The Twins blew two golden opportunities on Friday night.

1.) Joe Nathan, who clearly has issues wrapping his head around situations of great magnitude, served up a 2-run bomb to Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. He then proceeded to almost blow the game in the bottom of the 10th, but was bailed out after exiting by a line drive double play.

2.) And of course, with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th, the Twins failed to push a run across. Delmon Young hit a laser right at Mark Teixeira, and Carlos Gomez and Brendan Harris both failed soon after.

The most irritating part about Friday night’s loss, however, was the blown call by left field umpire Phil Cuzzi on Joe Mauer’s fly ball in the 11th. The ball was fair by a wide margin, and Cuzzi was right on top of the play. But for whatever reason, he botched the call.

It’s almost impossible for a ball to land in left field without it being fair (much like Fenway or Wrigley). Mauer wound up singling anyways, but there’s a huge difference between having a runner on 1st and nobody out and having a runner on 2nd and nobody out.

In fact, historically, a team’s chances of scoring increase by 20% with having a runner on 2nd in that spot instead of a runner on 1st.

Should the Twins have plated a run regardless? Absolutely.

Should the Twins attempt to find some Major League-caliber hitters for 2010? Recommended.

But should a Major League umpire ever blow a call like that in the playoffs? Especially when there are SIX umps on the field?

No. Inexcusable.

In the words of Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Walken though, why do the Twins continue to lose to the Yankees?

They can’t stop staring at the pinstripes.