Editors note: I’m responsible for the Minnesota Twins loss to the Mariners on 4/11/21. I sat down and wrote this whole thing out after the Twins went up 6-0…knowing that block of afternoon would be the majority of my free time I decided to get the jump on what I wanted to write about, prematurely booking the Twins win. As a long time Vikings fan, and the man solely responsible for their 2009 NFC Championship loss to the Saints for doing the EXACT same thing, I should know better by now. I apologize to the entire organization and all it’s fans. I will never write another thing about the Minnesota Twins while one of their games is going on. This one is on me. If they miss the playoffs by one game or by loss of a tiebreaker I’ll never be the same.
Instead of going back and rewriting all of this, I decided to take full responsibility and post it as is, or better yet as it sat for 4 innings. Side note: it’s amazing how much difference a single loss makes in a fans way of thinking.
The Twins are 6-3 after nine games so far this season.
All three of their losses have come in ten innings, so if they could ever figure out an adequate extra innings strategy…the rest of league would be in trouble.
They have taken two out of three from each series they’ve played so far this season.
And that’s just fine with me.
Despite always doing it, I don’t have the right to sit on my couch bickering that they can’t sweep anybody. That’s not how things work…It’s baseball.
I love this team. They are so easy to root for.
I was concerned about the way they lost to Detroit in game 2 of that series…seemingly unable to do any of the little things necessary to win the game. I wondered afterward if not being able to execute in those types of situations would be the Achilles heel for this Twins team all season.
The following day they closed out the series with a one run victory over the Tigers that almost immediately put those concerns to bed.
In that game the Twins, trailing 1-0, were able to successfully move a baserunner from 2nd to 3rd with nobody out. Then, with one out, sacrifice fly him in to tie the game.
In short, the Twins proved they can manufacture a run. Of course it helped that it was Buxton who doubled to open the inning, as the Twins were able to take advantage of his speed in both situations.
They scored twice on close plays at the plate that afternoon, while also throwing out Tigers baserunners on a relay home after they tried to score the runner from first on a long double, and, in the same inning, threw out another Detroit runner at home when he tried to tag up from third.
The Twins then went against conventional wisdom and left their closer in for 2 shutout innings.
All those little things added up to a 3-2 Twins victory.
But obviously the big story so far this season if you’re a Twins fan has been Byron Buxton.
He’s been even better than I predicted. Which is truly saying something if you read my season preview back in March.
It’s also worth mentioning that, aside from the sixth inning against the Mariners in game three of that series, the 3, 4, and 5 starters have pitched outstanding. Especially from the vantage point of what I expected from them versus their actual on-field production.
They’ve pitched well enough to win every start so far, and the Twins haven’t been behind much at all this year…until the 10th inning.
Overall, they’ve been successful and fun to watch thus far.
Now if Baldelli could just figure out that line-up card we’d be in great shape.
And that 10th inning…
Mike L
April 11, 2021You wrote a blog back in 2009? Where can I find that?