Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen pulled his team off the field at the Metrodome in the seventh inning Thursday night after fans threw hats and baseballs onto the field following the ejection of Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

At least it's better than Free Dart Night.

First, that was an absolutely horrendous call by Marty Foster. If you #### up a call that badly, you should at least let the manager get in his two-cents.

Second, Ozzie orchestrated that whole thing like a maestro. He just did everything perfectly to take the moral high ground while also having a little fun with the situation. Of course, he also managed to get into a shouting match with a fan sitting above the dugout.

Third, Ozzie apparently should never have let his team back on the field. What a comeback.

Hold on there everybody. You mean to tell me that Marty Foster, he of the 64-inch wide strike zone in the NYY-BOS game over the weekend, screwed up a call at third base? The hell you say.

That aside, you'd think Twins fans are accustomed enough to Gardenhire getting bounced that it wouldn't inspire such rancor. It must have been a REALLY bad call.

If it was a bad call, I don't understand baseball rules (which has happened before). If you offer on a bunt, and you get hit, isn't it supposed to be a strike?

As for the comeback, it was pretty upsetting. I could go all fanboy and point out that the Twins seemed to benefit strongly from their fans' unfounded tantrum, but we got our asses handed to us pretty strong.

Nice. I hope our homefield leveraged schedule will be enough, but it looks like it's going to be a fun, close race.

This reminds of the old football joke:

"The coach was so mad at the refs that he pulled his defense off the field. Three plays later, the Chargers scored."

If it was a bad call, I don't understand baseball rules (which has happened before). If you offer on a bunt, and you get hit, isn't it supposed to be a strike?

I'm a Sox fan. It was a dreadful call. Span had pulled the bat back with plenty of time, and Foster had an ideal angle.

Gardenhire was tossed after an extended argument

If you #### up a call that badly, you should at least let the manager get in his two-cents.

Sounds like he did let Gardy get his two cents in. And sounds like Gardy may have wanted to get tossed.

Second, Ozzie orchestrated that whole thing like a maestro. He just did everything perfectly to take the moral high ground while also having a little fun with the situation. Of course, he also managed to get into a shouting match with a fan sitting above the dugout.

Third, Ozzie apparently should never have let his team back on the field. What a comeback.

If the Twins were that fired up, sounds like Gardy's the one who handled it great.

I caught 5 miutes of htis game. It was the 3-run homer that put sht Twins up. I couldn't beleive how excited the players were in the dugout. OK, Hawk said they'd come back from a 4-0 deficit, but they still seemed far more fired up than that. Looks like the argument & ejection had them a bit extra on edge.

I was at the game tonight. The fans were riled up over the call, but no more than any bad call. Gardy ran out there and was thrown out almost immediately, as he should expect for arguing balls and strikes. He followed Foster around for a long time yelling at him, then gave Tim Welke an earful as well. On his way off the field, he punted his cap, and then the crowd really got fired up. One guy threw his hat on the field in support. Dozens more followed. Then Guillen pulled the team as soon as a baseball was thrown from the stands. The fans really gave him hell after that, but I don't think very many fans noticed that anything but hats had been thrown.

I'm not by any means an Ozzie Guillen fan. In fact, I can't stand the guy. But he handled the situation tonight like a champ.

I was embarrassed to be a part of the crowd tonight. A lot of people really made jackasses of themselves. I was ready to run for my life if they called a forfeit.

who knew that Minnesota baseball fans were so lively?

It's shocking the Twins are half a game out of first despite having Livan's corpse in the rotation.
Might as well trade Liriano for a proven winner like Eric Byrnes.

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen pulled his team off the field at the Metrodome in the seventh inning Thursday night after fans threw hats and baseballs onto the field following the ejection of Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

Where did the fans get the baseballs from? Was there just one or two, perhaps from fans who had caught a foul ball, or a veritable flood of them? If it was the latter, did they bring them to the game hoping this would happen?

I don't think the Twins would take Byrnes, they appear to be more than set in the outfield (Spahn, Gomez, Young, Kubel, Cuddyer), plus I think he's out for the year with a torn hamstring.

I believe Liriano is injured as well (and there's a little-know rule against trading players on the DL).

I don't know if he's a proven winner either, most of his teams have been the bad kind that backs into the post season due to a weak division, I'm not even sure he'd won a post season series before last year.

Not to denigrate the guy, the D-Backs are obviously missing him this year, as he was a huge part of their run last year, adding some much needed offense to a lineup full of young guys who haven't (and may not) fulfill their offensive potential.

Good Lord Ozzie, don't encourage him.

I was 15 rows up above the twins dugout in the midst of the throwing, chanting, etc. There were exactly two baseballs thrown and about 30 hats, although most didnt make it to the field. The fans absolutely turned the game around, shook Danks, and helped fire up the team (Morneau said the fans inspired them after the game). There wasn't much of a reason to throw the baseballs, but the rest of the ruckus was great. Along with the comeback and talking to Ron Coomer after the game, it was one of my favorite games ever.

Even Ken Harrelson said it was a bad call. That makes it epic.

If it was a bad call, I don't understand baseball rules (which has happened before). If you offer on a bunt, and you get hit, isn't it supposed to be a strike?

Yes--any swinging strike that hits the batter is a dead ball, still a strike, no advance. Had to call strike three on a Little League kid this year on that (though it was a full swing, not a bunt.)

That said, I haven't see the play to say whether or not it should have been ruled a swing.

> who knew that Minnesota baseball fans were so lively?

Chuck Knoblauch


I think last night is just the result of too many hockey fans in the crowd. They saw a hat fly and instincts took over.

Worst call I've seen this year. He pulled the bat back to his chest and jumped backwards as the ball hit him. Great comeback by the Twins.

Livan gone, Liriano back rumors are heating up. Typical of Twins management to make the move 2 weeks late. The "cheap Twins organization" could be a factor here. They've effectively mitigated any Super 2 risk and Livan is headed towards vesting some of his "performance" bonuses. My guess is Liriano makes the start Monday in Seattle (one day after his scheduled turn in AAA).

Twins fans are actually pretty good fans. I've been pleasantly surprised by them over my time in Minneapolis.

Sounds like he did let Gardy get his two cents in. And sounds like Gardy may have wanted to get tossed.

I think Gardy got so riled up BECAUSE Foster tossed him within 5 seconds. Gardy gets ejected pretty frequently, but this was the most animated I have ever seen him because it was the rare time when a) he was right, b) the umpire didn't at least acknowledge he may have royally ###### up.

Livan gone, Liriano back rumors are heating up. Typical of Twins management to make the move 2 weeks late. The "cheap Twins organization" could be a factor here.

I thought they would do it immediately after the game. That way it would be eerily similar to cutting bait on the Cubanistas (Batista/Castro) in 2006 right after the game in which Kubel hit a walk-off grand slam against the Red Sox.

It was a crappy call. Gardy came out fired up, and was run in a hurry due to being loud from the start while arguing a judgment call.

Then the crowd did turn the game around.

"And here come the pretzels!"

I'm not sure #12 could've got more things wrong in such a short post.

Even Ken Harrelson said it was a bad call. That makes it epic.

3

Nah, Hawk called it the right call live, on the replay Jackson said the Sox got away with one, crediting Pierzynski for his appeal. Harrelson was silent.

Worst call I've seen this year. He pulled the bat back to his chest and jumped backwards as the ball hit him. Great comeback by the Twins.

I don't think it even compares to the call in the game against Boston earlier this year, where the umpires reversed the call after they ruled the trap a catch. Yes, it was a trap, but changing that call changed everything that happened after it. The Twins finished the play according to the umpire's call, and the Sox finished the play assuming it was a trap, even though the umpire called the batter out. The Twins were right to play it according to the umpire's call, and they got hosed big time for it.

The game turned into a laugher, so it didn't matter, just like the call last night didn't matter much either (in fact, as #14 says, it shook Danks up a lot and almost certainly helped the Twins more than it hurt them).

I think Gardy got so riled up BECAUSE Foster tossed him within 5 seconds. Gardy gets ejected pretty frequently, but this was the most animated I have ever seen him because it was the rare time when a) he was right, b) the umpire didn't at least acknowledge he may have royally ###### up.

But...it says very clearly in the rule book that you cannot argue balls and strikes, and that anyone doing so will be ejected. Gardy knew what he was getting when he went out there. I think he was riled up because the call was so terrible.

Chuck Knoblauch

Yes, I remember some of those games. The most interesting was when Knoblauch and the Yankee's played the Twins on dollar hot dog night. I was at that game, but wasn't sitting in LF. It turns out that people can throw hot dogs pretty far.

I think Knoblauch only had that one game in 2001 that was really bad. (I could be wrong, but that was certainly the worst of the three game set.) He was booed heavily the whole series, but that night was dollar dog night, and college students could get tickets in the LF seats for five bucks with their school IDs. Enter Knoblauch in LF, the biggest villain in the Twins baseball universe at the time*. It was a recipe for disaster.

After 2001, the college tickets were moved to the upper deck. Knoblauch returned the next year with Kansas City with no incidents.

*He'd be replaced with Selig and Pohlad as the season wore on and contraction became a very real threat to the franchise. In 2002, if Selig were placed in the same scenario as Knoblauch, he'd have left in a body bag.

I think Knoblauch only had that one game in 2001 that was really bad. (I could be wrong, but that was certainly the worst of the three game set.) He was booed heavily the whole series, but that night was dollar dog night, and college students could get tickets in the LF seats for five bucks with their school IDs. Enter Knoblauch in LF, the biggest villain in the Twins baseball universe at the time*. It was a recipe for disaster.

I had forgotten about the cheap college student ticket aspect of the story.

He was heavily booed for the whole series, and there were a few things thrown on the field at the other games of that series. I was at a couple of the games of the series, and dollar dog night was definitely the worst. But I was sitting in the upper deck ($4 tickets at the time, I think). I was a big dollar dog night enthusiast at the time. I was in grad school, and many of the guys in my lab were also big baseball fans, so we went to a lot of games. The season after the Knoblauch game, they started to limit the number of hot dogs you could buy at one time, although the two events might have been unrelated.

I found the situation kind of weird. Knoblauch had been a good player on the Twins World Series team. He went to the Yankee's at a time when the Twins were terrible; who could really blame him? By the time 2001 came, I found Knoblauch's case to be sort of sad. He had developed a mental block related to throwing the ball, and had been moved to left field. I hadn't lived in Minnesota for very long, so perhaps there was a lot of other stuff that I was unaware of, but the treatment he got from the fans didn't make a lot of sense.

Where is Yakov Smirnoff when you need him?

"In Milwaukee, players hit the sausages; in Minneapolis, sausages hit the players."

Actually, that year was a lot of fun at Twins games. The team was starting to turn around. All of the college students at the game made for an interesting crowd. My favorite memory was when a bunch of kids showed up, each with one letter on the shirt, and spelled out something like, "the official fan club of Doug Mientkiewicz," or something else equally wordy.

I never sat in those left field seats. We always sat in the upper deck, along the right field line. We were usually in the same section as the Latroy Hawkins Fan Club -- an organization that often had its loyalty tested!

The season after the Knoblauch game, they started to limit the number of hot dogs you could buy at one time, although the two events might have been unrelated.

IIRC, they were directly related, and I think the Twins actually said so.

I found the situation kind of weird. Knoblauch had been a good player on the Twins World Series team. He went to the Yankee's at a time when the Twins were terrible; who could really blame him?

He was also perceived (whether accurately or not) as a real jerk during his years in Minnesota. That's a situation where people will tolerate it as long as you're hitting .300 for their team, but as soon as you go ask for a trade and get out of town, they'll absolutely hate you.

It's interesting to see what the Twins ended up with out of that trade.

- 2.5 years of Brian Buchanan
-- 2 years (more or less) of Jason Bartlett
--- whatever amount of Delmon Young and Brendan Harris you can attribute to Bartlett

- 6 years of Cristian Guzman
-- Brian Duensing (currently at AAA Rochester, 3rd round comp. pick from Washington)

- 6 years of Eric Milton
-- 4 years of Carlos Silva
-- 5 years and counting of Nick Punto
-- 9 games and counting of Bobby Korecky (currently at AAA Rochester)

- 4 games of Danny Mota

- cash from NYY

So, love him or hate him, the Twins have gotten quite a bit out of their 1989 first-round draft pick.

I never sat in those left field seats.

I loved those seats in those years. They were general admission then, and my brother and I would show up a good hour or so before they opened the doors so we could get down to the front row for BP. The first time we did this, I got two baseballs, one from Joe Mays' kid, who was no more than 4 or 5 years old, and one from C.C. Sabathia. I probably sat in the front row for BP at least 20 more times after that, and never got another ball. The ball I got from Mays' son had "ORTIZ" branded into it backwards. The guy could rake with the Twins, too.

My brother has a drawer full of at least 50 baseballs that he got going to the games early with me for BP on those cheap tickets. While he collected baseballs, I collected autographs. Every season I would go above the visitor's dugout and get my scorebook signed as a memento for the seasons. Among the players on those scorebooks are Barry Larkin, Johnny Damon (multiple seasons), Cal Ripken, Jr., Paul Molitor, Harold Baines, Mike Sweeney, etc. It was a fun thing to do for a high schooler.

I always liked the right field upper deck general admission, because for a very low price you could sit in seats with a pretty reasonable view of the infield. The only drawback was that you couldn't see the right fielder, but for $4-5 tickets, you could put up with this.

I left Minnesota about 3 years ago. If I still lived there, I would be getting excited about the new stadium, but I feel some nostalgia for the Metrodome, if only because I have seen so many games there. The dome sort of sucks in a way, but on a cold and rainy (or snowing) April night, it is a great place for baseball. Those first few weeks of the season are going to be tough in an outdoor stadium. Lots of rainouts, home openers where it is 10 degrees, etc.

I always liked the right field upper deck general admission, because for a very low price you could sit in seats with a pretty reasonable view of the infield. The only drawback was that you couldn't see the right fielder, but for $4-5 tickets, you could put up with this.

I had those seats for the playoff series in 2003 against the Yankees. For how much those tickets were (I don't remember exactly, but it was more than $5 for sure), it was a pretty raw deal to have no view of right field and most of center.

The dome sort of sucks in a way

I absolutely agree. I have good memories of it, but it's a sorry excuse for a ballpark, and I've left many a game with a sore neck from having to look to my side to see the plate.

Those first few weeks of the season are going to be tough in an outdoor stadium. Lots of rainouts, home openers where it is 10 degrees, etc.

I have to believe they'll have a road-heavy April schedule most of the time. Otherwise, the differences between Minneapolis and Detroit/Cleveland/Chicago are greatly exaggerated. I think building it without a roof was a mistake, but I think it will be all right.

I had those seats for the playoff series in 2003 against the Yankees. For how much those tickets were (I don't remember exactly, but it was more than $5 for sure), it was a pretty raw deal to have no view of right field and most of center.

They were $5 during the regular season. I don't know what they are now.

I always went to the home opener, and lots of early season games in Minnesota. (By the summer, I went less, as I was often busy with other activities.) There were a lot of cold, wet, and occasionally snowy nights. Game time temperatures in the 20's were a common occurrence. I think that it was more like 10 degrees a couple of times. (I recall 2001 being particularly bad.) Inside it was warm and dry. If they spend most of the first couple of weeks of April on the road, then things will be a lot better.

Now, once the weather gets nice, having an open air stadium is better than a retractable roof. They are more open, provide better views of the surrounding area, have better air flow, all of that. They are cheaper, too, which in this case was most important.

Baseball outside on a July night in Minnesota will be a wonderful thing. No debate about that.

I think last night is just the result of too many hockey fans in the crowd. They saw a hat fly and instincts took over.

That explains the octopuses (or is it octopi?).

They were $5 during the regular season. I don't know what they are now.

They're $7 now. $4 on student night with a school ID. But MLB set the prices for the playoff series. I'm sure I paid at least $20 in 2003.

Baseball outside on a July night in Minnesota will be a wonderful thing. No debate about that.

It's going to be absolutely amazing. Right now a lot of people in the area are still down on the new stadium because it won't have a roof, for the reasons you mentioned. It's really a shame, because they haven't even seen the park yet, and they already don't like it. I think once June comes around the naysayers will quiet down a lot.

The one time I was at the Metrodome, I sat with Charlie Saeger and a work colleague who was attending her first MLB game. We came in during BP, and before we even got settled in our seats a BP HR whizzed within about a foot or so of my colleague's head. Welcome to the majors, kid.

-- MWE

An autograph from Joe Mays's 4-year-old kid may not be valuable now, but who knows what the future will bring?

You're right! How foolish of me to let that little rascal run away without getting an autograph!

Actually, my favorite batting practice moment was in 2003 when Javier Lopez was just coming up with the Rockies. Colorado was in town for a series, and I had picked up Lopez on my fantasy team to help out with ERA and WHIP. He's out in the outfield shagging flies, and I wanted him to throw me one of the baseballs he got, so I shouted out to him "Lopez, you're on my fantasy team!" He just turns, looks right at me, and says, "Seriously?" His expression was a mixture of "kid, I'm not that good" and "wow, that's really cool." Never got a baseball from him, but got a nice pitching line from him that day of 0.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 2 HR. The pressure to stay on my roster must have gotten to him.

Now start consistently calling strikes when the hitter makes no attempt to avoid the pitch. Please!

If I still lived there, I would be getting excited about the new stadium, but I feel some nostalgia for the Metrodome ...

I haven't lived there snice the days of Hosken Powell and Bombo Rivera, but I'm still nostalgic about the Met in Bloomington. Seems like the HHH Dome had an awfully short lifespan, doesn't it?

Third, Ozzie apparently should never have let his team back on the field. What a comeback.

Really? Seemed like nothing more than a typical three-run bomb to me. Nothing out of the ordinary. Morneau did essentially the same thing on Monday with his double.

The fans absolutely turned the game around, shook Danks, and helped fire up the team (Morneau said the fans inspired them after the game).

Danks pitched just fine. He gave up the three run bomb and little else. He left with a runner on first in the 7th.

Not a great outing, but certainly good enough to win. This loss is all on the bullpen and defense.

Danks pitched just fine. He gave up the three run bomb and little else. He left with a runner on first in the 7th.

I'm thinking you didn't see the game. Danks hit Span, the umps blew the call, chaos took over the stadium briefly, Ozzie pulled his players off the field, order was restored, Span dug in, and Danks couldn't hit the plate. Ozzie yanked him immediately, and you could tell Danks was extremely shaken and frustrated at that point. His body language couldn't have been clearer.

The point about the chaos shaking Danks up is that Danks had been pitching effectively, but after the Span walk Ozzie was forced to go his bullpen sooner than he would have otherwise, and the Twins absolutely killed the Sox relievers.

Nah, Hawk called it the right call live, on the replay Jackson said the Sox got away with one, crediting Pierzynski for his appeal. Harrelson was silent.

Could've sworn I heard Harrelson agree, but you're right, DJ did most of the talking there. I guess I was working on the "silence gives assent" theory.