LesPaul
09-26-2006, 12:47 AM
How far would the engines run this season? Could they possibly keep pace in a division that seemed out of reach no matter how well they played and how many W's they put on the board?
Often times people will tell you that if you want a job do something you love and it makes life a lot better. Perhaps no better place to look then the Minnesota Twins. From the monicker "little Pirahnas" to the slogan around the dugout of "smell em" when there were RBI's to be had to the whisperings around the league that this team showed up to play and would fight to win day in and day out.
It would have been easy for things to turn down with the loss of young rookie sensation Fransisco Liriano, even easier after he was lost for the second time. Maybe taking a bit off the edge would have been alright after veteran pitcher Brad Radke had to fall out of the pitching rotation, thus creating a situation where 3 young pitchers would have to step up if the team did not want an early trip home in October.
Fitting it may be that on a night that the Twins clinched their playoff berth it was one of those young pitchers standing on the mound. Boof Bonser held the Royals in check, allowing one run off two hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out five. Before the average critic on the street says "It was the Royals, man" take note that the win improved Bonser's record to 7-5 on the year, with the Twins winning the last four games that Bonser has started, a span in which Bonser has gone 3-0 and posting a 2.42 ERA along the way.
As the headline reads, there was more to take note of tonight in Minneapolis. For the first time since 1987 two Twins have hit for 30 HR's in a single season. Hunter hit his two run blast in the 7th, giving the Twins a 5-1 advantage. Justin Morneau, Hunter's accomplice in the season feat, put the game away with a three run blast in the 8th.
On a night when Morneau hit his 34th HR it is only reasonable to think that within the jubilation of the Twins onward surge that there are many more lingering memories tied to the number 34. With the memories of old, a door has opened for the 2006 Minnesota Twins to write some of their own.
Often times people will tell you that if you want a job do something you love and it makes life a lot better. Perhaps no better place to look then the Minnesota Twins. From the monicker "little Pirahnas" to the slogan around the dugout of "smell em" when there were RBI's to be had to the whisperings around the league that this team showed up to play and would fight to win day in and day out.
It would have been easy for things to turn down with the loss of young rookie sensation Fransisco Liriano, even easier after he was lost for the second time. Maybe taking a bit off the edge would have been alright after veteran pitcher Brad Radke had to fall out of the pitching rotation, thus creating a situation where 3 young pitchers would have to step up if the team did not want an early trip home in October.
Fitting it may be that on a night that the Twins clinched their playoff berth it was one of those young pitchers standing on the mound. Boof Bonser held the Royals in check, allowing one run off two hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out five. Before the average critic on the street says "It was the Royals, man" take note that the win improved Bonser's record to 7-5 on the year, with the Twins winning the last four games that Bonser has started, a span in which Bonser has gone 3-0 and posting a 2.42 ERA along the way.
As the headline reads, there was more to take note of tonight in Minneapolis. For the first time since 1987 two Twins have hit for 30 HR's in a single season. Hunter hit his two run blast in the 7th, giving the Twins a 5-1 advantage. Justin Morneau, Hunter's accomplice in the season feat, put the game away with a three run blast in the 8th.
On a night when Morneau hit his 34th HR it is only reasonable to think that within the jubilation of the Twins onward surge that there are many more lingering memories tied to the number 34. With the memories of old, a door has opened for the 2006 Minnesota Twins to write some of their own.