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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Pessi-Bitz

Do to the timely nature of this post and the fact that I feel the need to get this off my chest I'm posting over Teebore's post within hours of when it was posted. However, I encourage everyone to scroll down and read his summer movie review. He's always so much kinder than I.
Anyway, I want to talk some Twins. The Twins just won their biggest game of the year so far and did it in about as dramatic of fashion as I can think of.
The Twins were down 6 to 1 in the 4th inning where they also lost their starting pitcher forcing them to rely on a shaky bullpen for the remainder of the game.
The Twins scratched and clawed there way to tie the game in the 8th inning. The Twins won it 7 to 6 in the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk off single. It was about as good of a baseball game as you can get and the Twins won it...so why am I filled with dread?
Because I'm a pessimist, of course. But I'll elaborate.
I remember the 2006 season. The Twins were terrible for the first third of the season and then went on an historic tear and ended up winning the division on the final day of the season after their game finished when Detroit lost later that afternoon. It was the first time all season that the Twins were in 1st place in the division. It was dubbed "Twins Magic". That was the last game they won that season. They got swept in the divisional series...badly...and that was that.
The way the Twins celebrated today and the breathless reporting of the accounts of the game would make you think the Twins already won the division. They haven't. They have three games left and the White Sox have four. And I can't help but envision a let down occurring this weekend where the Twins win one of three games while the White Sox win enough games to take the division.
Let's hope the Twins can prove me wrong. They've done it all season. What's one more time?

4 comments:

  1. I know what you mean; I hear all the talk of celebration this morning, and it's like, that's great guys, you did what you needed to do in a spectacular fashion, but we're not done yet.

    I'm afraid they're going to take the Royals too lightly, thinking they've got this division title wrapped up already, and then they'll lose tonight in spectacular fashion or something.

    And even if they win the division, it'll probably be 2006 all over again: so excited about that, they forget to play baseball in the ALDS.

    It'd be nice if Chicago just slumps their way into the offseason from here on out, just to take some pressure off. Go Cleveland!

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  2. As soon as they won last night I thought of both of you and the exact response I knew you would write.

    The fact is we are a small market team who consistently OVERACHIEVES.

    Our 1987 and 1991 Championships shouldn't have happened. The Twins were not the best team either year and throughout the past couple years we haven't been as well.

    2006 sucked. If we would have at least been IN one of the playoff games I think it would have been a little easier. But, no. They royally got their a$$e$ handed to them.

    I think we achieved a major victory in sweeping the SOX. Even if we managed not to make it to the playoffs, both of you should appreciate what our hometown team has done.

    It's the little unexpected victories in life that offer the most value and enjoyment. This relates to sports, relationships, and everyday occurrences.

    Besides, as Mike Nelson of MST3K fame wrote -

    "Pessimism - It won't work."

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  3. Tell you what: when the small market Twins win another World Series, I'll stop being pessimistic about their chances to do so.

    Besides, if you set your expectations low ("the Twins'll blow it, they always do") then you're less disappointed when that happens, and even more excited when it doesn't.

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  4. Well, I hate to say I told you so...and I won't. Because the White Sox gave the Twins a reprieve..but the Twins need to start winning soon.
    But I guess that's the difference between how we view things, boots~. You perceive the sweep of the White Sox as a major victory. If the Twins don't win the division then I view it as completely meaningless. I'm results orientated.
    If the Twins don't win the division then I view the sweep of the White Sox like the Twins/Cleveland game last week where the Twins were down 8-1, took the lead at 9-8, only to lose 10-9. Sure, the come back was great, but you ultimately loss. And a loss after a furious comeback counts just the same as getting blown out.
    The bottom line is I refuse to settle. I'm not going to be happy with almost simply because at the beginning of the season nobody thought almost was even a possibility. I demand wins from a team we gave a stadium to. The fact that they're running the team on the cheap is their own fault.
    And I also partially disagree with your assessment of the 1987 and 1991 teams. I agree that the 1987 Twins team was good but really overachieved. And they were atrocious on the road. But the '91 team? That was a really good team and I have no doubt that they were the best team in Major League Baseball that year.

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