Curse of Denny Hocking's Injured Finger

[glanzer]

If the Twins never win a World Series again in my lifetime, I will look back to the dog-pile celebration following the Twins' Game 5 victory over Oakland in the 2002 ALDS. Denny Hocking caught the final out, sealing the Twins' win. During the celebration, Jacque Jones apparently stepped on his hand, knocking Denny out of the ALCS. The Twins haven't won so much as a playoff series since. I mean you can actually pinpoint the moment that Denny Hocking went from top of the world to misery. And that coincides perfectly with the Twins' inability to get to the next level too.

 

Twins' infielder Hocking out of ALCS

 

I for one think we need to start thinking about these past 11 years of falling short as a curse. The Hocking Hand Curse? I don't know.

[D. Hocking]

It still aches on a rainy day.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I would be on board with this curse, except our series win over Oakland was pretty flukey anyway. To wit:

 

Since the modern divisional format was adopted in 1994, the Twins only playoff series win was over Oakland (2002), and Oakland's only playoff series win was over the Twins (2006). This despite the two teams making 12 combined playoff appearances (6 each) in that time.

 

So the series wins kind of offset, and both franchises are essentially at zero. It's like the 1995 World Series, the Braves over the Indians -- when two "cursed" franchises meet, one of them has to win. Or if the Red Sox had played the Cubs in the 2003 World Series -- the winner isn't really a winner at all.

 

Yeah, I'm mostly joking, but I have a hard time pinpointing the Hocking moment as a turning point.

[gil4]

If getting Hocking out of the lineup doesn't put you over the top, nothing will. Is that the logic?

 

It's not like we traded Babe Ruth. Heck, even the billy goat thing makes more sense.