[Nick Soulis]

Series #242



Blackburn’s Masterpiece Sends Twins Forward
Minnesota Outlasts Milwaukee in Seven-Game Classic



FIELD OF DREAMS SERIES #242 — GAME 1 BOX SCORE
Metrodome – Minneapolis, MN
October 1, 2009
Milwaukee 1989 Brewers 6
Minnesota 2009 Twins 4
WP: Mike Birkbeck (1–0) LP: Joe Nathan (0–1, BS) SV: Dan Plesac (1)
HR: MIL – Charlie O’Brien (1)
Player of the Game: Robin Yount – 3-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 R, double
Brewers lead series 1–0

THE RICE COMMENTARY — “The Ballad Beneath the Roof”
Beneath the white dome’s trembling skin, the game pulsed with a restless heart.
It began in calm rhythm — the Twins humming with the quiet efficiency of modern craft. Then came the veteran’s reply.
Robin Yount, the same lean figure who once ran through County Stadium’s sunlight, brought his grace into the artificial glow.
His bat moved not with fury but with faith,and each crack of contact seemed to whisper: time bends for the patient.
When Greg Brock’s ninth-inning single split the infield,you could almost hear the air shift — a sound older than applause,
the sound of a story being retold for those who thought it finished.
Scott Baker labored nobly, his pitches clean and upright as scripture,
but the Brewers played the older gospel — of endurance, of doubt, of the long road back.
And as the Dome lights faded, the men from Milwaukee walked off beneath a ceiling that had seen heroes come and go,
carrying with them the knowledge that memory never loses its swing.
The scoreboard read 6-4,but in truth, the game ended in reverence —
for craft, for courage, for the stubborn refusal to yield.

FIELD OF DREAMS SERIES #242 — GAME 2 BOX SCORE
Metrodome – Minneapolis, MN
October 2, 2009
Minnesota 2009 Twins 10
Milwaukee 1989 Brewers 5
WP: Kevin Slowey (1–0) LP: Jamie Navarro (0–1) SV: Glen Perkins (1)
HR: MIN – Joe Crede (1, GS in 7th) • MIL – Greg Vaughn (1, 5th)
Player of the Game: Michael Cuddyer – 3-for-5, 2 R, RBI
Series tied 1–1

GRANTLAND RICE COMMENTARY — “The Song of the Dome”
Beneath that taut white ceiling, the game found its music again.
The Twins, struck dumb by defeat one night earlier, answered the next with noise — the kind that shakes rafters and restores faith.
Michael Cuddyer was the conductor, turning each swing into a note of insistence.Kubel and Mauer carried the harmony, and in the seventh, Joe Crede struck the crescendo — a grand slam that rang like a hymn through the Dome.It was a moment of redemption, not only for a man, but for a city that once more believed its team could rise from silence.
Slowey endured, Perkins preserved, and the ghosts of Kirby and Hrbek seemed to smile from the corners of the field.
When the dust settled, the scoreboard glowed with evenness — 1-1 — and the Dome sighed in contentment.
For baseball’s oldest truth had been retold: Adversity visits, but heart abides. And somewhere deep in Iowa, the corn rustled in agreement, whispering that the dream goes on.

Field of Dreams - Series 242 - Game 3
Minnesota 2009 Twins 6
Milwaukee 1989 Brewers 2
County Stadium – Milwaukee WI | October 4 2009
WP: Nick Blackburn (1–0) 
SV: Joe Nathan (1) 
LP: Teddy Higuera (0–1)
Player of the Game: Michael Cuddyer – 3-for-3, 2 R, RBI, BB
Series: Minnesota leads 2–1

The Twins have seized control through precision.
Minnesota’s formula is simple: attack the strike zone, control the pace, and trust contact. Nick Blackburn embodied that ethos, scattering eight hits but never yielding rhythm. Cuddyer continued his series-long clinic in professional hitting — patient, opportunistic, and steady — the exact traits the Brewers lacked tonight.
For Milwaukee, the frustrations were familiar. Doubles piled up, but sequencing failed. Their middle order, once potent, looked tentative against late-movement fastballs.
If this series has revealed anything, it’s that modern efficiency can humble vintage explosiveness.The Twins leave County Stadium with a 2–1 lead and a quiet confidence. The Brewers, back against the wall, will turn to experience and home pride to save themselves in Game 4.

Series #242 - Game 4
Milwaukee 1989 Brewers 10
Minnesota 2009 Twins 8
County Stadium – Milwaukee, WI
WP: Tony Fossas (1–0) 
LP: Craig Breslow (0–1) 
SV: Dan Plesac (2)
HR: MIN – Mauer (1), Young (1) | MIL – Deer (1), Molitor (1)
Player of the Game: Rob Deer – 2-for-3, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Series Tied 2-2

County Stadium has seen its share of noise, but few nights like this.
The Twins jumped out like a thunderclap — homers by Mauer and Young, doubles off the wall — and by the time Bill Wegman trudged off the mound in the second, it looked over. Then came the slow turn.
Deer’s two-run blast made it human again. Brock, Yount, Molitor — singles with intent, swings with defiance. And by the fifth inning, the Brewers had turned embarrassment into electricity. Minnesota’s bullpen simply unraveled. Too many walks, too much adrenaline, not enough calm. Breslow’s four-pitch walk to Vaughn in the seventh put Milwaukee ahead for good — a reminder that patience is power. It was, in the end, one of those unforgettable nights where the improbable becomes inevitable. The series is tied, and both teams now understand exactly how fragile control can be in this field of dreams.

Field Of Dreams Series #242 - Game 5
Milwaukee 1989 Brewers 7
Minnesota 2009 Twins 3
County Stadium – Milwaukee, WI | October 6, 2009
WP: Chris Bosio (1–0) 
LP: Scott Baker (0–1) 
SV: Dan Plesac (3)
HR: MIL – Yount (1), Molitor 2 (3)
Player of the Game: Paul Molitor – 3-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
Series: 1989 Milwaukee Brewers leads 3–2

Milwaukee’s veterans seized the night. Paul Molitor’s two home runs weren’t just highlights — they were declarations. The first built the lead, the second crushed the comeback. Yount’s three-run shot in the second redefined the crowd’s heartbeat, and Bosio’s steady hand guided them the rest of the way. Scott Baker’s early struggles cost Minnesota dearly. The Twins never regained rhythm, their three-run fifth serving only as a memory of what might have been. Milwaukee’s defense and bullpen sealed the door with quiet precision — the mark of a team that now believes it’s destined.The Brewers leave their old park heroes once more, leading three games to two. The Twins head home, knowing the Dome must roar louder than ever to keep their season alive.

Series #242 - Game 6
Minnesota 2009 Twins 6
Milwaukee 1989 Brewers 4
Metrodome – Minneapolis, MN | October 8, 2009
WP: Kevin Slowey (2–0) 
LP: Jaime Navarro (0–2) 
SV: Joe Nathan (2)
HR: MIN – Cuddyer (1), Crede (2)
Player of the Game: Greg Brock – 4-for-4, 2 RBI, BB, R
Series tied 3–3

For six games, they have traded blows like mirror images — one team built on precision, the other on defiance.
Tonight, the Twins remembered who they were.
Michael Cuddyer’s two-run shot gave them breath; Joe Crede’s eighth-inning blast gave them belief.
Kevin Slowey steadied the ship, Nathan closed the circle, and the Metrodome came alive in full resurrection.
The Brewers were valiant — Greg Brock’s four-hit masterpiece a quiet marvel — but every rally seemed one swing short. Ten men left stranded. Ten missed chances to write history early.
And so, as the crowd finally exhaled and the Dome ceiling swelled like a drum, the scoreboard read balance: 3–3.
Game 7 awaits, and baseball’s favorite truth endures — one more night, one more chance, one more dream.

Series #242 - Game 7
Minnesota 2009 Twins 5
Milwaukee 1989 Brewers 0
Metrodome – Minneapolis, MN | October 9, 2009
WP: Nick Blackburn (2–0) 
LP: Teddy Higuera (0–2)
HR: MIN – Mauer (2), Morneau (1)
Player of the Game: Nick Blackburn – 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K


Nick Blackburn’s calm mastery defined Game 7. In a series full of offense, he delivered nine innings of stillness — two hits, no runs, and a rhythm that never wavered. Every pitch came with quiet purpose, sinking late, avoiding the barrel, smothering the life out of Milwaukee’s attack. It wasn’t dominance through velocity but through conviction, the kind of control that makes the ballpark itself seem to breathe with the pitcher.
The sixth inning decided everything. Teddy Higuera had danced through danger until Joe Mauer, under the weight of expectation and history, turned on a changeup and sent it soaring into the right-center stands. The Dome’s roar was instant and endless. Two batters later, Justin Morneau added a two-run blast that felt like a finishing blow. In a flash, 0–0 became 5–0, and the Brewers’ bats, so loud all series, fell silent under the hum of Metrodome air.
From there, Blackburn never flinched. The final innings moved with inevitability — groundouts, soft flies, the crowd rising pitch by pitch until the last out settled into Denard Span’s glove. The 2009 Twins had reclaimed the Dome’s glory, and in their quiet right-hander they found the perfect champion for a night built on control, courage, and calm.

2009 Minnesota Twins win Series 4 Games To 3

THE QUIET THUNDER OF THE DOME
By Grantland Rice

The Metrodome, that curious cathedral of noise and light, fell silent only when the ball met the final glove — and even then, the hush was not of absence but awe. From beneath that white roof, the 2009 Twins rose from doubt to deliver a performance both measured and magnificent. Theirs was not the triumph of kings but the perseverance of craftsmen, chiseling each inning into form until the marble of victory stood complete.

Across from them, the 1989 Brewers carried the grace of gallant defeat — Yount’s calm, Molitor’s fire, Deer’s defiance. They gave the game its heartbeat, the reminder that valor and loss often share the same dugout. Baseball, that old philosopher, asks not who shouts loudest but who endures longest, and Milwaukee endured until their strength met its echo.

In the end, it was the steady arm of Nick Blackburn and the patient hands of Jason Kubel that defined this tale — quiet men whose work spoke louder than their words. The Field of Dreams offers no coronations, only continuations; and so the Twins move forward, the Brewers bow with dignity, and the game itself, eternal as the season’s turn, whispers once more through the ages: those who honor the craft shall not fade from its song.

Series MVP:

(8/13, 13 H, 4 RBI, 5 R, 4 2B, .500 OBP)