BASEBALL Twins, Cards have parties

The Twins and Cardinals clinched divisional championships.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brad Radke stood in a corner of the Minnesota Twins' clubhouse, spraying beer on anyone he could get. Torii Hunter could only grin as two teammates threw a cooler full of cold water on him. Manager Ron Gardenhire laughed when several players poured beer down his back.
And Jacque Jones walked around the room, smiling as he took it all in.
"This," Jones said, "is what it's all about."
The Twins clinched their third straight AL Central title Monday night with an 8-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Threatened with contraction, forced by economics to replace more than half of their team, written off as little more than a Triple-A team -- none of it seems to matter. Minnesota just finds a way to keep on winning, making the playoffs for three straight seasons for the first time in its 44-year history.
"Three times!" Hunter screamed. "How about that?
Cardinals clinch title, too
In Milwaukee, the St. Louis Cardinals broke out the champagne and sprayed their way around a raucous clubhouse, celebrating their NL Central championship.
Albert Pujols' go-ahead single keyed a three-run ninth inning, and the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-4 Monday night for their major league-leading 98th victory.
Under baseball's tie-breaker, St. Louis ensured its third division title in five seasons on Saturday. But manager Tony La Russa refused to acknowledge that his team had already won the crown. La Russa wanted to clinch it on the field. So the bubbly just sat, chilling for two extra days -- until the Cardinals let loose Monday night.
"The only thing that made this thing better was to do it yesterday at Busch Stadium," a drenched La Russa said, standing in front of lockers shielded by floor-to-ceiling plastic. "That's why we were disappointed, because we cared. But this is a great moment."
Twins prove to be better
If ever there was a year for someone else to win the AL Central, this was it. The Twins lost Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, A.J. Pierzynski, Eric Milton, Dustan Mohr, Denny Hocking and Kenny Rogers in the off-season, and traded Doug Mientkiewicz in July.
Yet it was the Twins partying Monday while the White Sox, the preseason favorites, trudged glumly into their clubhouse.
"They are a better team," Paul Konerko said. "They have proven that the last three years. No question."
The Twins had a clubhouse full of new faces when they arrived at spring training, and no one -- even the players -- was quite sure what to make of the team. Just when they seemed to get things figured out, they were hit by a rash of injuries.
Kansas City had upgraded its roster, and Chicago was stocked with pitching and hitting. Surely, one of those teams would end Minnesota's run.
"We quit worrying about the White Sox, the Tigers, the Indians," Gardenhire said. "We just play our game."
And that game was good enough to beat everyone else.
Cardinals ready to party
The Cardinals came to Milwaukee ready to party.
They packed up more than 20 cases of champagne and boxes of championship hats and T-shirts and had the team's clubhouse attendants drive it all up to Miller Park in two pickup trucks that arrived 45 minutes before Monday's game.
On the field they were subdued, but once they got in the locker room, the party began. Wearing division championship hats and T-shirts that sat locked up for two days like the champagne, they sprayed each other and even a few club officials and their wives who were trying to stay out of the way.
The celebration even extended out into Miller Park. Eight Cardinals players went into the empty stands near the mascot's home run slide. A few hardy ones even slid down the slide before stopping for a group picture.
"In a division as tough as ours, this has great meaning for us," La Russa said. "We worked hard to get to this."