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Once, when I was a much heavier drinker, I woke up one morning in December and my woman left me. It was not a pretty month. I had already found myself toiling around rock-bottom, spending my nights in seed-joints with lazy women that I should have known better than to. I slept all day and stayed up all night and had no reason for anything. When she left I found myself unable to really stand up, which is a disturbing feeling. It sort of starts at the stomach and works its way down to the knees and you know that you can tell your legs to move and remain stable, and you get yourself in a working stance, but the emotion is too raw, and your body is overwhelmed. I remember sitting on the third stair in my home.

I remember thinking: this is what the well feels like - the pity of empty in the shallow trough where the bottom is just black and your feet are soaking wet.

At some point she came back, and I thanked god to have her. But now when she hangs the clever over my neck it doesn’t scare me as much. Not because I am unafraid to lose her, but because I have seen the worst already. When you really reach the point of emotional exhaustion and depression you see what it takes to break you.

So, it is good now, because while she may want to leave, it no longer affects me as hard as it did that first time she was leaving, because at that moment it was too real and pure and honest. Like falling in love the first time, heartache makes an impression.

Let that be a lesson if you are a Twins fan, because beginning today, it is good now.

The first time leaving in a baseball season often takes more than one game, it is an extended period. It takes time to recognize that the wheels are falling off. The team does not call you and tell you, ‘This is over, put your shit in a box and give me my lamp shades.’

Baseball takes a slow hand on these occasions.

You see the first time leaving for this Minnesota Twins season actually began on August 4 and it effectively ended yesterday, on September 6. It was 33 days of hell and every fan should now recognize that it cannot get any worse. You should look around you, recognize the stone walls of this hole, look up and see the oval brisk light of the sun above, the aperturic hole of a glimmer.  

There is only one way to go from here, and that is up. And trust me this is not optimism, this is the rejection of a deeper pessimism. We as fans have been trampled, and I am sitting on the third step, and I am deciding to stand up. Because, if the Twins miss the playoffs and lose 15 of 20 down the stretch, well, is that really worse than what has transpired over the last month?

If they get within one game by the end of the season and miss the playoffs by losing on Sunday to the Royals, will you look at that game with any more spite than you have these most recent losses? Or will you say, I’ve seen this before. I have been here.

I don’t need to post the numbers of how many late games the Twins have lost in the last month. They have been some of the most difficult games of baseball I have seen as a fan.

Still, there is hope in this desolation. I often think of how a team builds up momentum and where that comes from. For some teams I think it comes from the bottom. The White Sox this year have been a team that seems to win games late, and they are confident in that setting. They don’t mind how many runs they get down. I don’t think they have been near the bottom this year in the way that the Twins have.

The Twins seem to lose games late. Lately the Twins bullpen has been just horiffic, I mean mind-numbingly bad. They seem to have lost all confidence. When they walk to the mound the grown comes from inside. I believe in the idea that the bottom that comes early gives room for a chance to reach the top late. The Twins are there early this season.

The Twins are out of it from my perspective. I will not stop following until some magic number is reached, but it is over in my mind, right now.

In this way things can only be good for the rest of the season. The Minnesota Twins will not win this division, and I have accepted that fully. So, even if this team comes back to me, kisses me on the cheek, rubs the inside part of my thigh and whispers to me, ‘I love you more than you know,’ I will maybe kiss them back, maybe bite their ear. But I will know. 

I will know that if the Twins turn on me, call me a ‘fuc-ing loser’ and tell me that I am, ‘a worthless sack of sh-t,’ I will be able to tell them that while I still feel the sadness, I have heard all of this before, and it really doesn’t mean that much to me now.

Heading into the last month of the season there are a number of Minnesota Twins who could be in contention for some post-season awards, lets break down the categories….

American League MVP

Justin Morneau: The fact that Justin Morneau could be a two-time MVP by the end of this season speaks to a couple of things, one: Ron Gardenhire is an excellent motivator of talent, and two: Justin Morneau could eventually go down as the greatest Minnesota Twin of all time.

On the first topic, there is now no doubt that whatever talents Justin Morneau possessed in the early part of his career they were being wasted. In his first three years with the Twins (2003 as a call up, 2004 split-time between Rochester and the big league, 2005 full-season at the majors) Morneau hit .247 with 45 home runs, 153 RBI and 115 runs scored in 876 at-bats.

Those numbers in and of themselves are not a problem for a player feeling his way through the major league level, but his 2005 season as a 24-year-old left worlds to be desired - something that the Twins front office and their fans believed they would finally see in 2006. But through 54 games in ‘06 Morneau was hitting only .235 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI in 196 at-bats. He had just completed a three-game road trip in Seattle where he went 1-9 with no RBI’s and the Twins lost two of three to fall to 26-33.

Add those first 54 games of 2006 into his career totals and Morneau was a 26-year-old top prospect who had hit .245 with 56 home runs, 191 RBI and 141 runs in over 1000 at-bats. Then there was the talk between Gardenhire and Morneau in Seattle, and then Morneau turned into Lou Gerhig.

In the next 103 games he would hit .364 with 23 home runs and 92 RBI, he slugged .616, his OPS was 1.030. And since June 8, 2006, Justin Morneau has hit .309 with 75 home runs, 311 RBI, and 238 runs scored in just over 1500 at-bats.

While some will quibble that Morneau’s power numbers are down this year compared to his campaign of ‘06, it is important to note that he is most certainly a better hitter in 2008. He has 21 home runs and 108 RBI through 137 games and will not reach his home run total of 34 from 2006, while he may reach the 130 RBI mark, again. His batting average is down nine points from .321 to .312. But Morneau has become as disciplined a hitter as any Minnesota Twin. His walk total of 67 is the most he has ever taken in his career and his on-base percentage .388 is 13 points higher than ‘06.

If the Twins make the playoffs, in my opinon, he is the American League MVP. If that isn’t the case and it is handed to someone like Carlos Quentin or, moronically, Justin Hamilton, it will be for the sake of novelty and add to the view of idiocy that permeates the BWOA and nothing else.

Wait, did I get to the whole ”Morneau could be the Greatest Twin Ever thing”? No. Well, trust me, it’s possible…stat, stat, Killebrew, stat, Puckett, etc., stat, Carew, stat, stat etc. etc.

Joe Mauer: The case can easily be made that while Justin Morneau is the American League MVP, Joe Mauer is the MVP of this team, not possible you say? It is. While Morneau has the numbers to draw in the national media it is Mauer who has handled an extremely young pitching staff exceptionally, while also chasing his second American League batting title as a catcher, something that had never been done, ever, in the history of baseball, before Mauer did it two years ago. Also his .413 OBP and 73 walks to 44 strikeout ratio is amazing.

Throw into the equation the fact that Slowey, Blackburn, Baker, Perkins and Liriano all have sub-4.00 ERA’s and it speaks volumes for the work that they have done, and to Mauer’s ability to call a game and manage a young staff. As a pitcher gets more confidence they begin to understand and control their game, but right now you rarely see Twins pitchers shaking off Mauer.

Will he win an MVP this year? No. But he’ll get some votes and he deserves as much credit as Morneau for keeping this team in contention.

American League Rookie of the Year

(some credit here to Buster Olney’s chat which made the arguments for these two players more clear to me)

Glen Perkins: Okay, first off I think there is a legitimate argument for Glen Perkins as the rookie of the year. I know that Evan Longoria has been the best rookie so far this year, but he is also injured and it is unclear when he will return or how effective he will be. If Perkins were to go, say, 16-3 this year and finish with an ERA around 3.80, could he win then? I think he would be in the discussion, but would still probably fall short, just because Longoria has been so good for so long that he is, at this point, firmly entrenched in the Rookie of the Year winner’s circle in everyone’s mind.

Still when Justin Verlander won the award in 2006 he went 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA, but he was the best pitcher on that Tigers staff as well, something that Perkins is not.

But I think with a sub-par month from Longoria and a good showing from Perkins things could get more interesting, especially if the Twins are in line to win the division.

Denard Span: Olney wrote today that, “I haven’t seen a better outfielder in baseball this year than him.” Now while Olney doesn’t watch every game he certainly watches every single major highlight for Baseball Tonight, and Span has had the most amazing catches in baseball this year. Not only that but the variety of plays he has made, leaping catches in the right field corner at Fenway, leapin catches in center at Jacobs field, the amazing distance traversed in the running catch in left-center at Jacobs, the diving catch this weekend against Oakland, he has been a highlight film in every aspect in the outfield, couple this with the fact that Span…(oh God I forgot about the leaping catch in Seattle to save a series, the throw from right in the second Seattle series to save another series)… has hit .301 with a .385 on-base percentage and four home runs, 34 RBI and 44 runs scored in 67 games and he has a case to this award - not to mention an America League Gold Glove.

Bryant and I talked this week about the fact that Span, along with Mauer, Morneau and Nathan has been intricate to every success that the Twins have had this season. His work in the lead-off spot has been exemplary and shored up a glaring weakness when Gomez proved incapable and Casilla went on the disabled list along with Cuddyer, of course.

In fact, listening to Cuddyer this week on the radio it was obvious that he is terrified of Span’s abilities in the outfield. He said something along the lines of, “You get injured and suddenly everyone forgets about the 90 RBI and the 20 home runs that I have been putting up…” which is true, it takes a special player to make fans completely forget about Cuddyer, Span is special. Luckily for Cuddyer, Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez have a lot of work to do to become complete players, so he’ll be back in right eventually, and Span will be all over the place, presumably, making play after play. 

On a general note about Span and Perkins, it is important to note that while Longoria has been amazing and Alexi Ramirez has proved himself to be a great 45-year-old shortstop, no team has needed their rookies more than the Twins have. Without the work of Span and Perkins and Buscher and even Gomez this team is not where it is today. They have been professional and sturdy (minus Gomez at the plate at times) when everyone…everyone…everyone thought they would falter. Their work will, in some way, be noticed this off-season when the Rookie of the Year award is handed out, they may not finish first, but Perkins and Span could both easily finish in the top-five.

American League Cy Young

Scott Baker: I was completely unaware of Scott Baker’s claim to the American League Cy Young Award until Bryant pointed out a few things on the podacast this week. A few things that I will reiterate here for our readers.

Bryant began with a simple discussion about how many great starts Baker has had that were blown because of a complete lack of offense - which is absolutely true. Baker has six starts where he has either lost or gotten a no-decision while giving up two or fewer runs in at least seven innings of work, they are:

August 21 (LA Angels): 8 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 6 K’s, no decision

August 10 (KC Royals): 7 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs, 7 K’s, no decision

July 20 (Texas Rangers): 8 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 8 K’s, loss

July 7 (Boston Red Sox): 7 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 7 K’s, no decision

June 10 (Cleveland Ind.): 7 innings, 8 hits, 1 run, 1 K, loss

April 20 (Cleveland Ind.): 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 8 K’s, no decision

Bryant pointed out that every single one of those games should be victories for Baker. So you take away two of his losses, you throw on six more wins and his record is all of a sudden 14-2.

Bryant will tell you that when you look at things that way, Baker should at least be in the discussion for the Cy Young. I of course countered that his 3.66 ERA is not impressive enough to even have him in the discussion when a number of pitchers have 15+ wins and a sub-3.00 ERA.

But then I realized that all you have to do is think outside of the box, like Bryant, and all of a sudden Baker’s Cy Young credentials become more clear. For example:

Lets just imagine that Baker, who has given up 57 runs this year - all of them earned, had instead only given up 40 earned runs because the defense committed some errors behind him (which could obviously, easily happen in any given game in time).

All of a sudden Baker is 14-2 with a 2.56 ERA on a team that has a chance to win the AL Central.

In fact lets take it one step further - just to bolster Bryant’s arguments on this case - imagine that Baker, instead of giving up 32 walks (many of which had to have come on 3-2 counts) had walked only 20 and struck out 12 more batters. That would mean that Baker would be 14-2 with a 2.56 ERA only 20 walks and 126 strikeouts in 140 innings, impressive.

Not to mention that most likely - in some kind of reality - Baker actually did pitch a perfect game last year against the Royals, one of only 18 in Major League Baseball history, which has to count for something. With the increased media attention from that perfect game, Baker is emerging as a legitimate Cy Young candidate and one of the best pitchers in the game.

Lets look at it again, for Bryant’s sake.

Scott Baker’s case for the 2008 theoretical Cy Young award (theoretical meaning that if we allow ourselves to shift stats and reality at will to bolster our case):

14-2

2.56 ERA

20 walks

126 strikeouts

A perfect game in late 2007 that got the media’s attention that he was one of the best pitchers in baseball.

A commercial contract with Nike.

His dating of Mischa Barton and the tabloid speculation on their prospective child.

Yes, welcome to the theoretical 2008 baseball season, where Scott Baker is a Cy Young candidate and the Twins are going to win the division! Oh fancy, oh fancy, yeah don’t you know the Minnesota Twins don’t suck and are in first place in September, fancy, fancy, what have you, what have you, what an imaginary dream world we all live in…there’s marshmallow clouds and chocolate rain and the Twins are going to win the division!!!! Give me a break, none of that could possibly be true.

Wait, what?

I was sitting in the dentist’s office the other day with the dental hygienist. I always have believed that the dentist - like the President, or the British Monarchy - is really more symbolic than anything else. Now, granted, if your tooth is jammed into your gum-line, or rips into your pallet through some freak kitchen accident, the dental hygienist cannot help you.

But on most occasions it is the hygienist who straps on the plastic gloves and jams her hands - armed with a hook spike - into your mouth and deals with the blood from months of neglect to the build up of plaque rooting into the cementum.

Anyway, the hygienist, Mary, was working me over quite well. I was actually on time for a six-month checkup and she commended me, “Remember last time you were here, it had been 20 months.”

I gurgled out some noise to acknowledge and apologize, again, for this fact. I remember, after about 45 minutes of that original long-delayed visit that the woman’s hands looked like she had just closed up my corroded artery. Still, I had no cavities, I was blessed with strong teeth.

She was rooting about, having me suck out the water she sprayed into my mouth with a little device that reminded me of liposuction, when she asked me, “Well, what do you think about the Twins this year.”

Let me first acknowledge that I was not wearing any Twins paraphernalia, nor can I recall ever talking about the Twins with my hygienist at any-point in my life, so this was spontaneous, apparently.

I said, “They’re really great,” even though my mind was filled with so much more.

I always consider the moment that strangers ask you about anything concrete - that is anything outside of, “How are you?” or “What do you do?” or “Can you hurry the fuc- up please?” - the moment that a happening is reaching critical mass. Politics and religion are always at critical mass. Britney Spears has been there for about six years, Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson had their moments, Facebook is getting there, as is the iPhone. The RNC will be this weeks topic, but at this point in the late summer in Minnesota, the Twins have reached critical mass, people believe that they can just bring them up at any moment and you should have an opinion.

She then began applying the candy-coated protective layer on my teeth. “That Michael Phelps too, he’s been amazing.”

This was around week two of the Olympics.

I tried to mutter something about the 4×100 relay but couldn’t muster it, she smiled at me though and continued, “he’s like a man-fish, or fish-man.” She pulled the sealant device out of my mouth and I rinsed, “No, no, I agree he reminds me of those first fish that grew legs and washed up on the shore.”

She nodded, but told me she didn’t really agree with some of the tenants of evolution. “It’s just, really, how do you go from one little cell to having birds and lions and humans, really?”

I thought about this for a second.

“Well, how do you explain the Twins? They were expected to be awful but they’ve got a real shot. Evolution, God, baseball, it all works in mysterious ways.”

She agreed, she told me she liked Carlos Gomez and the new outfield (at this point she was back in my mouth with the spinner so I tried to say, “Span,” but it didn’t come across).

It was funny to me, this kindly woman talking to me about the one subject I had relative expert knowledge on but I couldn’t say much. I just had to mutter acknowledgments and glib responses. She talked and talked and talked about how surprised her husband was and how surprised her son was and how surprised she was.

The discussion followed some trace of this: Gomez, Span, Mauer, new stadium, how the standings work (”I mean they are in first place, but they never stay there”), how the team was supposed to be in last place, the White Sox as a general opponent and adversary, Joe Nathan, Ron Gardenhire (extended time on this topic including his mannerisms, his commercials with his wife, his grandfatherly appearance, and how the team is so young that it is making his hair grey (I agreed with this)), and Torii Hunter.

All this time she just spoke and spoke and spoke, and her knowledge was not expansive but it was rudimentary in all aspects; she had the grasp. When she finished the dentist came in.

He was a sturdy, grey haired and strong-jawed man with a cavernous face that reeked of self-awareness and personal direction, his eyes were sunken in and his cheeks poofed out only slightly, but enough to make him appear jolly. I imagined him with a tumbler, his wife unbuttoning his top-button and rubbing the tip of his chest when he came home. He gripped my hand firmly.

“So, Mary got you all set up.”

I nodded.

He pulled out an X-ray and showed me where my wisdom teeth were impacting along my jaw.

“Now, we don’t have to remove them, but if you want you should go see a surgeon and decide from there.”

It was then that I wanted to ask him what exactly it was that he did. I considered this and decided that he was a facilitator of sorts, a yes man to me, a man who made me feel good because, whatever the circumstance, he was in control. I doubted that he was right all the time, but he managed.

I saw Ron Gardenhire in him, and I felt a knowing surge of happiness in seeing the way that the universe runs parallel with the ballgame. I wondered what that made Mary, and what that made me. I wondered where we were going, and who was taking us there. I wondered if our expectations for ourselves were too great, or too shallow. Perhaps all of our failings would rear their head tomorrow - perhaps we would be better than we imagined.

This man was just a dentist, but was a leader of sorts, and I could use him to gain something necessary for myself, but he could not save me anymore than the Twins could. And I could not give him anything to make his life more full. What did that mean about our relationship? Was it just money? Did he expect something more of me, should I have expected more from him?

It is not hard to break the expectations of others, to let someone down, to make them proud. It is instead the dutiful nature of understanding how it is, that we, as individuals, make that happen that creates anxiety and stress in the mind and heart.

It is not our job to predict where others are going, or what their role will be. Each man controls only himself. He can harm others, he can please others, but it is he who makes that decision, not us.

I decided then, while the dentist smiled at me, gave me that feeling of warmth, and said goodbye, that I would allow Delmon Young to simply be. I would allow all the bullpen to simply be. I would try to enjoy the simplicity of the game and the enjoyment of knowing how far we as humans can go on the dreams and works of others.

But I also decided that, of course, we ultimately have to get off, and go ourselves, alone, out there somewhere in September.

Jose Says Hello To His Fans

A BRIEF GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

After the whole world (including Stephen A. Smith in this week’s podcast) began to take notice that Joe Nathan was on pace to pitch over 50 innings (most likely 62 or so) with an ERA under 1.00, Nathan promptly blows his second save in as many opportunities against the Seattle Mariners, moving his ERA back up to a gigantic 1.12. What was more depressing was the Twins lackluster effort against a sub-par starter in Miguel Batista.

There has been only one other occasion this season where Batista went five innings or more and gave up one or fewer runs: that was a 7.2 inning shutout of the Angels on April 20. Following that start teams watched some video and promptly beat the living hell out of Batista for a month and a half (he posted a 1-5 record with 7.08 ERA from April 25-June 7). He started a few games here and there since, was sent to the bullpen, was brought back out, then he faced the Twins and gave up one run on six hits.

I hate Seattle.

Speaking of 50+ innings of sub-1.00 ERA’s lets take another look at other-worldly Anthony Slama who recently had his ERA inflated after giving up four earned runs in his last 10 appearances (12 innings). Slama’s ERA is still a freakish 1.06 over 68 innings.

Joe Mauer had his 16-game hitting streak snapped on Monday as well. During that streak Mauer hit .349 (22-77), with one home run, 10 RBI, and 12 runs scored. Nick Punto also lost his 12-game hitting streak, he had hit .423 (22-55), with three RBI and 10 runs during a run where he boosted his batting average from .257 to .293.

It was a shame to see Delmon Young’s near game-winning RBI single go to waste as the bullpen blew another lead. It was the second time this month that Young has provided dramatics to put the Twins back into a crucial game, only to have it forgotten by late-inning mishaps (Yankees three-run home run off of Rivera anyone?). Just in case anyone has forgotten from my previous rants about the misdirected hatred of Young, he is still hitting .304 with 8 home runs, 42 RBI, and 33 runs scored in 68 games since June 1. Game winning hits go a long way to getting on the good side of fans, and Young could certainly use some good will. He would have been a welcomed hero along with Francisco Liriano and Eddie Guardado if it wasn’t for Adrian Beltre and the Twins bullpen/late-inning defense.

I hate Seattle.

I also hate A.J. Pierzynski. Now let it be noted that I pretty much hated A.J. when he was a Twin and welcomed his departure in 2003. But what I really hate about A.J. is how broadcasters and commentators (I’m talking to you John Kruk, who praised Piersynski for being a brilliant base-runner after his escape from a run down, even though A.J. committed the original sin of base-running by running towards third on a ball hit to his right with one out in the bottom of the 10th) continue to compliment A.J. as being a smart ball-player, and crafty, when he pulls off the kind of non-sense that he did in Chicago this weekend against Tampa Bay. I know the game is all about winning and however you need to do that you should, but A.J. reminds me of a 6-year-old playing a 12-year-old’s game - he is petulant and irrational and determined to entice pity in the umpires and loathing in his opponents.

Watch the video and notice (on the first replay) how former Twin Jason Bartlett immediately, and I mean immediately tries to point out to jack-ass umpire Doug Eddings what really happened. He knows what A.J. is.

A BRIEF GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE

Over the next six games the Twins will face these six pitchers:

Ryan Rowland-Smith: Left-handed pitcher who has made five starts for the Mariners this season. He has a 3.84 ERA over the course of 72.2 innings, and was shelled by the Twins on August 16, giving up five runs and 10 hits in five innings (a 6-5 loss).

Ryan Feierabend: Left-handed pitcher who has was terrible in a start against the Twins on August 17, giving up six runs on 10 hits in three innings. Feierabend did rebound with a very good outing against Oakland though giving up only one run in five innings.

Dana Eveland: Was recalled from AAA on August 21, after having struggled to a 7-8 record with a 4.46 ERA in 22 starts for Oakland. Eveland pitched seven strong innings against Seattle on Saturday giving up only one run over seven innings and striking out seven.

Dan Meyer: Another left-hander who has been just terrible in his last two appearances giving up nine runs in eight innings, his season ERA is 5.95 in 19.2 innings, his career ERA is worse.

Dallas Braden: Left-hander who the Twins beat on August 20 when Braden went 5.2 innings giving up three runs on six hits. Braden had an excellent start in Los Angeles yesterday though throwing seven innings while giving up one run on a solo homer. On the season he is 4-3 with a 4.13 ERA (that is really the best looking record and ERA of any pitcher the Twins will face during this stretch).

Greg Smith: Left-hander with a terrible record (6-12) and a good ERA (3.75) in 25 games started for the A’s in his first season at the majors. Smith faced the Twins in late April giving up two runs in seven innings in an 11-2 debacle where Liriano gave up six runs without getting out of the first inning. Remember those times? Bad times.

I bring up these names because outside of Smith they all suck and should be eaten alive by any team that is serious about contending. I don’t give a flying sh– if Raul Ibanez hits five home runs in the next two days and Jack Cust pulls The Natural’s bat out of his ass. This Twins team needs to step up and win the next six games.

I am done with this hanging around non-sense. After the White Sox get done sweeping the Orioles (that 14-inning restart doesn’t count here), they will travel to Boston for three games. At the end of those three games the Twins need to have their first lead in the loss-column of the Central Division since May. Is that asking too much?

Well the Twins lose 5-3 as the bullpen kind of implodes and the offense quiets down. Facing an all-star like Ervin Santana meant that the Twins hitters would have to be on their game, and one of them - Justin Morneau - certainly was. It also meant that the Twins pitchers would have to remain steady against a formidable Angels lineup, and one of them - Kevin Slowey - certainly was.

Unfortunately baseball is about more than one pitcher and one hitter, it is about Carlos Gomez playing like an amateur in center field. It is about the relief staff consistently falling behind hitters and giving pitches to hit. It is about Gardenhire making some questionable decisions (removing Slowey with one out and runners at second and third after 6.1, leaving Reyes in to pitch to Texiera who promptly ripped a double). But most of all it is about 162 games and needing to be one game better than the team in second place on October 1.

That is why baseball is the game of attrition and the Twins are now in the midst of a new war that they cannot shake free from.

Earlier this year we documented the almost absurd meanderings of the Twins record as it stayed right around .500 and never once reached more than three games over .500 or three games under .500. Well, now, they are in a battle with the White Sox to claim first place, and they cannot (either team) shake free of the other.

At the all-star break the Twins were 1.5 games behind the Sox. When the Sox came to town on July 28 the Twins were 2.5 games back.

Here is what the Twins game-back position has looked like since then.

1.5, 0.5, 1.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, +0.5, tied, 1.0, 1.0, 0.5, +0.5, 0.5, +0.5, 0.5, 0.5, tied, tied, tied, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.5, +0.5, +0.5, 0.5.

Through those 26 game the Twins and White Sox have never been separated by more than 1.5 games in either direction, and for the last 23 they have remained within 1 game.

So, today the Twins lose, and the Sox win with the help of another A.J. Pierzynski, Doug Eddings production, and the Twins will trot back out there tomorrow. It is an aggravating and internally churning way to live, but it is also the dream of every baseball fan. A true pennant race. A true chance.

This is our 100th post here at Twinscast and to celebrate we will keep it short and sweet with a simple declaration:

Pinch me, I think we can win this thing.

Actually a few more things, Bryant and I are eternal optimists but we did not believe that we would be talking about anything meaningful in August and September. I remember back at some point when the Twins were continually hovering around .500, I wrote a post called, ‘The Twins that time forgot’ kind of a cheesy concept of picking out historical Twins and writing about their last days with the Twins. I believed that the bit would be necessary for maintaining content on a website devoted to a team going nowhere.

But, that isn’t necessary anymore. We’ve got more content than we could deal with. Last night I was locked out of my house so I sat in my car, in my garage and listened to the game while bugs flew near my face. The Twins bullpen was amazing, the night was amazing, there were few places I would have rather been at the time.

The Twins are going somewhere now, damn if it isn’t a hell of a ride.

August 22, 2008

AL Central

Chicago White Sox    73-53      -

Minnesota Twins       73-54     .5

AL Wild Card

Boston Red Sox          73-54      -

Minnesota Twins        73-54      -