (of the regular season)…what is your reward? The Bronx Bombers.”
Darling on the Twins winning the tie-breaker game: “(The Tigers) showed some incredible fight. They got up 3-0 early…they needed to add runs on early and they weren’t able to. That became the sparring match in extra innings. The tenth man of the Twins, the Metrodome crowd, got this win.”
I’m looking forward to posting these releases during TBS’ coverage of the MLB Postseason.
