Five cuts: Baker cooks up special outing to keep Twins in the chase

Scott Baker kept the Twins alive with his 11th win of the season and third of September. AP

MINNEAPOLIS -- Things I learned before, during and after the Twins' 6-0 victory over the Royals on Sunday at the Metrodome, the 162nd game of their regular season that feels more like No. 161 1/3:

1. Right-handed starter Scott Baker sure looks ready for his close-up.
Just when you figured the clinching of the increasingly comical AL Central would be celebrated with seltzer bottles, Three Stooges style, Baker came along to make sure the eventual champions earned their champagne. If the Twins win the division, the postseason berth and the trip to Tampa in the next 48 hours, they'll have Baker's clutch performance (7 scoreless innings, 4 hits, 9 strikeouts and 1 walk) to thank. If the White Sox advance, they'll know, too, that it was Baker's door-slamming on Kansas City up in the Twin Cities that forced them to face and beat Detroit on Monday, then face and beat the Twins in Chicago on Tuesday.

Baker, 27, imposed some sanity at the end of a week, and thus a season, that had gotten looney for both Minnesota and Chicago. Remember, he was the one who got the Twins moving against the Sox last week, spoiling Javier Vasquez's "big game'' challenge in the 9-3 opener of their three-game sweep. Baker got ahead of hitters Sunday, struck out the side in the fifth, let no one past second base and slickly handled Alex Gordon's bunt attempt in the second. Had his club won the AL Central outright Sunday rather than just clinching a tie, Baker's two starts -- especially the latter -- would have earned him a spot in franchise annals.

Best of all, he worked efficiently. Not to say Baker necessarily dawdled earlier in his career, but he did tend toward the m-e-t-h-o-d-i-c-a-l. It was his routine, a bad habit worth breaking. "He's changed his demeanor on the mound,'' manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Instead of walking around the back of the mound and pacing all over the place, he gets the ball and goes at 'em. He's not screwing around and taking forever. He gets the ball, gets the sign and throws the ball.''

Baker said he often didn't realize how much time he took, but admits that his current pace make for a better rhythm and keeps his fielders ready. "It definitely helps the flow of the game and it helps me throw more strikes,'' he said. Closer Joe Nathan likes that Baker sticks with the plan whether the bases are empty or jammed. "There might be times, if you've had a 12-pitch battle with a hitter, you might want to take a step back, collect your thoughts, gather yourself, take a breath and then get back at it,'' Nathan said. "But it's usually best to stay in that r hythm and not lose your arm slot. Out there, time seems to get out of your head a little bit. You might think you've been doing something for a minute and it's really been 10 seconds.'' Or vice versa.

2. Sloppiness is contagious.
The rarely seen gnomes who populate the bowels and rafters of the Metrodome constantly recirculate the air in the hermetically sealed stadium to keep the poofy roof aloft. That might explain, though, why the Royals -- who came into town playing such crisp baseball and kept at it for the series' first two games -- caught a dose of TwinSoxitis in the finale.

In the top of the third, center fielder Mitch Maier took off from second on a routine fly ball -- with only one out. Maier already had crossed home plate when he realized that Carlos Gomez had easily doubled him off. In the bottom of that inning, first baseman Ryan Shealy gloved Jason Kubel's ground ball but double-pumped and threw wildly toward second, winding up with men on second and third. Two batters later, catcher John Buck dropped a throw on what should have been a force at home. In the sixth, starter Brandon Duckworth caught Nick Punto way off first, but Billy Butler, subbed in for Shealy, threw past second as well. The next inning, Butler was out, too. And in the eighth, Maier misjudged a fly ball, backing up only to have it drop not far in front of him.

"You'd like to finish up stronger mentally," K.C. skipper Trey Hillman said, "but sometimes that happens, especially when you're in an atmosphere like this.''

3. Probable starter in the possible game: Blackburn.
Nick Blackburn is most likely to face the White Sox if the teams have to play. Blackburn scattered eight hits in five innings Wednesday and was credited in a 3-2 victory over Chicago. But Gardenhire was doing his best to ladle on pressure, in hopes that his club can fly straight to Tampa Tuesday. "It's all on their shoulders now,'' Gardenhire said of the White Sox and their manager, Ozzie Guillen. "I don't have to make a pitching move. I don't have to pinch hit anybody tomorrow. It's all on Ozzie's butt, so go get 'em, Ozzie, and let's see what happens.''

4. Joe Mauer's batting title should count more than other guys'.
First of all, Mauer is a catcher, with nonstop defensive responsibilities, the care and handling of tender pitchers' psyches and all that damn squatting. Second, his team still is guaranteed nothing, which required him to play Sunday without regard for his individual baubles. Third, Mauer still might have at-bats coming while trying to keep his batting average atop the AL leaders. Tiebreaker statistics count in a player's regular season total, so while Dustin Pedroia's .325 is safely sealed for '08, Mauer will jeopardize his .330 average if the Twins play Tuesday. "It's something I look at as, you've got to earn it,'' said Mauer, who went 0-for-3 through four innings before singling in the seventh and knocking a two-run triple in the eighth. "You go out there and swing the bat. Don't take it off and try to sit on the average. You try to win ball games and if it comes down to that, that's what I'm going to have to do.''

5. There is no good way to watch your fate being determined by someone else.
The Twins players will gather Monday afternoon to watch the Chicago-Detroit makeup game at the otherwise empty Metrodome, allowing for a familiar (if not quite spontaneous or adrenalized) celebration in a clubhouse setting. Gardenhire said he plans to stay in his office with a cigar, assuming no gnome busts him for flouting the "Noooooo smoking!'' rules in the synthetic ballpark.

On Sunday, of course, players and coaches had the AL Central race in their faces all day, courtesy of the auxiliary scoreboards that refreshed constantly with White Sox updates. But Saturday provided the real toughie, in terms of Gardenhire following along at home vs. staying cool and detached from the later Chicago-Cleveland game at U.S. Cellular.

"I got home and found my daughter's cat on the kitchen table with a piece of chicken he shouldn't have had,'' the skipper said. "The cat just had surgery, too, and nobody else is home. [Hitting coach] Joe Vavra calls to tell me what's going on in Chicago and I said to him, 'Joe, I really don't care. Here's a cat that's just had surgery, he's got a cone on his head, he's up on the table and he's got a piece of chicken.' '' Disaster was averted, though. The cat is fine and, for at least a couple more days, the Twins are OK.