"Let us go forth a while, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms...
The game of ball is glorious."

--Walt Whitman

Monday, September 12, 2005

Sticking the Fork In

Alas, for the season that might have been.

Recall, if you will, just a few of the bright hopes with which we entered April:

  • a division championship four-peat
  • a 40-homer season for our new first baseman
  • an ROY award for our new shortstop
  • another Cy Young for our ace
  • another delicious set-down of the Whine Sox
  • a World Championship
  • And while the Cy Young is not out of the question, the others are realistically (if not yet mathematically) out of our reach.

    Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence.


    ----------[five minute intermission]----------


    Okay, now stop that.

    We've spent Septembers knowing we weren't going to the playoffs before, if you'll recall, and not all that long ago, either. Just because there will be no postseason in Twinsland does not render the rest of the season meaningless.

    Take a good long look at the September call-ups. Unlike the last few years, we'll actually get to, because we're not worried about keeping the regulars in top playing form. They've got the whole offseason to work out, after all.

    Consider next season: Who will be leaving? Jones? Lohse? Mays? Hunter, perhaps, in a trade? Rivas, please? Who might we acquire, and at what cost?

    And most importantly--what can the team (coaches, players and front office) learn from the hideous cluster**** this season has turned into? This leads us into the question of what went wrong in the first place (to put us in the third place--ha! Okay, not so funny...), and toward that end I'm chewing on some geekish data for future posts. But for now, let's just work on remembering that there's still something to cheer for.

    And don't forget to root against the damn Yankee$, who could actually (Can it be true? Let it be true!) join our Twins in going home after 162, for once.

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