THE Coolest Thing I Saw at Target Field This Summer

And so we reach an end to our countdown of the Top 5 Coolest Things I Saw at Target Field This Summer. In case you'd like to revisit Nos. 2 through 5, here you go:

No. 5 – Jenkins' first MLB home run
No. 4 – Keaschall's Mad Dash
No. 3 – Rodriguez says HELLO
No. 2 – Ober's Maddux

And now, The Coolest Thing I Saw at Target Field This Summer ... drumroll please ...

No. 1 – Kody Clemens' Ultimate Slam

The scoresheet above comes from a Twins-Royals game played on July 30. Just a standard Thursday afternoon getaway-day game between a 54-55 Twins team and a disappointing Royals squad 17 games under .500 at the time.

The 22,944 (ahem, really?) fans in attendance had no reason to think anything memorable might come out of this game. And through eight and a half innings, the game played out accordingly. The Royals led 3-0. Starting pitcher Noah Cameron no-hit the Twins for six innings before Ryan Jeffers led off the seventh with a clean single. But that was the Twins' only hit through eight innings. And when reliever Lucas Erceg came on for the Royals to start the ninth and quickly retired the first two batters, it appeared to be a shutout loss for the Twins.

Now, earlier in the game, for a reason that escapes me, I had been discussing Kody Clemens' power surge with whoever fell within earshot in the first row of the press box. Clemens entered the game with 18 home runs, which I observed put him close to a 30-HR pace, which would be pretty remarkable for a guy the Twins picked up after the Phillies had designated him for assignment (what we used to call "putting on waivers" back before things like this got so technical).

So, with the thought of Clemens going deep still rattling around my brain, I looked at the scorecard and saw he was four batters away from coming up. Of course, the odds of it happening seemed absurd, but that didn't stop me from saying my AP boss/colleague Dave Campbell, "It's not over yet. Next three guys get on, and then Clemens wins it with a grand slam."

I'd like to say I was being clairvoyant at the time, but I tend to blurt out absurdities like this on the reg. It's kinda like the legend of 1991 Game 6 vs. the Braves, when Kirby Puckett walked into the clubhouse before the game and said something like, "Hop on my back, boys – I'm carrying this team today!" And then proceeded to have the game of his life – three hits, three RBIs, a triple, a sac fly, the leaping catch against the plexiglass and the walkoff home run against Charlie Liebrandt. The legend feels more like a myth, however, because Puckett reportedly said stuff like that all the time. I bet he'd even have said it before a standard Thursday afternoon getaway-day game in late July.

My "prediction" was not universally beloved, particularly among people writing on deadline (pretty much all of us). My favorite reaction came from Jaylon Thompson, the Royals beat writer for the Kansas City Star. I've gotten to be good friends with Jaylon on his bi-annual visits the past three or four years. I'm always ready for a choice remark or observation from him. And when he heard my thoughts on how the rest of the game might go, he said, "Man, if that happens, I'm throwing this laptop right out front window."

I didn't immediately fear for the safety of the patrons sitting immediately below the open press box window. Then Erceg hit Jeffers with a pitch. Royce Lewis singled. Pinch-hitter Alan Roden walked. And suddenly the bases were loaded for Clemens.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro slowly walked to the mound and took the ball from Erceg. The bullpen door swung open and lefty Matt Strahm began jogging in. Strahm is a bit of a journeyman who's played for four teams in 11 MLB seasons. He's the kind of guy who for years has been pretty much guaranteed a job as long as they're left-handed and breathing. He's not all that big, but he's kinda intimidating in that "I played Biker Gang Member No. 3 in 'Easy Rider'" sort of way.

Thus began the battle. Clemens took a low sinker for strike 1. Then he fouled off another sinker for strike 2. Then, this happened:

I immediately got up, stood in front of Jaylon and said, "Do NOT throw that laptop out the front window." I might not have caught a foul ball in the press box this year, but I'd like to think I prevented some carnage that day.

Clemens hit the 35th "ultimate" grand slam in MLB history. That's defined by hitting a walk-off grand slam when your team is down by three runs. But this was an even tougher needle to thread.

·      The Twins had entered the ninth with one hit.
·      Then they were down to their last out with nobody on base.
·      Finally, Clemens was behind in the count 0-2 when he went deep.

I love that Justin Morneau predicted Strahm would try to "bury" a slider after throwing two sinkers. That means he would try to throw a pitch with a lot of bite that would wind up in the dirt and hope the hitter would chase it for strike 3. That's exactly what Strahm threw, but the execution was off. The pitch didn't bite soon enough, so when it crossed home plate it was practically on a tee at Clemens' knees saying HIT ME.

The look on Strahm's face as he processed what he'd just seen was a bit inscrutable to me. It was one part disgust, one part exasperation and one part amazement, the type of amazement you feel when the worst possible outcome of a situation just happened. Vikings fans know what I'm talking about.

Postgame was a bit tricky that day. I was actually covering the Royals for their team website, so rather than witness the madness surely ensuing in the Twins clubhouse, I had to go chat with the visitors, including the guy who threw the pitch that became the 35th ultimate slam in MLB history.

First we met Quatraro outside the clubhouse. He had the thousand-yard stare going and a face that had "I have seen some shit this year that you would not believe" written all over it. He was gracious as expected, happy with Cameron's outing and devastated at the ending. Then we entered the clubhouse and talked with Cameron.

Usually it's taboo for a player to be too outwardly happy with his performance if his team lost, but anyone could forgive Cameron for being the lone upbeat face in the room. After a strong rookie season, the lefty had been mediocre-to-bad the second time through the league. He'd just endured a stretch of seven starts in which he'd given up 31 earned runs in just 35 innings, ballooning his ERA to 5.27.

That skid ended with seven scoreless innings against Detroit on July 24. The biggest question he faced against the Twins that day was whether he could do it twice in a row or if his stint against the Tigers was a fluke. The look of relief splashed over his face after the game said all anyone needed to know about how important this start was to him. (And he continued to prove it wasn't a fluke, going 4-0 with a 2.58 ERA in his last 12 appearances.)

And then, it was time to talk with Strahm. He appeared to still be pretty worked up as we walked toward the locker. That suspicion was confirmed when we heard him tell a team PR staffer, "If they ask a stupid question I'm gonna lose it!" while giving us a Hell's Angels glare.

In situations like these, when I'm covering the visitors and other beat writers are in the circle with me, I tend to step back. After all, this guy doesn't know me at all and has no idea if my intentions are pure when asking difficult questions. And if he's gonna blow up, who better to blow up at than someone you'll probably never see again? Just let the people who have relationships with the players handle the questioning.

So in this case, I let Jaylon do the heavy lifting. And it wasn't heavy at all. Nobody wants to dunk on a guy or kick him when he's down by piling on with mean questions. We didn't want to grill Strahm or try to get him to cut open a vein. In that situation we just wanted a quote we could use in our articles to prove that a) we did give him a chance to talk and b) he faced the music. I think Jalen asked something innocuous like, "So, what happened with that pitch?" – and in the most sympathetic, just-curious tone he could manage. Strahm said something like, "Didn't execute." Then he muttered something about having to do better. And then it was clear the interview was over.

And honestly, that was perfectly fine. I'm always appreciative when any player gives us a few minutes or even seconds after a game. It would have been so easy for Strahm to hide in the showers until the media had to leave. But he was a standup guy. And the brevity of the interview I think actually says more about his mindset than if he'd spat out cliches for five minutes.

And that was that. Five minutes in the quietest clubhouse I can ever recall, and then back to the press box to write our articles about The Coolest Thing I Saw at Target Field This Summer.