Editor’s note: Amanda Lawson is a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan who is getting into baseball for the first time this year. After much deliberation and counsel, Amanda settled on the Minnesota Twins as her team. With “Beginning Baseball” Amanda is documenting her first season of baseball fandom.
Let’s take a look at the AL Central standings:
- Cleveland Indians
- Kansas City Royals
- Chicago White Sox
- Detroit Tigers
- Minnesota Twins
Ummm…This is not right.
At the end of the 2010 season, the Minnesota Twins were at the top of the AL Central. The Indians and Royals rounded out the bottom. In the words of the great Vince Lombardi…
You said it Vince. WTH is going on?!?!
Maybe it has something to do with the players that are MIA? Slowey, Nishioka, Mauer and now Morneau–who is out with the flu for who knows how long. Of course, we expect them to get back in the game before the start of summer. Key word: EXPECT.
But hoping for players to return from injuries and illness oftentimes does not give us want we want, now does it? Like with Joe Nathan.
Such high hopes. Great expectations. But recovery from Tommy John Surgery is never easy. Sometimes a 100 percent recovery is just not possible, and fastball velocity goes down, and those high expectations can’t be met. That’s enough to put the crowd down.
As negative as that sounds, we must also have a sense of reality. The strength of a team is not only judged by the talent each player possesses, but also the ability to adjust their strategy when things don’t go as planned.
So we may be off to a slow start, but all hope is not lost. After Sunday’s win and a strong start in the series against Baltimore, the light (do I dare even say it) is shining at the end of this long, dark tunnel. Management, coaching, and the ability for players to step up to the plate (no pun intended) will tell us whether this Minnesota Twins team is ready to grab victory by the horns consistently.
But until that light warms up this nasty Midwest weather, I am going to keep the smack talk to a minimum. Let’s go TWINS!
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* – Joe Nathan photo credit: AP photo/Anne Heisenfelt via WISHTV.com
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