Twins, Athletics ready to face off

Posted 6:33AM on Tuesday 1st October 2002 ( 22 years ago )

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire felt thankful just to go to spring training, so reaching the postseason is a huge plus. His Twins meet the Oakland Athletics in the playoff series the baseball hierarchy never expected to see: two small-market teams making it big. Just months ago, the Twins were destined for elimination. And the A's, well, they just keep finding a way to get by - and win - on a low budget. ``We're just here to play. We have all year,'' said Gardenhire, whose team plays Game 1 of the best-of-five AL division series Tuesday at the Coliseum. ``We got to spring training, that was an accomplishment.'' When this division series is done, it will mark the first time a team with a payroll in baseball's bottom half has won a round in the postseason since the playoff format was restructured in 1995. ``Both teams are similar in the fact of a lot of homegrown talent,'' A's first baseman Scott Hatteberg said. ``You really have to look at the development part of the organization. ``You don't see it very often any more. A lot of teams just go out and buy players, and this team is built from within. You have got to give general managers credit for getting certain guys to fill holes, and then you are able to compete.'' Commissioner Bud Selig didn't have competition in mind for Minnesota. Instead, he was thinking about contraction. Last November, he announced his plans to shut down two franchises, including the Twins. Instead, when a potential work stoppage was averted Aug. 30, the Twins were given new life, at least for four years anyway. Under the new labor contract, no teams can be eliminated through the 2006 season. Owners tried to fold the Twins and Montreal Expos after last season, and Selig had indicated they would try it again this year. ``Baseball at this time of year is really good anyway, but I think it's extra special,'' Hatteberg said. ``For those people that were trying to get rid of them, it will be extra special for us to play and have them watch.'' Both the A's and Twins clinched in the clubhouses of last year's division champs - the A's at Seattle's Safeco Field, and the Twins at Cleveland's Jacobs Field. This is a big deal for these two franchises. With all the talk about competitive imbalance, the A's and Twins won their divisions despite starting the season with two of the four lowest payrolls in the sport. The Twins were 27th out of the 30 teams, the A's 28th. But because of sharp management decisions and lots of young talent, they have succeeded. The A's won more than 100 games for the second straight year, and they have a lot at stake in this series. They expect to advance past the first round after losing in five games to the New York Yankees the last two seasons. Determined to reach the ALCS this time, manager Art Howe has opted to use a three-man rotation in the short series - meaning the Twins will have to go against aces Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. ``We've tried the four-man and it hasn't worked, so we'll try the three-man,'' Howe said. Zito has an AL-best 23 wins, Mulder has 19 and Hudson 15, and they're 24, 25 and 27 years old, respectively. ``Three homegrown guys and we've all improved every year in our development and our experience,'' Zito said. ``I know I'm a lot more locked in mentally from when I came up. I have so much more of an idea of what I'm doing out there mentally more than anything, because everything is mental now. It's an amazing metamorphosis of young pitchers coming into their establishment.'' Brad Radke starts the opener for the Twins, against Hudson. Hitting left-handers Zito and Mulder may be the Twins' toughest task. Minnesota's lineup is dominated by lefties, and the team's average against right-handed pitchers is 30 points higher. The Twins, in the postseason for the first time in 11 years, won the AL Central, but have the worst record of the four AL playoff teams at 94-67. ``We hear a lot of people say the Twins are America's team, we're just happy and we have nothing to prove,'' Minnesota center fielder Torii Hunter said. ``We have a lot to prove. We got here, and we may as well go all the way.''

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