You pretty much have to trot out ever dis– word in your arsenal to describe the nightmares of the first five weeks of the 2006 Twins season: Discouraging. Dismal. Disheartening. Disgusting. Disgraceful. Disappointing. Discomfiting. Discombobulated. Distressing. Disastrous, E…T…C…. A team can be some of those things and still manage to be entertaining, but thus far … Read more
This piece of information doesn’t exactly qualify as comfort, but on a rainy Saturday in late April it will perhaps serve as a grim and modestly entertaining diversion: For two days, late in the first month of the 2006 season, the Minnesota Twins were the worst baseball team on the planet. And maybe this will … Read more
Here’s the frustrating and telling thing about last night’s half-assed performance in Kansas City: Sure, the Twins scored just one run off Runelvys Hernandez, but it’s what they did –or didn’t do– when they weren’t scoring that one run that was so pathetic. Hernandez was making his first 2006 start, this after going 8-14 with … Read more
Sure, the Twins scored two runs against a lousy Royals team, but look on the bright side: Last year they would have given up three. Good news: The Twins are now 4-1 in one-run games. Bad news: They’ve now scored three or fewer runs ten times, and are 1-9 in those games. There, I’ve posted. … Read more
I was walking around New York this past weekend and I kept seeing cabs with these snazzy ESPN sports tickers scrolling across their roofs. I saw the Twins-White Sox score on one of the things late Friday night, and then saw what I thought was the same score Saturday night. I just assumed the information … Read more
I don’t know if there’s a manager in the Major Leagues that gets a blanket pass from his team’s fans. Maybe, you’d think, Joe Torre would, but anybody who’s ever spent any time in New York listening to sports talk radio (don’t ask) knows that every move Torre makes –and doesn’t make– is as scrutinized … Read more
That bottom of the tenth inning had to be one of great examples of karmic retribution in the history of professional baseball, and it sure as hell had to be exactly the sort of scenario Ron Gardenhire started dreaming about the moment he heard the news that J.C. Romero was no longer a Minnesota Twin. … Read more
Maybe Rondell White is going to snap out of his slump in spectacular fashion any day now and reward the confidence Ron Gardenhire has shown in him by writing his name in the clean-up spot night after night. This is a guy, after all, with a career .289 batting average, who’s never hit lower than … Read more
So, okay, after a woeful start on the road the Twins have come home and swept Oakland and shutdown a New York club that has been alleged by some to be one of the greatest offensive teams ever assembled. That’s been impressive. And that’s been entertaining. The Twins have won two one-run games, battled back … Read more
This seems modestly interesting to me: Last night’s starting lineup included five players (Castillo, White, Morneau, Batista, and Castro) that were not in the lineup for last year’s home opener against Chicago. The 2004 lineup on opening day had six guys who are no longer even with the team (Rivas, Mientkiewicz, Koskie, Jones, LeCroy, and … Read more