Twins-Yankees Game 3: Somber Squad

Yankees 5
Twins 1

It seems fitting that the only way to rank sports seasons in this state is by which postseason collapse was the worst.

I truly believed that after the Twins got their 100 wins and the homerun record that I was at peace with the Yankees sweep that I knew was coming. That the season had value anyway.

Nah. This sucks. It hurts. It's the worst I have ever felt after a Twins playoff elimination. The 2006 Oakland loss was still more unforgivable, but this was the worst collective performance. With the exception of only a few players, this was a bigger no show than 2010. I feel like I got conned for six months.

7 runs in 3 games. SEVEN FUCKING RUNS! I don't ever want to hear "bomba squad" ever again. Where were they in this series? Other than Polanco, Arraez, and maybe Cruz it was just shitty at bat after shitty at bat.

This last game was all about that 2nd inning. Down 1-0 the Twins load the bases. And don't score. And we all knew they wouldn't. All year long this team had this bizarre thing where they could not hit with the bases loaded. Other than Sano's slam in Cleveland they basically had no big hits all year. And this naturally came back to bite them in epic fashion in a season on the line game.

There were a few other RISP situations where we choked tonight too, but that 2nd inning was the game. It was the last chance they had to take any kind of control of the game. I think they only got 1 other guy to 3rd the whole game. And then Rosario hit that late homerun. But there was never a point in the series where this lineup seemed to be in any way the aggressor. So many awful swings. So bad with RISP. They made this Yankee pitching staff look like the 1990s Braves. So embarrassing.

They actually had a chance tonight. Odorizzi pitched very well. He earned himself some extra free agent money. The pen got tagged a little bit late, but by then it was over anyway. Naturally they give up runs the inning after the Rosario homerun, cause god forbid the 2019 Twins ever not give runs back immediately.

We had that asinine dive by Jake Cave that led to the Yankees 2nd run. Cave also mistimed the jump on that homerun that Twins Bartman tried to interfere with. The degree to which the Yankees hits found openings all night was absurd.

I just cannot fathom what a no show this lineup was. I feel conned. 307 homeruns. Over 900 runs. And this is what you put out there in the playoffs? If this series had been 3 losses in slugfests I would feel very different. We all knew the Twins pitching was lacking (although even that, aside from a couple guys, was also way worse than expected). But this was the Culpepper-Moss Vikings getting shut out in the NFC title game. It's inexplicable. And it got worse. 4 runs to 2 runs to 1. It's just humiliating as a fan to watch your team put such a poor display out there.

The Minnesota Twins were once considered one of the model franchises. Now they are a laughingstock, a joke, and they deserve to be.

16 straight postseason losses. 13 straight to the Yankees. 7 straight postseason series losses. One playoff series win since 1991. No playoff game wins since 2004. The last Twins playoff game win is in the middle of high school now. Mike Tice has a playoff win more recently than the Twins do. God damn it is humiliating. I will always treasure 87 and 91, and I know a lot of franchises don't even have 2 titles, but for nearly 30 years it's been just one humiliation after another.

I know that these Twins have nothing in common with the 2000s clubs. Different manager, front office, players, stadium. It's maybe not fair for them to have this awful legacy, but they are also now a part of it. And this organization is still kind of in the early years of this new administration. This is more of a 2002 than 2010, I think.

But I honestly don't know how any future good seasons can be enjoyed, with the Yankees always looming. It was basically known all season that we were either gonna have the Astros or Yankees to face. Naturally the Astros got home field. It's a cruel cosmic joke that we always draw the Yankees. We have wound up facing them through all different ways. And even if the Twins do go on another run of success, we are almost assured of always facing the Yankees, who are not going away.

UNCLE! Just once can we please not face the Yankees? Have we not suffered enough indignities?

Another season ruined. It took me a very long time to look at the 09 and 10 seasons at all positively after the Yankee drubbings in October. It's going to take a long time with this one too. The 2019 Twins did a lot of fun stuff. But the finish was so bad, so disheartening, so pathetic, that it may always dominate what I think of them.