The "back to back to back American league central division champion Minnesota Twins" as they are always referred to on their website have been all but pronouced dead for the season by my personal baseball god, Peter Gammons. They are 16.5 games out of first place in the division behind both the hated White Sox and the less-hated-but-still-not-liked Indians. They are fifth place (7.5 games out of first) for the wild card race, where they are a half game behind TORONTO. A popular trend among Twins fans at the moment is to turn against our beloved Torii Hunter, where some (who shall remain nameless) have even referred to him as a cancer to the team. I never once believed this, however Torii's injury and the team's subsequent 3 game losing streak is doing little to vindicate me. Even Joe Mauer, one of the few men I would leave Dean for (who is also my aunt's neighbor, so behave, Deano!) has had a .179 August so far, compared to a .326 July. And last year's AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana is 3-4 in his last 10 starts. The prognosis is not good. And while this year would have been a PERFECT year to make a play for the World Series, with the Yankess stinking it up in the East and the Red Sox finally relieved of the curse (what a miracle! A curse broken by a $130 million team!) it will most likely be the White Sox who are this year's Cinderella team. A bigger person would objectively say that they deserve that honor as they have done everything right this season. I am not that person. The division is way out of reach. And the way Oakland is playing the West may once again take two teams to the playoffs, even though Oakland will choke once again in the first or second round (I am being generous by including the second round in that statement). So what do I do? I don't want to be a fairweather fan and abandon my boys when they need support the most. At the same time, the only time I can watch games is at the sports bar, where I'm also paying to drink beer and eat greasy food. At the end of the night, I'll walk away buzzed with a bloated tummy and a bad attitude after watching them lose. Not fun. It's times like this I wish I could just turn on Dick and Bert and watch the game in between loads of laundry and not end the night wanting three hours of my life and $30 of my money back. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though it's August 10th, I have essentially agreed with Peter on this. If on the off chance the Twins do make it to October I will hide in shame for having my doubts. Until then, I revel at the thought that down here in Florida, we will get the first look at the (no title, starting again from scratch) Minnesota Twins in February.
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Sorry to hear about your team. I live in New England where we have the champions of both baseball and football. It doesn't matter much to me, as I am a Cowboys fan, and am still waiting for Parcells to turn the team around. You probably aren't too bummed about losing Randy Moss, huh? Didn't your team pick up Braylon Edwards? I hope he is all that and more.
No, we got Troy Williamson. I still think it could be a turn around season though. I actually was very bummed at first about losing Randy. I was one of the few who thought his actions were overrated and laughed when he responded to his $10K fine by saying "$10,000 ain't sh*t to me!" But when I got over my grief I realized why they had to do it and their defense will GREATLY improve with all money freed up by the trade. Our other WRs (Nate Burleson and Marcus Robinson) both had breakout years last year (esp while Moss was hurt) so I think we'll be okay. The old psychosis that we can't win without Randy is gone. I'm also a Buccaneers fan, so with Moss and Sapp both in Oakland, I might have to start watching the Raiders! Hope your Cowboys do better this year. How do you like having Keyshawn?
Good point about excuses. I thought sending Luis Rivas to the minors and letting Bret Boone go would light a fire under those guys and make them realize that anyone can face consequences for lack of effort. I know you weren't one of the people griping about Torii. Course not a lot of women can say ANYTHING bad about that cutie, right? And I can't think of anything wrong that Shannon has done. He's our best acquisition in years. I know I have to keep things in perspective. The Twins were in a pattern ('65, '87, '91) where when they made it to the post season, they made it to the Series. Even today it's a completely different game than it was 15 years ago. Teams rarely get to the Series their first time in the post season. Like you said, it's just not our year.
I saw the highlights. Maybe if I tear into the team with my little blog more often, they'll listen up and play like they did last night!
it's fri. 8/19 8pm i suppose all you 'twins' fans are watching the
viqueens exhibition game, but, i'll comment anyway- no, torii is not a cancer, just an excellent defensive centerfielder with overrated offensive skills being paid as if having both. i worry that the comments here have been made by first place fans, not fans of baseball. i have watched the twins since 1961, suffered through 1972 thru 1987 and 1993 thru 2001 and wonder what is everyone's compaint with this season. you can't win every year, so many things have to fall into place over a long season, including your and your opponent's luck. the twins
have santana, morneau, radke, nathan, mauer - it's just fun to watch these guys. i think morneau is much more maligned than hunter and if you check his first 162 game major league stats, he had 34 homers, 110 rbi and batted .275 rookie of the year or even all star numbers. chicago and detroit both have double the salary of the twins and we'll see how far they go. i'll watch the twins win or lose and let everyone else watch football, nascar or pro wrestling they're excellent!
the year: 1985 i was working as the only woman at a meat market and all the guys watched baseball. i thought i'd check it out to see what all the excitement was about and was totally addicted. keep in mind that NOBODY i knew except the guys at work watched baseball it just wasn't in style in 1985. for my 30th birthday i asked for a baseball dictionary and almanac and pretty much learned the game on my own. do you remember natalie asking if you could recite the state capitals to me and i said sure but next you'll learn the teams that are in the al east and west and you did? i remember when torii and jacque and quite a few other players were rookies and people were saying, what's with the earring does he think he's barry bonds? no i don't think torii is a cancer but i do know that puckett, hrbek, stewart harper lawton,mauer etc etc have better lifetime batting averages on base percentage etc. it doesn't mean i don't like torii but I WON"T change my opinion of him just because he's hurt. perhaps the people in mn. would feel different if he were more humble, his quote in the paper just today said "i thought our goal was to win not start over (with new players) and wait" sorry signing autographs at spring training and smiling all the time does not make a team player
sorri i hit anonymous instead of mom on my baseball frenzy!
bubba69-
I think you missed the point of what I'm trying to say. Since I have moved to Florida the Twins have held a Vulcan Death Grip on the AL Central division, so it is usually worth my time and money to pay to watch the play at a sports bar. If I got the games every night for free in my home there is NO DOUBT I would be watching them. Watching Johan strike out 13 hitters a game even if he can't get run support. Watching L'il Joe hit triples like no other catcher can right now. Watching Morneau blossom into a real life power hitter (despite Torii's comments), one the team hasn't had since Hrbek. I am a fan of the game. THAT'S WHY I WATCH THE DEVIL RAYS! Realistically though it's hard for me to justify spending a night at a bar and spending upwards of $30 each time to watch my boys lose in a race that is beginning not to mean much. I agree it's not our year and I know things have to fall into place. It's just that in the recent past we've found that out in October, not August.
We did watch the ViKINGs last night. Not because I prefer them to the Twins, but because in a football-worshipping society it is more likely that on any given night your football team will be on TV than your baseball team.
mom-
Living in MN you get a different perspective than us. We don't get quotes, we get stats. I agree he shouldn't ridicule the youth of the team and spout off about the "M&M boys". By the way, I STILL know every team in all divisions of both leagues. I don't remember state capitals as well as I used to...
didn't this blog started out about baseball!
go vikes and take the wild with you!
is pro football really a sport?
Enough about the Vikings, they haven't been any good since Bud Grant left. I'd like to hear more about Deano. My favorite Twins teams were 1965, 1969-70, 1984, 1992 and 2002. Those teams didn't win it all, but they played really fundamental team baseball. This word verification stuff is really hard.
Here's something about Deano: he's currently begging me to bid on the 65 team bobble head set for $1325. When I said no way he said, "Okay, I'll settle for just Harmon Killebrew I guess." $202. Yeah, right. Go Warren Moon! (J/K)
And the word verification, again sorry. But it's not rocket science...
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