Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Thursday, September 21, 2017 Yankees sweep Twins, take command of wild-card race. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Emotional Dozier calls for additional safety netting after 4-year-old girl hit by ball. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2 Postgame: We're still in driver's seat for wild-card spot, Dozier points out. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 3 Twins fire international scouting coordinator Howard Norsetter. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 3 Injured Aaron Hicks misses out on facing former Twins teammates. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 4 Here’s how Target Field becomes a football stadium. Pioneer Press (Frederick) p. 5 Twins players call for protective netting after scary incident at Yankee Stadium. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 6 Yankees’ homer barrage completes three-game sweep of Twins. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 7 Twins fall in finale, unable to add WC cushion. MLB.com (Hoch & Bollinger) p. 8 Despite getting swept in NY, Twins look ahead. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 9 Berrios, Rosario, Vargas monitoring hurricane. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 10 WC-seeking Twins turn to Mejia in Detroit. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 11 Wetmore’s 5 thoughts: This is why the Yankees wouldn’t be a fun matchup in October. 1500 ESPN (Wetmore) p. 11 Ready to bet against these Twins? That might be a big mistake. 1500 ESPN (Zulgad) p. 13 5 keys for the Twins heading into a pivotal series in Detroit. 1500 ESPN (Depue) p. 15 Twins lose 11-3 in New York as Yankees complete sweep. Associated Press p. 16 Rumor Central: Time running out on Twins' Miguel Sano? ESPN.com (Mittler) p. 18 The Twins Continue To Be Absolutely Terrible Against the Yankees. Sports Illustrated (Tayler) p. 18 Twins' Brian Dozier calls for mandatory protective netting after young fan hit by foul ball. Sporting News (Rodgers) p. 19 Are The Twins Cursed Against The Yankees? CBS Minnesota (Wald) p. 19 Oh, the humanity: Could Bartolo Colon finally be losing his battle against Father Time? Yahoo! Sports (Brown) p. 20 Severino’s takeaway from excruciating battle with Mauer. New York Post (Joyce) p. 21 Luis Severino says rough third inning stemmed from 13-pitch marathon against Joe Mauer. New York Daily News (Botte) p. 22 The Minnesota Twins Are Not Supposed To Be Here. FiveThirtyEight (Paine) p. 23 How Tracking Technology Helped Baseball’s Best Fielding Outfielder. The Wall Street Journal (Diamond) p. 24 Yankees sweep Twins, take command of wild-card race Phil Miller | Star Tribune | September 21, 2017 NEW YORK – Just as they hoped, the Twins learned a few valuable facts about the Yankees this week, ahead of their potential playoff showdown in two weeks. Wait, is “we can’t beat them here” a useful tip? No, the Twins insist that’s not how they feel after the Yankees finished off a sweep of their three-game playoff rehearsal with an 11-3 trashing Wednesday, but there’s no doubt some damage was done. “I’ve had better trips to New York,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said after Minnesota lost for the fifth time in six games and fell to 1-8 in the Bronx during his three seasons in charge. “We’ve got 10 games [left]. My goal right now is to figure out how to get these guys back in a positive frame of mind and try to win a game in Detroit [Thursday].” There’s a lot to forget about this trio of games, in case they meet again next month, from the Twins’ lack of clutch hits to the minor mistakes that made major impacts, to the firepower that New York finally displayed Wednesday. And the thing they’d like to forget most about this glum afternoon was the foul line drive that struck a small girl sitting behind the Twins dugout, bloodying her face, sending her to the hospital and visibly affecting several players shook up by the sight. “I still have a knot in my stomach,” the Twins’ Brian Dozier said. New York seemed almost dismissive of its fellow wild-card contender, using ace righthander Luis Severino — whom Minnesota figures to see again if their projected playoff matchup comes off — for only three innings. Severino wasn’t sharp, and the Twins managed three runs off him with four singles in the third inning. Joe Mauer battled Severino for 13 pitches — four of them 100 miles per hour or faster — and finally delivered an RBI single to give the Twins an early lead. “A classic,” Molitor said. “Lucky 13, and he delivered.” So did Jorge Polanco, who followed with a single that sneaked between two defenders for a 3-0 lead, and the Twins had reason to contemplate this as a “statement game.” Perhaps it was, but it wasn’t what they hoped. Minnesota managed only one hit in the final six innings off three Yankees relievers, while New York exploded with 11 runs during an ugly three-inning midgame stretch. Greg Bird led off the third with a double, and Aaron Judge poked a long fly ball the opposite way, curling his 45th homer around the foul pole in right field. When Gary Sanchez then launched a long homer to center field, the Twins’ early lead was gone, and soon enough, amid New York’s wrecking-ball six-run fourth — highlighted by Didi Gregorius’ upper-deck shot, his 25th homer that broke Derek Jeter’s team record for a shortstop — so was Bartolo Colon, who has now given up 16 runs in 11 innings over his past three starts. “I feel as strong as I felt last time. You can tell by how hard I was throwing the ball,” Colon said, shrugging. “It’s part of the game — sometimes you get hit and sometimes you don’t get hit.” And that’s the message Molitor wants his players to absorb, that if they’re back on this field Oct. 3, nothing that happened this week, or during their nine-game postseason losing streak to the Yankees, or during their dismal 33-89 showing against New York over 15 years, will matter. “We’re still in a really good spot, and we should be having a lot of fun,” he said. “It feels heavy at times, but you want guys to feel as loose as they can and let their abilities just fly out on the field. I believe in that group a lot. It hasn’t changed because of the last three days. Not only the talent, but the character and really good leadership in that clubhouse.” Emotional Dozier calls for additional safety netting after 4-year-old girl hit by ball Phil Miller | Star Tribune | September 21, 2017 NEW YORK – The Twins felt sick about what happened Wednesday, and it had nothing to do with the final score. A screaming line drive off Todd Frazier’s bat in the fifth inning struck a small preschool-age girl in the face, visibly affecting Frazier and several other players who witnessed it. “Me and Matt [Holliday, the Yankees’ designated hitter] were out at second base saying a prayer. We were in tears together,” Dozier said. “I usually don’t look, but that time I did. I’ve still got a knot in my stomach.” The game was delayed for about six minutes while emergency personnel attended to the girl, until a relative carried the toddler out of the box- seat section. The Yankees released a statement later saying the girl was taken to a nearby hospital, but the team did not release any other details, citing privacy laws. Twins players, though, were still emotional about the incident a couple of hours later. Dozier’s eyes were full of tears as he called for additional netting to be installed in ballparks. “Either you don’t bring kids down there, or every stadium needs to have nets. I don’t care about the view of a fan, it’s all about safety,” Dozier said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself and say the wrong thing, but [the players association is] definitely trying to do it.” Eduardo Escobar, father of three children aged 12, 8 and 2, had a close-up view of the girl’s injury, and sounded angry afterward at her parents. “I saw blood coming out of this poor girl’s face. I have kids, I feel for her,” he said. “Make sure you guys put this out there: It’s insane how you bring a kid of that age and are not paying attention to the game. To all those parents out there, when you bring a kid of that age, pay attention to the game. A ball like that can kill a kid.” A 30-foot high netting only covers the area immediately behind home plate at Yankee Stadium, with a smaller 10-foot net extending to the dugouts. The Yankees have publicly considered extending the netting, a debate sparked by a broken bat and another foul-ball incident earlier 2 this season. At Target Field, netting extends the length of the dugout, a move the Twins praised. “I think the clubs that have gone beyond what was required have been glad that they did,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. Target Field “is probably one of the high-end, in terms of surface area that’s protected. And I’ve seen it pay off.” Mauer’s epic at-bat Joe Mauer’s 13-pitch at-bat in the third inning against Luis Severino was the longest of the three-time batting champ’s 14-season career. Mauer fouled off seven pitches, four of them 99 miles per hour or faster, before lacing a 99-mph fastball to right field, scoring Kennys Vargas.