MINNEAPOLIS -- Not surprisingly, there was plenty of support in the Twins' clubhouse Wednesday night and Thursday morning for the Minnesota Wild, who topped the Colorado Avalanche in overtime of Game 7 of the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As Twins starter Kyle Gibson was being interviewed following Wednesday's Twins loss against the Dodgers, a loud cheer erupted from across the clubhouse.
"Apparently the Wild scored," Gibson said mid-sentence as he answered a question.
Indeed, the yelling came when Jared Spurgeon scored to tie the game late in the third period, sending a handful of players and team employees into a frenzy in a room down the hall. Gardenhire decided not to wait around for overtime and instead listened to the end of the game on the radio as he and his wife, Carol, drove home.
Just as Gardnehire was nearing St. Paul, Wild forward Nino Niederreiter scored the series-winner to lift Minnesota to a second-round matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks.
"I swerved a little bit and high-fived my wife," Gardenhire joked. "It was a pretty good moment. I was really happy. Then I got home and I got to watch all the aftermath, which was really neat. Very exciting."
During Wednesday night's Twins game, the score of the Wild-Avalanche game was displayed on the scoreboard in right field. A few highlights were also shown on the video board in between innings, as fans at Target Field cheered when the Wild tied the game up on several different occasions.
Thanks to Wednesday's series-clinching win over Colorado, the Wild's season continues. That means Gardenhire and his team can continue to watch and support the Wild's playoff run from across the river.
"That's big-time stuff," Gardenhire said. "A lot of fun to watch."
Twins and Dodgers experience two reviews: Twice in the first game of Thursday's doubleheader, the umpires had to turn to video reviews to determine the correct calls on plays.
Even after the reviews, though, Gardenhire wasn't so sure the umps got a call right that went against the Twins.
The first of the two reviews came in the bottom of the fifth inning. With Brian Dozier on second base, Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe lined out to Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez then fired to second base to try to double up Dozier.
Second-base umpire Tim Welke initially ruled Dozier safe on the play. After Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly challenged the call, though, the play was reversed following a two-minute review.
"I still don't get how Dozier was called out," Gardenhire said. "I didn't see any evidence that that ball was deep in the pocket of the glove. I just don't get it. . . . Sometimes the system works, and sometimes I think we've got to be better than that because the rule states it's got to be in the pocket, and that ball was not in the pocket."
The other review came in the bottom of the eighth inning and went in the Twins' favor. Jason Kubel was running into second base when Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon bobbled a throw from Ramirez. Kubel was originally ruled out on the play, and the call was overturned after a review of one minute, 17 seconds.
Teams getting the scouting report on Colabello: Chris Colabello had an April to remember for the Minnesota Twins. He entered the month of May with 27 RBI, second in the American League and third in the majors.
Not bad for a guy who previously played seven years of independent ball.
But Colabello -- who wasn't in the lineup for the first game of Thursday's day-night doubleheader -- is in the middle of a 1-for-17 skid that has dropped his batting average from .346 to .295 in a span of four games. Colabello had just 160 at-bats in the majors last year, so the book on him wasn't very long. Now that Colabello has had a few more games under his belt, opposing pitchers are starting to get the scouting report on the Twins' first baseman/right fielder.
"There's going to be a lot of adjustments. Other teams are going to adjust to him and what they see," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "You've got a lot of old stuff, old information from last year, and then once you get one month into it, now you start using the new information.
"It all starts coming together when you have enough info after the first three weeks to a month of the season that you forget about 2013 and now it's all new info."
Dozier again flashes the leather: Lost in the shuffle of Wednesday's 6-4 loss to the Dodgers was a highlight reel play by Twins second baseman Brian Dozier.
With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Los Angeles' Adrian Gonzalez bounced a ball toward first baseman Joe Mauer. The ball took a funny hop and came up on Mauer, who couldn't make a play. Dozier ran behind the play and shoveled the loose ball with his glove to pitcher Kyle Gibson at first base to nab Gonzalez.
Dozier has made several flashy plays during his career, but Wednesday's flip is near the top of the list.
"It ranks right up there," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Last night was pretty good. He seems to do that. I think we're just going to keep adding on to that list. He's very athletic and he moves around really well out there."
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