¡VIVA RIVAS!

Congratulation to the Detroit Tigers, who clinched their first playoff birth since 1987. 1987, you say? Isn't that also the year the Twins had a few 30-HR hitters and shallow rotation? I'll let you draw any further parallels, Twins fans.

With that astounding display of good sportsmanship out of the way...Tigers, POR FAVOR, GET ON WITH THE LOSING ALREADY! El Presidente, Torii and Co. smell blood, and their thirsty desires must be satiated. Even so, the folks at V. Rivas would like to offer an olive branch -- and it's safe to say we speak for Twins fans everywhere -- when we say to the Tigers, "Thank Rivas you're not the White Sox."

It's shaping up to be a tense week for the AL Central title, as the Tigers play Toronto and KC and the Twins play KC and the White Sox. Watching the Tigers pound KC had to be a relief to the Twins, who have struggled -- along with other playoff-caliber teams -- against the Royals as of late. Sadly, KC's play may be a result their being distracted by more important things.

The remaining question for the regular season was whether or not Gardy would pitch Johan on Sunday if the division title was up for grabs? Thankfully, he said 'no.' Instead, he'll be setting up the rotation for the playoffs so that Johan can pitch twice in the 5 game series.

Glen Perkins seems to be getting a lot of work lately, and it's interesting that Gardenhire used him in a close game today. (Perkins faced one batter and gave up a hit.) When they called him up last week I'd have thought this question crazy, but aside from his one-batter outing today he has pitched well, so V. Rivas asks, "Is Gardenhire thinking about a second lefty in the playoff bullpen?"

It seems a silly thought, especially with such a strong bullpen, but as we've seen this year, Gardy has really taken to managing his bullpen according to the best matchups. With all the lefty hitters in the Yankees lineup, it's entirely possible that Gardy wants to see how Perkins responds in more pressure-packed situations with an eye towards the playoffs next week.

Phil Nevin spanked his first HR as a Twin Sunday. ¡Bienvenido a los Jemelos de Minnesota!

Just to give Twins fans an idea of the sad state of affairs in Minnesota, here's a note from today's AP game recap: "The Orioles drew 2,153,139 fans this season, the lowest total in the 15-year history of Camden Yards." That's right, Orioles fans are so pissed off about their team that 1,000 of them marched to protest owner Peter Angelos AND refused to show up more than 2.2 million times.

Twins officials are thrilled to be on pace to draw that many fans. It means they'll make enough money to add payroll! And to think, all it took was a once-in-a-generation season by the Twins. Is the Metrodome really that bad, or do Minnesotans really love the Vikings that much more than their baseball team?

LINKS, LINKS, LINKS!

Justin Morneau is generating M.V.P. talk from a couple of newspapers, including none other than the The New York Times, which just can't get enough of the Twins this year. St. Petersburg Times is the other.

The Seattle Times also found it appropriate to write about the super awesome Twins in their Sunday edition.

The folks here at V. Rivas couldn't help grinning at the thought of fans' reactions to this suggestion from Pioneer Press sportswriters: Ron Gardenhire for AL Manager of the year.

The Twins are ranked #2 in ESPN's Power Rankings. Pretty sure that's the highest they've been this year.