I have a dream that the Twins win the division, then make their way through the postseason to the World Series. And then that dream turns into a nightmare because they have to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s then that I hear a chorus of Twins fans say, “Well, at least we made it this far.”
The refrain is understandable because once again the Twins looked completely overmatched against the Dodgers on Tuesday, losing 10-3 to a team that makes winning look way too easy.
The Twins are 0-3 against the Dodgers this season and unfortunately they have one more game against them on Wednesday. So far in the series the Twins have been outscored 24-5 over those three games.
It was over quickly. The Twins allowed 10 runs on 15 hits, including not six doubles as I first thought, but eight! Starter Joe Ryan served up the first six runs (five earned) on nine hits and the bullpen tandem of Trevor Megill and Emilio Pagan coughed up the rest.
Sonny Gray gets the ball Wednesday. Good luck, Sonny, you’re going to need it.
Extra innings…
-What does it all mean? It means the Twins no longer lead the AL Central because the Cleveland Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday so the two teams are now tied atop the division at 57-52. How badly do you want this Minnesota? We’re about to find out.
-Twins Territory, of course, was suitably pissed about the loss. A sampling:
#mntwins
Hilarious how some people thought Rocco blowing up at umps would inspire the team.
Reality check: Twins will have to scratch and claw with all hands on deck to win division.— MNTwinDan (@DanielJ69671067) August 10, 2022
I have a feeling that Dan is absolutely correct. The AL Central winner probably won’t be decided until the very end of the season.
-On Aug. 9, 1967, the Twins played their longest game in team history and lost 9-7 to the Washington Senators in 20 innings. The longest game in Twins history received pretty ho-hum treatment from the Minneapolis Tribune the next day.
A headline that reads “Nats beat Twins in 20” is followed by this lede:
“The Twins played the longest game in their history Wednesday at Metropolitan Stadium, but to no avail. They lost to Washington 9-7 in 20 innings.”
It was a long night for everybody involved, including those on the sports desk.
Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com