November 12, 2021
The enduring mystery of Luis Tiant’s 1 season in Minnesota
Luis Tiant, the beloved Boston Red Sox pitcher, forever immortalized for a pitching motion that had him looking at second base before he whirled home, spent a season with the Twins in 1970. The #MNTwins released Luis Tiant 50 years ago today. Over seven seasons from 1972 to '78, Tiant averaged 243 innings pitched, 17... Continue Reading »
May 24, 2021
Twins snap extra-innings losing streak with 8-5 win over Tribe
Finally. After falling to 0-8 in extra-innings, the Twins once again found themselves in the 10th inning, tied at 5-5 against the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. But this time they were unbowed. Luis Arraez took his place at second base, Josh Donaldson earned a free pass to first base, then Kyle Garlick worked a full... Continue Reading »
January 24, 2021
How do you like the Twins now?
A recent check of social media showed that all was not well in Twins Territory. Twins fans, at least on Twitter, appeared to be coming unglued due to the lack of deal-making so far this offseason. As top free agents continued to come off the board and go elsewhere, such as reliever Kirby Yates and... Continue Reading »
January 18, 2021
Remember 1973? That was a wacky season for the Twins, Part 2
As I have written before here, the 1973 Twins encountered a little bit of everything it seems. They swept the eventual World Series-winning Oakland A’s to start the season — and went 14-4 against the club the rest of the way — yet they had a losing record against the 91-loss Cleveland Indians, struggled as... Continue Reading »
January 4, 2021
The day the Twins beat Phil Niekro and the Indians. It meant much more than that, of course
Hall of Fame pitcher and knuckleballer, Phil Niekro, is no longer with us, joining a long and sad list of Hall of Fame baseball players who died in 2020. I guess you could say his death, to quote a Bloomberg news headline, “capped a hellish 2020.” Niekro, who spent most of his career in the... Continue Reading »
December 29, 2020
81-75 with 6 games to go and it all fell apart for the Twins in ’84
After I became a Twins fan (yes, there was a beginning), I suffered through a 102-loss season in 1982, another down year in ’83 and then, incredibly it seemed, the Twins began to show signs of life in 1984. They were helped by a young nucleus of rising stars, including Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Frank... Continue Reading »
October 15, 2020
Twins killer Whitey Ford, who had career winning percentage of .690, is dead at 91
It’s hard to imagine that 2020 could get any worse, but it has after losing some of the giants of the game. In a matter of weeks, it seems, we have lost Tom Seaver, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Joe Morgan and longtime Yankees pitcher, Whitey Ford, the Chairman of the Board. Ford died last week... Continue Reading »
September 25, 2020
Twins extend lead in AL Central to 1 game after Tribe sweep White Sox
The Cleveland Indians just played spoiler. The Tribe swept a four-game series from the suddenly reeling Chicago White Sox on Thursday, increasing the Twins’ lead in the division to one game going into the final weekend of the 2020 season. The Twins host the Cincinnati Reds this weekend, while the White Sox host the Chicago... Continue Reading »
September 9, 2020
Twins split doubleheader with Cardinals. Will it be enough?
The Twins split a doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, meaning they started the day 10 games over .500 after a Game 1 win, but ended the day nine games over .500 after a Game 2 loss. Will that nine-game cushion be enough? I ask that question because the Twins are about to... Continue Reading »