Maybe a Start is to Demand that they Add an Asterisk to the "We're Gonna Win Twins" Song *Song Applies to the Regular Season Only, Mostly Divisional

Ok. After several angry conversations with Jan followed by the obligatory statements regarding not caring anymore, i needed to just spend five minutes typing out a few thoughts, in hopes that it will serve as a sort of therapy, or perhaps just a bookend to this deja vu all over again season that was just as much a part of this fall as last year's was of last fall's and, well...you get the point.

As Minnesota sports fans we have become accustomed to the annual gut wrenching, knife twisting performances that leave us hunched on the ground holding our mid sections, but still extending our hands as we beg them to come back and help us up. And I guess, in a sense, that is ok. Other places and fans (I'm looking at you Tapani) can relate as much as we think we are unique.

As a vikings fan, for many of these painful years you have been brought to the brink and consistently screwed by a team that underperforms, over promises, underpays, misbehaves, embarrasses on and off the field, and is as much defined by a team made up of players you hate to love as the opposing players you love to hate. But with the twins, it's painful to look deep at where we are because for the most part, this is a great organization. The memories are of Kirby Puckett (yes, we block out the depression and alochol induced creepy sexual harrassment-- remember game 6?), Harmon Killbrew, Tom Kelly, Kent Hrbek fishing and a Minnesota kid and his canadian friend winning two of three MVP's while playing video games and drinking beers while the rest of the league was filling the tops of their order with roid taking womanizers playing for whoever threw them the most cash. We did it differently, and really impressively.

So you really want love them and you really want to see them do well. Almost in a sense, as much for them as for you. But all that said, I need to say a few things, and I will preface it with the following "I Love my Kids" disclaimer: I love this team. I love the way they never give up. I love the fact that they seem to actually love the game. I love that they have built a real organization that builds talent and doesn't just buy it. I love Gardy and his aw shucks routine and his midwest yada yada yada. I do. And Mauer and Morneau, obviously.

BUT.....the fact is that this organization's performance when it matters is not only unacceptable it's downright fucking embarrassing. They are one loss away from the worst string of playoff losses (12) in HISTORY (13). We're coming to get you, Red Sox. And that's not some crap stat over 75 years by teams taht have nothing in common. It's over the last ten. It's this team. This nucleus.

The fact is that this organization needs to take a deep look at what's happening. Maybe we don't understand that the championship is actually at the END of the playoffs, not the 162 games right before the playoffs start. We don't pay for division championships -- (note to twins management - it's not actually that hard to win the central division.)

And don't give me the "it;s hard to compete with NY and Boston money" bullshit. For one, we have one of the biggest payrolls, and two, that would be true, sort of, as a general rule, but even the royals win some of those series sometimes. No team, no player should be this bad when it counts this OFTEN and not start getting questioned. More importantly, so as to not allow the small ball thing as an excuse, This is not a bad team that's lucky to just be on the field with the Yankees. They are a good team with a good lineup that plays like shit when they get into real games. Joe Mauer is as good as any player in the last ten years. But He hit .250 in this series (he hit .182 in his first series and .450 last year). Kubel -- I don't know what to say. You actually outshittied your 9 strikeouts last ALDS by hitting .000. Cuddy - .182. Pitching -- some good starts that got us almost there and then so predictably fell apart to be surrendered to the best bullpen in baseball the second half that, predictably, crumbled and left us behind again the last third of the game. The point is, all things that we did well in the regular season and terribly in the playoffs. Again.

I don't know what it is, but it starts somewhere and that might as well be the top. Teams take on a little of their persona from their manager, and a little from their leaders, of which they frankly have none -- who on that team is going to come in like Kirby and say get on my back. Jan and I were joking that it would be funny if Tolbert did it, but frankly, I am not sure there is a single guy you could point to that it wouldn't sound a little funny coming out of their mouths.

So, It hurts to say it, but Gardy has to go. Sooner or later, when the same thing keeps happening year after painful year, almost to the inning and out, you have to say something isn't working. This is what happens when you take your foot off the accelerator, your eye off the prize and you say it's ok to play like bankers not athletes. You need to want it more, Gardy. You need to have more to say then we just didn't have it today and we didn't take advantage. That's not it, that's not news. You NEVER do. You've identified the problem, now fix it. When you lead the league in stranding runners, maybe you need to find a new way to get them advanced. Maybe when you keep hitting into double plays, you need to start sending guys. I don't know. I just know taht this isn't acceptable. In college I used ot have what I referred to as the most comfortable shirt on campus. I loved it. I wore it all the time. After years, It got ripped and torn and by the end was sort of a campus joke. People would come up and tear a piece off for fun. But eventually, it wasn't fun anymore, and I had to come to the realization that in fact, this shirt no longer achieved it's primary objective of covering my nipples or providing even the slightest modicum of warmth. So i painfully made the decision to make a change. I miss it sometimes. Sometimes I even want to bring it out of the drawer and put it back on. But I know it was for the best. Gardy is feeling like that shirt to me now. I don't accept this feeling, and I don't accept the twins pretending that it's ok, and we will just get em next year. And for the record, I don't think Bobby Cox is great. I think he is a winner when it's easy and a loser when it matters. That's his legacy because that's what he's done. And now Gardy is in that camp. I don't want him to be. but he is. And he hasn't even gotten as far as the world series. Make me eat these words, Gardy. I'm begging you.