they’re back

Ron Gardenhire has done it again. The Minnesota Twins, the flagship of baseball’s limited payroll fleet, are in the playoffs for the fifth time in the former Jackson Met’s eight seasons as manager. They made it again tonight with a 12-inning 6-5 win over Detroit in the American League Central tiebreaker, a game that had the good old Metrodome rocking. Matt Tolbert, the former Ole Miss and Centreville Academy star, was in the middle of things for the Twins, going 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI, the latter coming in the bottom of the 10th. It was a bitter end for Detroit, which appeared to have the division sewn up weeks ago. Former Jackson General Carlos Guillen was a quiet 0-for-3. Former Mississippi Brave Zach Miner got a blown save; he got a big out — against Tolbert — in the sixth but yielded a two-run homer to Orlando Cabrera in the seventh that put the Tigers behind.
P.S. The Chicago White Sox picked up the option on pitcher Freddy Garcia, the former Jackson General who beat the Tigers in a big game Sunday. He’s not done yet.