Fraters Libertas

Twins & Fans SOL

Yesterday Saint Paul, JB Doubtless, myself, and another friend had the extreme displeasure of attending the Twins afternoon game against the Cleveland Indians. I had scored the tickets gratis from work and the seats were excellent; five rows up from third base. What was far from excellent was the play of the local nine who were humiliated by a final score of eight to three. This completed a four game series against the Tribe in which the Twins, allegedly in the pennant race, dropped three out of four to the Clevelanders (16 games under .500 with a 23-40 road record).

How bad was it?

They allowed a weak-hitting lineup to score eight runs, and unproven designated hitter Travis Hafner became the first Twins opponent to hit for the cycle since Paul Molitor did it for Milwaukee in 1991.

Yes that Travis Hafner. Batting right around .250 coming in to the game and the Twins make him look a future Hall of Famer.

"It was a bad day," Gardenhire said. "Embarrassing. We embarrassed ourselves, we embarrassed our fans. You don't go out and play like that. We did.

Gardy was right. It was downright embarrassing. But it wasn't just the team that was deserving of shame.

There seems to be an unwritten code of etiquette for sports fans in Minnesota. You are to sit quietly in your seat. You are not to move about too much. Don't talk to the people sitting next to you. If the home team does something well politely applaud. Never boo the home team nor make disparaging comments about them. Don't even think about raising your voice. It's pathetic.

Yesterday the Twins stunk the joint up. They didn't just lose to a bad team. They got their arses handed to them. And yet 'round about the sixth inning after we had suffered through yet another impotent offensive effort by the Twins (stretching the streak of scoreless innings to twenty) and we started to get on the lads and boo them lustily the fans around us were aghast at our behavior. It was a typical Minnesota reaction with the looks of disapproval, heads shaking in disbelief, and muttering under the breathe that indicate you're breaking a cultural norm by your behavior.

We were equally surprised at the behavior of the other fans. Don't you care that these million dollar ballplayers are mailing it in at a critical time of the season? How many times can you watch a Twins batter strike out looking before you decide enough is enough? Like the Twins batters who refused to take the bat off their shoulders and swing away the fans were equally complicit by their apathy and refusal to boo. As JB said, "The fans should not let them get away with this."

And in Boston, New York, or Chicago the fans wouldn't have. But we're in Minnesota. We're different. We're pathetic sports fans.

Because when you boil sports down to its essence what makes it great is passion. Passion for the game. Passion for your team. Passion means that you care. And passion isn't just about exalting in your team's triumphs. It's also about experiencing the sorrow and bitterness of your team's failings. Ask a Boston Red Sox fan about passion.

And so we booed the home team. We ignored the icy stares of our neighbors and let the squad know how we felt. Originally we planned to work over third base umpire and muy macho man Angel Hernandez who called balls and strikes on Wednesday night about as accurately as Jayson Blair reported the news. We did manage to get a rise or two (definitely a couple of hard assed stares) out of Angel early on with our running commentary. Either that or he was just jealous of the Coronas we were enjoying. But the incredibly inept play of the Twins forced us to turn our vituperative attentions their way.

It probably reached its crescendo with the arrival of James Baldwin. Not the writer. The "relief" pitcher. If this James Baldwin were to pen a book it might be called 'Go Tell It On The Mound: How I Impersonated A Major League Ballplayer'.

The same skulking James Baldwin who in his last two appearances has managed to surrender six earned runs, eight hits, and served up FOUR home runs over two and one third innings of work. As we predicted at the game he was not long for the Twins world after his latest outing:

Veteran pitcher James Baldwin was designated for assignment following the game. The Twins called up righthander Grant Balfour from Class AAA Rochester to replace him.
Being a veteran, Baldwin can accept his assignment to Rochester or opt for free agency. He has three days to decide.

Baldwin said he had "no hard feelings" about his time with the Twins. He had a 5.40 ERA and gave up four home runs in his past two outings.

"I haven't decided what I'm going to do," Baldwin said.

So glad to hear that James has no hard feelings about his time with the Twins. I wouldn't want him to feel bad about the fact that he was absolutely awful in his stint with the club and his performance even had some in yesterday's crowd calling for the return of Ron Davis. As to what he's going to do now I have a bit of advice for James. Sell that honking gold chain around your neck for whatever you can get for it bro 'cause the days of you swindling a paycheck out of major league ball clubs are over.

By the time the Twins had finally scored a run yesterday it was the ninth inning and they trailed 8-0. Nice time for a rally boys. They did manage to plate three and had runners at first and third with two down when Mike Ryan stepped in. The result?

Strike out looking.