Archive for the ‘Blog Entries’ Category

Now that Bryant and I have gotten our newly minted two-year contracts with Sportscast LLC we are back to work. Sure, it’s been about two months since we did any work whatsoever on the site but we believe whole-heartily that our 12 fans will forgive us and get back on the bandwagon (podcast up on Friday and I’ve been doing vocal exercises for six weeks to try and match Bryant’s gravitas).

So what do we know, what have we missed (in order or importance):

1. The Delmon Young deal will not be as bad for the Twins as the A.J. deal has been for the Giants (we call this the silver-lining argument).

2. Pat Neshek has probably already had his best year as a pitcher.

3. Casey Blake is the one old-timer free agent who may be able to break the Twins streak of shitty old-timer free agents.

4. We will all miss Javier Vazquez.

(we will break down topics 1-4 on the podcast)

5. Ron Gardenhire doesn’t mind speaking his mind.

According to the beloved Howard Sinker over at Section 220, Gardenhire was quoted in the Fargo Forum saying that his outfield in 2009 would consist of Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, and Michael Cuddyer…everyday. Which is interesting because the Twins just traded their number one pitching prospect and their starting shortstop to Tampa Bay for an outfielder that isn’t mentioned by Gardenhire. In case anyone has forgot that Twins pitcher helped lead Tampa Bay to the World Series, and the shortstop had post-season RBI’s, which sort of makes me sick to my stomach.

Lets consider something here: (Michael Cuddyer has played in over 120 games in his career three times (2005-2007). He has hit over .270 twice (a .284 avg. in 2006 and a .276 average in 2007). In his seven-year career Cuddyer has hit for 60+ RBI twice (once in 2006 when he hit 109 and then in 2007 when he hit 81). He has hit 10+ home runs four times (12 in 2004 and 2005, 24 in 2006, 16 in 2007). His 2006 and 2007 seasons were good enough (and Cuddyer became such a great clubhouse leader) that the Twins signed him to a four-year $34.5 million contract (last year of that contract being club-optioned).

Cuddyer has proven himself to be an outstanding corner outfield in the Metrodome. But, lets be honest, Cuddyer isn’t overly athletic in right-field, he just plays the carum so well off the wall, and has such a rediculous cannon of an arm, that right-field in the Dome is sort of the perfect place for Cuddyer. The Twins have one more season in the Dome and two more seasons of Cuddyer’s contract before they have to decide whether to keep him or let him go ($10 million dollar contract extension in 2011 or a $1 million buyout), at that time Michael Cuddyer will be 32-years-old.*

In the five years that Michael Cuddyer has been a staple in the Twins lineup (2004-2008) he has averaged: 121 games; .270 batting average; 63 RBI and 13 home runs.

*What’s going to be really interesting is in 2011 when the Twins decide to let Cuddyer go - instead of paying that $10 million option - are they then going to sign him to a one-year deal that will fit in with their long history of buying washed-up, injury-prone veterans, who had one good year six years ago? Will Twins fans be angry? If you get Cuddyer for a one-year $2.8 million contract (while also paying him a $1 million buyout) and he has a terrible offensive season while platooning in right and DH’ing occassionally, and you are forced to release him at the midway point of the season to make room for an upcoming outfielder is that a success or a failure for Bill Smith? I mean he saved $6.2 million but he also gave $2.8 million in extra cash to a player that he knew wasn’t productive enough to warrant a large contract? Like this isn’t going to happen.

Now, while Gardenhire’s claim that Cuddyer would be an everyday outfielder in 2009 speaks not only to Gardenhire’s belief that Cuddyer is better than he actually is, it also speaks to the fact that Delmon Young is officially the new black sheep of the Twins organization.

After punching Young in the mouth with the whole “Gomez, Span, Cuddyer” are the starting outfielders in 2009 WITHOUT QUESTION comment, Gardenhire came back with this: “Delmon is in the mix. He’s a hell of a player, a hell of a talent.” But that was followed with, “But to me, those three guys should be your outfield and then you go from there.” So, how is Delmon in the mix? Is Delmon going to split DH time with Kubel? Is Delmon going to occassionally play in the outfield to give Cuddyer a chance to rest or just wait until Cuddy slides head-first into second and we have another finger-bang issue?

The thing is Delmon Young is not in the mix. Delmon Young is out of the mix. He’s the turd in your GORP (if you don’t know what GORP is it’s a combination of peanuts, raisens, M&M’s, candy corn, etc., some people call it trail-mix, we call it GORP). But the fact that Young is out is absurd.

Young is far from perfect, he has trouble in the outfield, has trouble fielding some of those quick hops on that Dome carpet (which again, Cuddyer is really good at doing, Cuddyer is really good at playing right field in the Metrodome) and sometimes he runs like he has an intestinal problems. He also has a tendency to bloop singles when fans want him to swing for the fences. He also showed a quick glimpse of tremendous power to all field in the late part of the 2008 season.

For the Twins last year Young hit .290 with 10 home runs and 69 RBI, his OBP was a paltry .336, he slugged only .405. Delmon Young is 22-years-old.

Lets again remember those Cuddyer stats from above (Michael Cuddyer has played in over 120 games in his career three times (2005-2007). He has hit over .270 twice (a .284 avg. in 2006 and a .276 average in 2007). In his seven-year career Cuddyer has hit for 60+ RBI twice (once in 2006 when he hit 109 and then in 2007 when he hit 81). He has hit 10+ home runs four times (12 in 2004 and 2005, 24 in 2006, 16 in 2007). Delmon Young, in his two-year major league career, has played in over 120 games in his career twice (2007-2008). He has hit for over .270 twice (.288 in 2007, .290 in 2008). He has hit for 60+ RBI twice (93 in 2007, 68 in 2008). He has hit for 10+ home runs twice (13 in 2007, 10 in 2008).

Delmon Young’s 2008 season would have been the third-best year in Michael Cuddyer’s eight-year career. Delmon also played in 152 games in 2008. Michael Cuddyer has never, not once ever, played in 152 games in a season.

Young was paid $1.4 million last year by the Twins, he isn’t arbitration eligible until 2010, and he won’t become a free agent until 2013. Even if Delmon is a clubhouse cancer, I don’t care. You don’t give up on a 22-year-old who just hit .290 with 10 home runs and 69 RBI while spending most of his time hitting either fifth, behind the American League RBI leader, or sixth, behind the likes of Jason Kubel and Randy Ruiz.

I guess I can understand why the Twins and Gardenhire want Cuddyer in right-field for one more season in the Dome. You can easily move Span to left and replace Young’s somewhat medicore performance on defense. But, there is only one more season in the Dome and then Cuddyer’s amazing ability to command that corner will be worthless. So will his sloping career .268 batting average and his overall health.

I have always liked Michael Cuddyer, have always thought he was a friendly personality and a seemingly good teammate. He plays his ass off. He deserved the contract he was given in 2007.

But the Twins are over-thinking with Delmon Young - a 23-year-old, number one draft pick, who has played two seasons of very good baseball for a young player, who will cost them next to nothing for the next four years - and treating him like shit and saying that he will not be an everyday outfielder before the winter meetings is just rediculous.

Absolutely rediculous.

Who knows what Young is remotely capable of? Seriously, none of us know. No one. He may go crazy. May punch Matt Tolbert. May hit 45 home runs. May hit for .333. Could be an all-star. Could be a bust. Could be anything.

We know what Michael Cuddyer is. We know what he is this year, we know what he’ll be next year. So, please, Gardy, Bill Smith, give it a rest with the Michael Cuddyer, holier-than-thou, play the game the right way talk. I love the whole idea of playing baseball the ‘Twins Way,’ but the ‘Twins Way’ has gotten four division titles in six years and only one A.L.C.S. appearance. The ‘Twins Way,’ can work, but you have to take some risks with talent, even if they don’t fit into the perfect mold of your overall scheme of things.

Think of yourself as Barack Obama and think of Delmon Young as Hillary Clinton - if Obama can look past all those god-awful things she said about him during the primary, and recognize some of the enormous strengths she potentially brings to the political table, then certainly you all can look past a few shortcomings of a 23-year-old who still has a chance to be a dominant offensive player…of course you have to give him that chance.

Yes we can, yes we can.

Today we begin the process of looking back at what went right for the Minnesota Twins in the 2008 season. This will be a two-part process starting with a five-part look at the triumphs and surprises from the Twins followed by a five-part look at what the Twins need to do to become better for the 2009 season, their last in the Metrodome.

Part one: Starting Pitching or the emergence of a legitimate one-five staff for the next four years for the Minnesota Twins.

Part two: Rookies or the emergence of a legitimate one-two top of the order and a hopeful chance for left and center field from 2009-2015.

Part three: Offensive production from the one through nine or how Nick Punto, Delmon Young, Randy Ruiz, Adam Everett, Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris all contributed to the lineup that scored the third most runs in the American League and had a .305 batting average with runners in scoring position.

Part four: Justin Morneau or how one player can carry a team for five and a half months only to wilt down the stretch and then have every single accomplishment that happened in the previous five and a half months completely forgotten - never mind the fact that the Twins would have had no shot whatsoever at a one-game playoff without the contributions of Morneau in the first place.

Part five: Joe Mauer or how Mauer did something that had never been done in the history of the American League in 2006 and then did it again in 2008 and nobody seems to give a shit.

Part one: Starting Pitching

At the start of the 2008 season the general consensus was that the main limitation for the Twins was their starting rotation. Remember that Livan Hernandez was our opening day starter. Glen Perkins was at Rochester to start the season and Francisco Liriano (after some brief, awful work at the majors) spent the better part of four months there. Nick Blackburn had pitched 11 major league innings in his career; Scott Baker had shown immense potential but had yet to complete a full major league season; and Kevin Slowey had been consistently erratic in his time with the pro club in 2007.

So it should be with great relief and great hope that Twins fans look back at what was, overall, a very successful campaign for Perkins, Liriano, Baker, Blackburn and Slowey. That doesn’t mean that the season was perfect, or that each pitcher has come into his own - Perkins or Blackburn may still find themselves at AAA next season - but what an unexpected surprise.

Nick Blackburn: Blackburn’s 193.3 innings lead the team and his 96 strikeouts to 39 walks was impressive. But Blackburn’s major asset - that he put the ball over the plate - was also his major weakness - he gave up a lot of hits. Blackburn finished the season with a 1.36 WHIP and after having a stellar first-half of the season, going 7-5 with a 3.65 ERA in 118.1 innings, hitters seemed to figure him out in the second half. In 75 innings Blackburn posted a 4.68 ERA while giving up 92 hits and 21 walks (he had given up only 18 in those first 118 innings).

Still, for most Twins fans (and hopefully for Blackburn himself), the lasting image of Nick Blackburn will be two very good pitching performances (for very different reasons) against the Chicago White Sox.

On September 24th with the Twins trailing the Sox by 1.5 games Blackburn threw five innings, giving up eight hits and two earned runs - nothing spectacular, but the Twins scored three runs in the first two innings. That is the key here, Blackburn was not impressive with his command but he found a way to win. Too often fans and commentators and coaches from Venezuela get caught up in the idea that a pitcher should or should not have won a game. The problem with such a contention is that it ignores a larger truth staring them in the face, namely, who won the game. So, who won that game on September 24th, Nick Blackburn did, and it was his biggest game of the season.

That is until six days later, on September 30th when Blackburn took the mound for the one-game playoff with the Sox in the cold, blustery South Side. The Twins may have lost but Blackburn was amazing. I was amazed at how well he pitched, in such adverse circumstances, in such a huge game. It wasn’t just that he was on, but how comfortable and in-control he looked. Blackburn threw four 1-2-3 innings and gave up only four hits in 6.1 innings. Of course one of those hits cost the Twins the game, but it was still a major performance by a pitcher who had struggled down the stretch in the second half. And it should have Blackburn, and Twins fans, feeling like he can be an EXCELLENT number four starter in the years to come.

Glen Perkins: Glen Perkins is a number five starter, and he serve a team well in that role. Perkins posted a 4.41 ERA, the highest of any of the five starters at the end of the season, and his first half/second half splits showed a similar upswing as Blackburn, Perkins gave up two more earned runs, one more walk, three more home runs in 5.2 fewer innings. Still there is something to consider here, last season for the Twins only Johan Santana (219 innings, 3.33 ERA), Carlos Silva (202 innings, 4.19 ERA), and Scott Baker (143.7 innings, 4.26 ERA) had ERA’s under 4.40 while throwing 140+ innings. Perkins threw 151 innings in compiling that 4.41, and at the age of 25 in his first full season in the majors cost the Twins around $390,000 - compared to $8.2 million for Silva and his 6.46 ERA in 2008.

Is Perkins going to be a dominant starting pitcher? Probably not. But can he be a more than adequate and affordable number five pitcher for next few years, absolutely.

Still this spring Perkins is going to be the hunted man by pitchers like Brian Duensing and Anthony Swarzak (who was freaky dominant at Rochester going 5-0 in 7 starts with a 1.80 ERA). But that’s a good thing for the Twins and their fans, if not so much for Perkins.

Francisco Liriano: What to make of The Franchise? After August the numbers look good: 6-1 in 11 starts and 65.2 innings, and a 2.74 ERA with 60 strikeouts to only 19 walks. Still Liriano’s WHIP was 1.20 (compare that to his starts in 2006 when his WHIP was 0.91) and in his last three starts he posted a 7.07 ERA, pitching well in a must-win game against Tampa Bay, and pitching terribly in an absolute must-win game against Kansas City - his last start of the year.

The good news of course is that every talking head who ever knew anything about Tommy John surgery says that pitchers really come into their own in their second-year back, and Liriano showed a desire to reign-in that monstrous pitching motion and throw more change-ups, while also adding the necessary bulk to throw 200+ innings in the majors - Liriano threw 199.1 innings all-told this year.

If the velocity on his fastball rises even moderately in this off-season Liriano should get back towards being a solid number one pitcher. The fact that his change-up has become more effective and his slider, while not being as vicious, still has the lateral movement that made him so feared in ‘06 should make him a more complete pitcher in ‘09 than he was in ‘06 if only a little less explosive.

Scott Baker: My absolute favorite pitcher of 2008. Baker’s 3.45 ERA and 141 strikeouts were tops for the Twins pitching staff, and Baker actually improved in the second-half of the season. Now, that may be due to the fact that Baker missed about a month early on with a groin injury allowing him to throw about 20 fewer innings than Blackburn - and thus maybe miss the mythical Wall that all baseball writers attribute to late-season fatigue in young pitchers  - but I simply think that Baker is a very, very good pitcher.

Baker splits look like this:

1st half:   83 inn./82 hits/13 home runs/15 BB’s/62 K’s/3.47 ERA

2nd half: 89.1 inn./79 hits/7 home runs/28 BB’s/73 K’s/3.43 ERA

What was most impressive for Baker though is after posting a 6.11 ERA in three early August starts, including two terrible performances against the devilish Seattle Mariners, Baker settled down and was absolutely lights out in his last eight starts, going 4-1 with a 2.39 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. Like Blackburn, Baker stepped up when needed in the last week of the season pitching a beautiful game against Kansas City in the last regular season game of the year before the last regular season game of the year that was added on as a post-script to the season (162+, no excuses). Baker went 7 innings giving up four hits and no runs and while striking out nine, no Royals batter made it past second base.

Regardless of what Liriano does Scott Baker has turned himself into a legitimate top of the order pitcher. In his four seasons at the majors Baker has seen his hits per nine innings fall dramatically, and hits strikeouts per nine rise.

2005 (53.2 innings): 8.05 HP9, 5.37 KP9; 2006 (83.1 innings): 12.31 HP9, 6.70 KP9; 2007 (143.2 innings): 10.15 HP9, 6.39 KP9; 2008 (172.1 innings): 8.41 HP9, 7.36 KP9.

Those are numbers people, and numbers - trust me - do not lie.

Kevin Slowey: If we are looking, categorically, at the information that I have given you in the last 1,000 words, we will see that we have a potential one-two combo (Liriano, Baker), a solid four (Blackburn), and a reliable five (Perkins), and what do we have here in 24-year-old, 3.99 ERA, up-and-down Kevin Slowey, that’s right, a number three.

Games where Slowey pitched 7 innings-plus giving up two or fewer runs: 6

Games where Slowey pitched 5 innings or less giving up four or more runs: 4

This, of course, is the dichotomy of Slowey, he can pitch two complete game shut-outs against two playoff teams (Milwaukee and the White Sox), but he can also pitch three innings against the Sox giving up eight runs on 10 hits. In his last two starts against Tampa Bay and Chicago, Slowey was absolutely tuned-up: 8 innings, 9 earned runs, 6 strike outs, 10.13 ERA. Of course one of those games, technically wasn’t on Slowey because of awful defense and a line-drive off the wrist, but you get the idea.

Slowey is a precision pitcher (123 K’s to only 24 BB’s) and when he is on, he is on, and there is hope, that at 24, his best days are ahead of him. In fact there is more than hope, this was only Slowey’s second season at the majors (he pitched those 66 innings in 2007), and his first with major innings. The fact that Slowey already has the kind of control that major league pitchers would kill for gives him a huge advantage going forwad. Slowey’s upside is far, far higher than his downside, a 3.99 ERA could easily be his high-water mark.

From being an enormous question mark in 2008 to a reliable certainty in 2009 the Twins starting pitching staff is no longer a concern for the team’s success. Slowey, Blackburn and Perkins will enter their second full season with the Twins after carrying out relatively successful campaigns in 2008 which should give them a great deal of confidence. Liriano will enter 2009 knowing two things that he did not in 2008: 1. That he will be in the Twins starting rotation from day one, and 2. That he is healthy and capable of pitching in the major leagues right away. And Scott Baker will come into the league as one of the best young pitchers in baseball entering his prime at 27-years-old.

That is reason enough to be excited for spring training, which is about 145 days away.

Sports are meant to be entertaining in the same way that monster truck rallies, the opera, political debates, sitcoms, novels, the newspaper, and movies are entertaining. These are things to pass time that is moving too slowly. But only sports can have the opposite effect of it’s original goal. Sports are meant to entertain but they can absolutely demoralize and crush the soul (I guess that newspapers can have that affect too, and certain episodes of The Wire).

Every fan of the Twins should have known how real the chance was for the Twins to absolutely crush their emotional well-being in the last week of the season. I knew it, and I took the Tuesday loss in stride and here’s why: The 2008 Minnesota Twins decided to play like the 2008 Minnesota Twins last week and they gave us what we should have expected as fans.

The Twins this season were not average, they were great, they were terrible, they were never average. They were not average last weekend either.

Not to be selfish but let me explain a few things about how I experienced the Twins last week:

Tuesday: Alternated between packing and running around my living room while Twins demolished White Soxingame one, told myself, ‘Great, but it doesn’t mean anything.’

Wednesday: Early in the day bought XM Radio for Minnesota-Iowa-Nebraska-Colorado trip (I call it the ‘Arm-pit of America trip,’ ‘Twinscast, doin’ me’ songwriter and Colorado/Minnesota native Seth calls it ’The Grundel of America’). Left work at 7 pm exactly, listened to game from 7-10, tapped foot so incessantly on plastic partition near my breaks that my passenger thought we had a flat tire. Called Bryant in roaming to say: ‘Are they seriously bringing in Mijares?’ They were, he pitched amazingly. Nathan battled, told myself, ‘Great, but it doesn’t mean anything.’

Thursday: In Colorado with my uncle the day before the rehearsal wedding. He has MLB package on DirecTV, which I will buy when I have any money - just an amazing package. Twins fall behind 6-1 on fluke errors and shoddy play. I am pissed. He says, ‘They will win in the ninth.’ Says it over and over throughout the night.

Gomez falls behind 0-2 to Jenks in the ninth, uncle says, ‘he’s trying to push it to right,’ next pitch, he pushes it to right.

All I remember about the Span triple is nearly hitting my head on the ceiling as I bounced around the living room, just ecstatic, ecstatic, ecstatic. I remember thinking, ‘Sweet Holy Fuc-ing Jesus, this is u-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e!’

Become increasingly pissed after Twins don’t get Span in.

Leap again with Casilla, told myself, ‘Now we’ve got it.’

Friday: Rehearsal dinner mixed with enormous family get together that night before Saturday wedding. Turn on TV Twins are down early, Twins fall and fall further, constantly check scores of that and Chicago throughout the night. Tell myself, ‘We’ve still got it.’

Saturday: Wedding, check score constantly on cell phone, have Bryant sending me updates all night. Notice, though drunk, that the Twins are constantly grounding into double-plays. Don’t really have any comprehension of how bad Justin Morneau is doing because I have no box-score, just a little screen on the phone telling me things like: Justin Morneau grounds into double-play, inning over. Or, Joe Mauer grounds into double-play, inning over. Constantly check scores of that and Chicago/Indians throughout the night. Tell myself, ‘We’ve still got it, but we’re letting it go.’

Sunday: Gift-opening, uncle has game on, his fiance is pissed and mutters things under her breath how inappropriate this is. Whenever Twins score we have to augment our cheering with statements like, ‘Oh YEAHHHHHH! What a great linen set!’ Or, ‘Fuc——- yes! That is amazing cutlery!’ Constantly follow that and Chicago/Cleveland game throughout the day. Tell myself, ‘We’ve got a chance.’

Sunday night, drive high into the mountains.

Monday: Estes Park, Sox/Tigers in constant rain-delay, calling Bryant every 15 minutes to see if the game is starting. Find a family member with a Blackberry, follow game closely on that. Watch the first three innings at a house in the mountains, then descend to Denver for the night. Listen to the game, Detroit spoiling chances are high because Garcia is dealing and has vengeance in his blood. Garcia gets hurt, Bryant calls me in roaming, says, ‘It’s over.’ I agree. Tell myself, ‘Well, we’ve got a shot.’

Tuesday: Nervous all day, try to distract myself with aversions in this order: 1. Denver Art Museum 11-1; 2. Lunch at a Japanese dive restaurant 1-2; 3. Drive to Coors Brewery for tour, brewery is closed for tours on Tuesday, this is an omen, 2-3; 4. Boulder, CO bar called Half-Time Subs, numerous pitchers of Long Islands 3-5:30.

Watched the game at a brewery, a nice place with friendly waiters who tell us to just not curse loudly, and seemingly no White Sox fans anywhere. Twins don’t look good, but Blackburn certainly does. Denks never looked nervous or out of control, I remember saying that the game would probably come down to one single play. I just felt it early. When Thome hit the home run I knew, repeat: KNEW, the game was over. I walked outside and just stood there. I wasn’t pissed, and I was pretty blank the rest of the game. I just sat there and accepted it. When that little pygmy made that diving catch though something happened, cheers erupted in little corners of the bar.

That incensed me so much that I can’t really describe it.

Where did these people come from? Had they been there all night, watching in stone-silence waiting for the end of the game? Were they really White Sox fans or just border fans who kind of like the Sox because of Ozzie Guillen? Or were they anti-Twins fans? Did they even care?

There was a man sitting directly behind me who started cheering, I looked at his face and he smiled.

I stood in the street and talked to my father, Bryant, and my uncle. I was with about five friends who told me, ‘It’s just a game.’ And it was. And I understood that. I wasn’t even angry like I thought I would be. I said platitudes like, ‘Well they’ve got a great future.’ But I really don’t even know how much I really believe that. It was just crushing in a sad way. It was the fact that I loved this team, that’s all. They battled and lost and battled again. Within seven days they had given me some of the highest moments in my entire life as a fan. That triple by Span was absolutely unbelievable. It was like Jacy Holloway hitting a three against Kansas in 1996 to win the Big 8 title, it split my mind open and made me so happy that I am a sports fan.

But Friday, Saturday and Monday were like fights with someone you love, you saw all of their faults but you loved them still. You wanted them to be better and they just couldn’t.

I remember saying something to Bryant about the coin-toss, even though it didn’t matter. I wanted the team to have an excuse because they were so easy to believe in. Baseball is so easy to believe in.  

I traveled in my car for 16 hours on Wednesday, a lot of those hours alone. I didn’t listen to a single baseball game. I didn’t listen to a single sports station. I cancelled that XM package. I was alone for most of the trip, just looking off into the flattest parts of Nebraska and seeing the cows move around one another, searching for water, searching for shade, trying to find a more suitable place to spend their time.

Buffalo Bill’s home is out on that highway near North Platte, so is an original stop of the Pony Express and John Wayne’s home town in Winterset, and the Bob Feller Museum is out there too, it’s in Van Meter. I went to a Bob Feller camp once when I was a kid. It started in the early, early morning and I fell asleep in the bleachers waiting for the camp to start. I remember someone waking me up and everything seemed hazy. I was in a gym, there were basketball hoops everywhere, the backboards were a shadowy black, and the gym had slanted light coming in from high windows above the bleachers that made the dust glisten.

I remember straddling down the bleachers to get Bob Feller’s autograph.

I remember wandering outside to catch fly-balls.

The Twins got the most important first-step out of the way on Tuesday night with their 9-3 victory. That first-step of course now means nothing as they move on to the most important first-step of Wednesday, which is to again beat the White Sox.

The Twins won the game and Kubel was the star with his two home runs and triple, but the thing that got me excited was the Twins overall hustle, moving first to third, stealing bases off of Vasquez, Baker’s calming effect after giving up a run in the second, the absolutely terrible defensive play of the White Sox, the absolute lack of hustle by the White Sox, the fact that Kenny Williams is at the Metrodome to look certain players, “in the eyes.” That is not a good sign for a first place baseball team with a two game lead in the loss column with six games to play.

The Twins were so thorough in their domination on Tuesday that you have to feel good about their chances of carrying on the momentum. That may seem like an oxi-moron since there have been so many times this season where the Twins have failed to grasp onto that momentum (ex. Friday, Saturday in TB), but Wednesday should be different. Here’s why:

1. The Twins won 9-3 with the top four hitters in their order going a combined 2-17 with one RBI and two runs scored. Mauer and Morneau each had a hit and Morneau drove in Mauer with his RBI so they didn’t really have any significant fall-off. Still, consider the fact that Span and Casilla were a combined 0-10, and looking somewhat sloppy in their approach, and you have to figure that if they can get on-base tonight it adds a whole new dimension to the Twins attack.

2. Mark Buehrle, one of the Sox best pitchers, has these current numbers against Twins hitters this season:

Casilla - 2-6

Cuddyer (whom Gardenhire said would play) - 1-6

Carlos Gomez - 5-8

Morneau - 3-10 (home run, 3 RBI)

Punto - 2-5 (3 RBI)

Redmond (would Gardenhire ever do this, probably not) - 5-9

Mauer - 0-3

Also the fact that in his only start in Minnesota this year Buehrle went 5 innings giving up eight hits, four earned runs and two home runs bodes well. That was July 28th.

3. Nick Blackburn, who has been shelled in his previous two starts, finally comes home. Blackburn on the road this season has gone 3-7 with a 5.20 ERA, at home 7-3 with 2.92. Necessary. In his last two starts against the Sox Blackburn has gone 0-2 pitching 10 innings and giving up 10 earned runs. But, those were on the road, so, obviously it’s going to be different at home, right? Right?

It better be, because you lose tonight and while the season is still technically salvageable, it is much more difficult. You win tonight and, I fully believe, you are in the driver’s seat for the rest of the year. The Driver’s Seat.

One night after the biggest game of the season comes, the biggest game of the season, here’s to Nick Blackburn.

The Minnesota Twins-Chicago White Sox race is intriguing, but nowhere near as intriguing as the 2008 Presidential race. With that in mind we here at Twinscast came up with an idea, we’ll call it, ‘Who said that?’ We’ll fill the column with some quotes and some comments about the two races and you can try to guess who said what: our speakers are Ozzie Guillen (Chicago White Sox manager), Ron Gardenhire (Minnesota Twins manager), Barack Obama (U.S. Senator of Illinois), John McCain (U.S. Senator of Arizona) and Sarah Palin (Governor of Alaska). Feel free to post your answers on the comments section and whoever gets the most right can have a signed picture of Bryant chest-bumping me - you heard that right.

1. “I don’t know. We’re good friends. I mean, we’re not that tight… I have respect for what he does, but on the field he’s my enemy.”

In a presidential race everyone is your enemy until they’re your friend, but it’s really just a farce.

Imagine that Bryant and I were fighting over the same woman, and in that vein, I tell the woman every terrible thing (truth does not actually matter, we’re trying to win here) that I know about Bryant.

1. He has trouble fulfilling a woman’s needs sexually.

2. He drinks.

3. His reproductive organ may actually be a composition of different parts of his back.

4. He got his degree from Brown.

Three weeks later Bryant has won the girl, his arguments against me (1. He’s gay; 2. He gambles; 3. He’s prone to masturbate in public; 4. He’s broke) were more persuasive than mine. Now he and I and the girl are all out eating dinner together, back to being old friends. We’re sharing old memories, planning a trip to California, and deciding when we should get together to do the podcast.

We’re able to laugh about all the terrible things we said about each other.

Me: Oh that thing I said about Bryant’s penis being built from skin from his back, that was almost too good.

Bryant: Yeah but it seems that my old story about you jerking off in public really swayed her opinion, wouldn’t you agree honey?

Woman: Yeah I knew that both of you were full of sh-t but Bryant was just a little more convincing in his lies.

Would this ever work? No. I wouldn’t talk to Bryant for months. This is why men don’t argue over women unless they’re in a Jennifer Aniston movie - if my friend has a smoking hot, friendly, intelligent girlfriend and I don’t, well what can you do? But we’re supposed to believe that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are all of a sudden best friends? Or that Joe Biden has finally decided that Obama is ready to lead the country? Really, in the course of three weeks your whole perspective changed? Really Joe Biden?

2. “I got an old ink pen, my friends, and the first pork-barrel laden earmark, big-spending bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it.”

To the Minnesota Twins advance scouting team and Minnesota Twins General Manger Bill Smith. It wasn’t that the Twins cut spending across the board during the winter, it’s that they cut-spending in the most asinine, unbelievable ways - now at this point in the season quibbling over what happened six months ago seems foolish and irresponsible. But, I will contend for as long as possible that this Twins team has thrived in spite of front office incompetence. They have thrived because of great managing (Gardy, Rick Anderson, Joe Vavra, Tom Kelly’s work with Morneau, etc.) and great seasons from a number of young players who the front office didn’t have full faith in (Buscher, Casilla, Span).

It fits the Twins mold from previous years. They spent money on washed up veterans (Monroe, Lamb, Everett, Hernandez) and waited until the very last moment to cut them loose. It isn’t that this is a bad idea and each player had defining moments (Monroe - three-run home run against KC in the ninth; Lamb - walk-off single against Pappelbon; Everett - ; Hernandez - 10 wins?) but it still speaks to a resignation that when it comes to big time spending the Twins are more willing to grind it out and pray for lightning to strike.

3. “You can’t back away from situations, and [he] doesn’t back away from anything.”

My favorite thing about this year’s election is the fact that people can just lie. It doesn’t even matter how blatant the lie is, people can just lie and lie and lie and get away with it. It reminds me of a man continually denying an affair while the wife stands there with another woman’s underwear in her hand.

And if there is one thing that John McCain, The Maverick of the Middle-Class, has done this election it’s prove that he doesn’t back away from any situation, even if it means devaluing every moral stand he has taken in his career.

Dinner with Jerry Falwell? Check.

Overturn Roe v. Wade? Check.

Support for Bush tax cuts? Check.

And it isn’t just McCain, when faced with the chance to gain some votes every politician will stand sturdy and say whatever is necessary to get a new convert - regardless of whether or not their new position goes against their stated ideology.

4. “I answered him yes, because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink.”

To any Minnesota Twins fan or coach who has believed in the bullpen this season. Matt Guerrier, Brian Bass, Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes, Jaun Rincon (he was here this year, remember), etc. have all had the chance to show their readiness because in the reliever role, you can’t blink. But of course, all that Twins relievers have done this season is blink, and blink, and blink, and crap the bed.

It’s important to remember that at the start of the year the greatest fear for any Twins fan was the starting rotation - the bullpen was supposed to be in lock-step. The fact that four of the five Twins starters right now have ERA’s under 4.00 (Perkins ERA ballooned last night), and the fact that the offense has scored the third most runs in the American League, should mean that the team is cruising along, but the bullpen has been the weak-link.

The Twins bullpen has gone 22-24 on the season with a 3.97 ERA, that’s good for eighth best in the American League, the only teams with a worse ERA are Seattle, Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City, Texas and Cleveland.

In case you were wondering, this is not good for the post-season. 

5. “More now it’s the woman–be careful who you take the picture with, be careful where you take the picture. MySpace, Facebook, all those different things, they can cause you a lot of problems.”

To my favorite baby-papa drama of the season: Levi Johnston. It isn’t that I care about whether or not a 17-year-old has an out of wedlock child, I seriously do not. What worries me is the sanity of poor Levi. Lets remember what some of those quotes were from his myspace page:

“I’m a fuc-ing redneck…I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shi- and just fuc-in’ chillin’ I guess…Ya fu-k with me I’ll kick [your] ass.”

Can you imagine the sheer terror on this guys face when he realized what he had just stepped into. I mean it’s one thing for a redneck to have a baby, it’s another thing for that redneck to actually have to raise and father the child - and to do it with the entire republican establishment looking over your shoulder? Dear God.

I can only imagine the conversation him and the boys had the night he found out he was hoping on a plane to St. Paul to meet John McCain and hold a down-syndrome baby on national television to prove his paternal qualifications.

Friend: Wait, you had sex with Bristol?

Johnston: Yeah.

Friend: When?

Johnston: I don’t really remember, I think it was on a camping trip.

Friend: Fu-k.

Johnston: I know.

Friend: Wait so she’s going to actually have the baby?

Johnston: Yeah.

Friend: Fu-k.

Johnston: I know.

I just feel awful for the guy.

6. “We’ve got a little travel coming the next 52 days.”

To the most mind-numbing road trip in the history of the Minnesota Twins, and to the current 10-game road trip they are embarking on. It’s one thing to be in a tight pennant race, it wears on the fans mind. I remember calling my dad after one of the games where Joe Nathan blew another save and just saying, ‘What happened?’ over and over. It wasn’t that the Twins were losing games and missing chances to move up in the division, it was the absolutely crushing inventiveness of the whole endeavor.

Luckily at this moment the Twins are tied atop the standing with the White Sox with 16 games to play. Can they hang on? I don’t know. But I do know that if they do I will be terrified for every single road game they have to play.

7. “This guy told me I was crazy, I need anger management. Shut the fu-k up. You don’t know, you don’t know my life. You went to fuc-ing Harvard.”

No matter what you think of Barack Obama there is one thing that is pretty certain. He is smarter than you. He’s smarter than me. He’s smarter than Bryant and I combined. He’s smarter than Bryant, George W. Bush and I combined. And while, ostensibly, that’s a good quality to have in the leader of the free world, it can get a little condescending.

Listen most Americans don’t want to hear about all of your accomplishments, we know you went to fuc-ing Harvard. The fact that the man is a completely self-made intellectual who struggled through hardship after hardship to get to where he is can get lost in the backwash.

If I’m Obama it’s time to start taking shots of Rich & Royal Whiskey with the folks at the Chanhassen VFW, and I’m not talking about the lunch-time crowd, I’m talking about the 12:30 a.m. crowd. It’s time for Obama to dumb it down a notch, get common, then when you’re in office you can throw back on the intellectual gravitas and understanding that would help you to manage the greatest bastion of freedom in the world.

8. “We’ve got to get home and see if we can right the ship.”

This is for everyone involved with the democratic party who are terrified right now about the fact that in a year when the election was basically handed to them, they have screwed it up. It’s hard to know exactly how this happened and it would take a political mind far above mind, but somewhere along the line they screwed up…

9. “You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years.”

To Eddie Guardado: The Twins great pickup of the 2008 trade deadline will now have time to compete with the likes of Bret Boone and Phil Nevin for the title of biggest waste of excitement by a Twins fan base only to receiver a middle-class player at the trade deadline. The thing about Guardado is that he is what he is. You can try to shine it anyway you like, perhaps by saying, ‘Well Eddie is a better option than any other pitcher in the bullpen,’ but that doesn’t make Eddie a good pitcher, and his 10.39 ERA in 4.1 innings verifies this thought.

10. “We killed the Bridge to Nowhere.”

To Joe Nathan who as the Twins closer, is officially nowhere. It is impossible to have the role of closer when the people building that bridge to you cannot keep a lead of three runs or less. I don’t know what Joe Nathan is now, but he is certainly the best closer in baseball who hasn’t saved a game since August 27.

This is a good thing, but we’ll see how we feel about it come September 28. Also, another thing about Gomez that is my favorite running sub-plot in the outfield, the fact that he runs behind Delmon Young on every fly-ball to left. Gomez has seen too many ball flop over Young’s head or off his shoulder to just stand in center and expect a catch in left. He literally just stands behind Young, like an over-bearing mother worrying about her husband holding a child.

12. “We might fall well short of their standard, but there’s honor in the effort.”

 To the Minnesota Twins 2008 season, a magical ride that some fans seem completely unpleased with. I complain on occasion about the Twins but make no mistake about it, this season has been special and will continue to be special until the day it ends. It shouldn’t really matter if they make the playoffs or not - what’s a few extra games - but the game is the game and everyone wants to be the last one standing.

As fans we do what we can to remain objective about the quest - after all we have greater concerns than what some collection of grown men playing a child’s game do with their time. But it becomes difficult to find many things that give greater entertainment to the masses than baseball, and really, when considering the sport of politics - you know the deciding of who becomes the most powerful people in our country - it really doesn’t seem that fool-hearty to become completely lost in baseball.

I hope Bryant will respond to this and offer his opinions, but I doubt it. He is too busy taking boat trips to small islands off the mainland of Washington to have dinner-dates to really devote himself to this website at this moment. This moment of course being the final push to the playoffs for our favorite baseball team. The way I see it Bryant and I have already wasted about five 24-hour days of our lives to this website so why quit now?

With 18 games left it is time to dive into the top-10 Twins of the 2008 season. This is not based purely on statistics but rather on my arbitrary opinion. Feel free to comment.

1. Justin Morneau: This should be un-debatable. No Twin has performed better or carried a heavier load than Justin Morneau in 2008. He has played in every game for the Twins, he is in the top-10 in the American League in hitting and is second in the RBI race. More impressively for a team that has needed to take advantage of every offensive opportunity this season, Morneau has hit .372, with a 1.12 OPS, 91 RBI and eight home runs with runners in scoring position this year.

There has been considerable discussion in other Twins related websites about the comparison between Morneau’s 2006 MVP season and Morneau’s 2008 MVP-like season. Let me just say this, in 2006 Justin Morneau spent the bulk of his season (especially the portion where he began hitting like Joe Dimaggio) in the five hole, hitting behind Michael Cuddyer’s career year and in-front of Torii Hunter. Remember that Cuddyer hit .284 that year with 24 homers and 109 RBI, so while he may not have been as pure of a hitter as Mauer has been this year, there is no doubt he was considered a major threat by opposing pitchers. Hunter hit .278 with 31 home runs and 98 RBI, not exactly a slouch of a player protecting Morneau from the sixth slot in the lineup.

This year Morneau has had Mauer in front of him and a combination of Delmon Young and Jason Kubel behind him. He has been the teams lone consistent power threat all season, and his home run numbers have dropped because of it. But he has become a more complete hitter, shown in the average obviously, but also in his 40-plus doubles and his 70 walks.

There has been no better player for the Twins this season, and the decision to sign Morneau to an six-year contract in the off-season was the Twins best.

2. Joe Mauer: The best swing in baseball, the most patient approach at the plate of any Twin, the ire of any number of idiots who troll around Twins message boards, Joe Mauer is the best catcher in baseball and one of it’s truly bright stars. It only takes a few appearances by free-swinging 20-year-old’s like Delmon Young or Carlos Gomez to appreciate what the Twins have in Mauer. His 4.06 pitches per plate appearance are good for 16th best in the league, and he is currently third in batting average and second in on-base percentage in the AL. If this is what we get from Mauer for the rest of his career I think that people would still find a way to be disappointed. Mauer at 6′5″, 230 pounds, has the stature at the plate that makes it seem unbelievable that he has only eight home runs this season despite appearing in 130 games.

Still, I think most fans are coming around to the idea that Mauer’s power will come when Mauer wants it to, a seemingly preposterous notion that a player can just turn-on power, Mauer has shown that when he wants to let his bat fly he can. It was around mid-June when the press and the blogosphere got wise to the fact that Mauer had only hit two home runs through the first 70-odd games of the season. So for the next two months Mauer seemed to take more chances on inside pitches and began blasting some clutch home runs deep into the right-field seats. From June 27 through August 16 Mauer hit six home runs and quieted some of the critics to his game.

What I thought I saw in that stretch was a player just letting every one know - from pitchers to fans to writers - that if he wanted to he could do that all year, but that just doesn’t seem to be Joe Mauer. And with Justin Morneau hitting behind him for the foreseeable future, I don’t think that’s a problem.

3. Denard Span/Alexi Casilla: With the injuries to Michael Cuddyer, Adam Everett and Mike Lamb the Twins should have been in trouble this year. Throw in the fact that Carlos Gomez proved himself to be a terrible lead-off hitter and the Twins needed these two players to produce, and they did.

When Span was called up for the second time on June 30 the Twins were 45-38, two games back of the White Sox, and making their push towards the top of the standings. Span spent the beginning of this stretch hitting out of the ninth spot before being called into lead-off duty on July 22. Since that moment Span has hit .289 with .366 on-base percentage. He has also scored 53 runs, drove in 36 RBI and stolen 15 bases in 75 games. The numbers are not dominant or overwhelming but compared with what Gomez was doing for the first 93 games of the season (.247 avg, .281 OBP) they have been essential to the Twins success.

Casilla followed a similar line of success, since he was inserted into the starting lineup, for good, on May 20 until he went down with a finger injury on July 28, Casilla hit .318 with 37 runs, 36 RBI, three home runs and 16 walks to 23 strikeouts in 58 games. Casilla provided for Joe Mauer what the team had hoped Gomez would do, a player to get on-base and keep pitchers concerned about his speed, giving Mauer better looks.

I think that Span and Casilla are in line with Joe Nathan in regards to their importance to a team that needed a small number of players to have very good years to make up for the glaring problems of the team’s offensive production and pitching staff. The bullpen has been awful and Joe Nathan has been the only savior in the late innings, but without Span and Casilla stepping in for the woeful performances of Adam Everett, Mike Lamb, and Carlos Gomez and the injury to Michael Cuddyer, the Twins are not in this race.

4. Joe Nathan: Nathan’s numbers speak for themselves: 61 innings, 1.03 ERA, 36 saves in 42 opportunities. What those numbers don’t show is how, just like Morneau, Nathan has had to carry an entire bullpen on his back. With the number of blown opportunities by the likes of Guerrier, Reyes, Crain, Bonser, Bass, Breslow, and now Guardado, the Twins have needed Nathan to hold down every single game that he comes into, and for the most part he has. But when Nathan struggles, as he has over the last month - and this is going to sound ridiculous - going 0-1 with six saves, three blown saves, and one blown lead, and a 0.63 ERA, it shows just how important it is for him to be perfect when given the chance.

In fact just writing this right now gets me irate because I can’t stand thinking about the Twins bullpen in any capacity unless I am solelyfocused on Nathan. With the loss of Neshek at the start of the year there would have been ample room in this list for a middle relief pitcher to step up and be one of the most important players on the Twins roster, but instead, if we were doing a bottom-10 on this Twins roster I can guarantee you that five of those spots would be reserved for our middle relief, the rest for Livan Hernandez, Mike Lamb, Craig Monroe, Adam Everett, and most likely Gomez or Harris.

5-7. Scott Baker/Nick Blackburn/Kevin Slowey: It is hard to decide on who has been the most important starting pitcher for the Twins, so lets just give it to all three. The numbers are eerily similar.

Baker:          8-4, 147.2 innings, 3.66 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 119 K’s, 15 quality starts

Blackburn: 10-8, 176.2 innings, 3.67 ERA, 1.29 WHIP,   89 K’s, 18 quality starts

Slowey:      12-9, 146.1 innings, 3.63 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 111 K’s, 12 quality starts

Eerily similar there, but nothing more impressive than the other. Although Slowey going 6-3 with a 2.81 ERA since July 22 is certainly worth mentioning.

8: Francisco Liriano: Liriano is doing everything that every fan hoped he would after he was called up in August going 5-0 with a 1.57 ERA and 44/12 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But I think the most important aspect of Liriano’s performance has been the erasing of the tremors that Twins fans had when Livan Hernandez approached the mound. Lets just enjoy a quick one reminder of what Hernandez was, and is, and how nice it is to not have him pitching here anymore.

Hernandez in 2008: 11-11, 6.81 ERA (highest ERA of any qualifying pitcher in baseball), .344 BAA, 1.67 WHIP. Since joining Colorado Hernandez has gone 1-3 with a 9.85 ERA and is probably going on the disabled list.

Liriano on the other hand is starting to look like a number one pitcher. His velocity is down of course, as everyone wants to point out, but the effective use of his change-up has made him a more complete pitcher, and it should also put less strain on his arm then when he was throwing 45 sliders a game in 2006. If the Twins were to make the playoffs with time to set their rotation (unlikely) he would have to be your number one pitcher.

9: Jason Kubel: After missing 2005 and absolutely suffering through 2006 Jason Kubel appears to have found his groove as the Twins everyday DH (or at least as everyday as you can be in Ron Gardenhire’s lineup). Kubel now has back-to-back seasons of solid production and if he can start to hit left-handers with more consistency (something that was never a problem for Kubel when he was coming up through the Twins farm system) he could become the pure-swinging power threat that Twins fans have been longing for since he first appeared in 2004.

While he hasn’t been as dominant as Morneau or anywhere near as consistent as Mauer, he has certainly been the Twins third best hitter this season with a .277 average, 17 home runs and 71 RBI (all career highs). What has also been important, and something that many Twins fans may have forgotten, is that Kubel has accepted and became a designated hitter for this team, simple right? Well just to refresh every one’s mind, last season Jeff Cirillo appeared at designated hitter 21 times for the Minnesota Twins. Jeff Cirillo, 21 games as a power threat from the designated hitter position, that happened.

Along with Brian Buscher appearing to have solidified himself for the time being at third base the Twins have actually found a way to fill their gaping needs from the 2007 off-season from inside their own organization, and not from free agent signees Mike Lamb and Craig Monroe.

10: Delmon Young:

http://www.twinscast.com/blog/2008/08/19/get-off-of-delmon-young/ 

(enough said).

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 groan 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.