Scott Ulger Topic Page

The Twins 2009 season and the Metrodome era finally came to an end on Sunday night with the Yankees completing the sweep of the Twins with a 4-1 victory. Carl Pavano pitched his best game as a Twin, but was ultimately tagged for 2 solo home runs in the 7th inning. Nick Punto made a costly out on the basepaths, running through Scott Ulger's stop sign, but in the end the Twins just couldn't muster enough offense to compete with the Yankees.

The Twins defied expectations by making it to the playoffs this year. With 87 wins, the team played up to their potential, but sub-par years from Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland allowed the Twins to become a playoff team. The Team played its first month without Joe Mauer and its last month without Justin Morneau. Kevin Slowey was lost for the season and Francisco Liriano failed to return to his pre-inury form. They lost on the bet they made with Joe Crede's health and failed to see any improvement from Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez. Despite all that, they made the playoffs for the first time since 2006, and that's nothing to be ashamed of.

Everyone in the Twins' organization constantly preaches about doing the little things right. Dick and Bert seemed to emphasize the importance of playing defense, stealing, bunting, etc. even more than usual on Wednesday night's telecast.

The Twins tied the Marlins 4-4 in the eighth, but it came with a huge cost. Scott Ulger initially held up Justin Morneau on a Jason Kubel double to left, but when Josh Willingham had trouble fielding the ball in left he sent Morneau home. The ball beat Morneau and he was forced to collide with Miguel Olivo who was blocking home plate. Olivo missed the ball, Morneau was safe and even Kubel came around to tie the game. Morneau was slow to get up though and came out of the game after that inning.