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This is a short Blog - kind of a reaction blog set off by the St Louis Cardinals (my favorite NL team). Did you see the headline - 10 runs in the first inning. The Braves were in never never land! What happened. A really good team beat another really good team and did it with fire! The articles say that the pre-game talk by the Cardinal Manager (who the hell is Schildts?) was angry, it pushed the limits and for a while was available on video. ESPN had this article - "In a video that surfaced online Wednesday night, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt can be seen giving a fiery, expletive-filled speech to his team in the locker room following a win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. "The [braves] started some s---. We finished the s---," Shildt says in the video, which outfielder Randy Arozarena later acknowledged he streamed live on Instagram. "And that's how we roll. No one f---s with us ever. Now, I don't give a f--- who we play. We're gonna f--- them up. We're gonna take it right to them the whole f---ing way. We're gonna kick their f---ing ass."" https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27809815/locker-room-video-shows-cardinals-manager-expletive-filled-speech In contrast our manager felt fine just like Dave Roberts after his Dodgers bombed again. The bombs are not as fun as Bombas, by the way. It reminds me of the Vikings Superbowl bombs. I was so keyed up for them, but as I watched the players they were not. Just going through business as usual. There unflappable coach was stoic and the players were run over by the emotion, if not the talent, of Kansas City, Oakland, Miami, and Pittsburgh. Emotions count. Next year Rocco, I hope the players love you, I hope that they enjoy playing for the Twins, but when you get to the place where the season hinges on the game - get mad, get emotional, play like it is more than a game.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p style="text-align: center;">BREAKING: The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MNTwins?src=hash">#MNTwins</a> to name Paul Molitor as new manager tomorrow at 10 a.m. CT press conference! <a href="http://t.co/nnv04Ju6Rc">pic.twitter.com/nnv04Ju6Rc</a></p><p style="text-align: center;">— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) <a href="https://twitter.com/Twins/status/529338861831196673">November 3, 2014</a></p></blockquote> Can “The Ignitor” light a fire under this franchise and turn it into a winner? Paul Molitor was named the new Manager of the Minnesota Twins yesterday. He signed a 3-year deal and will be introduced at a press conference today at 10am that will air live on MLB.com and TwinsBaseball.com. It took Terry Ryan and the front office about a month to hire the man thought to be the top candidate for the job even before Ron Gardenhire was fired. The Twins did their due diligence in looking inside and outside the organization for candidates to fill the job making sure there wasn’t a better man for the job. In the end, Paul Molitor was the man they wanted to take control of this team for the next three seasons. The naysayers will ask many questions about this hiring. Is Paul Molitor the best person for the job? Should they have hired someone from outside the organization? Should he have some prior managerial experience? Is being a part of the so-called “Twins Way” a bad thing? Can he change Twins baseball back to a winning culture? Is Paul Molitor the best/right person for the job? Paul Molitor is a Hall of Famer who played for 21 seasons and has been around baseball for more than 40 years so I can’t imagine anything will come up that he won’t have already seen or dealt with. He’s already been an instructor with a lot of the players in the Twins system and on the current roster yet he will still be a new voice in the locker room. As a HOFer, he will have instant respect from every player that is currently in and/or comes into the Twins system and to the major league roster. Should the Twins have hired someone from outside the organization, with prior managerial experience who isn’t part of “the Twins Way?” Some think it’s wrong for the Twins to keep hiring from inside the organization. They interviewed many candidates from outside the organization and in the end, felt like Paul Molitor was the right person for the job. It’s about finding the right person not finding the right person from outside the organization. On prior managerial experience, I give you this from an article posted yesterday on TwinsBaseball.com: Matheny, Mattingly and Farrell have taken their teams to the postseason and Farrell won the 2013 World Series with the Red Sox. Weiss and Ventura haven’t done as well as they didn’t come into as good of a situation as the other three but it does show that prior managerial experience isn’t a prerequisite to being a major league manager. “The Twins Way” takes on different meanings to different people. To me, the Twins Way means drafting well and developing those draft picks into major league players while now, because of Target Field, being able to supplement the roster with free agents when needed. I believe they got away from that for awhile and that’s a big part of the reason the Twins have struggled the last 4 seasons. They had no talent to bring up in those seasons and because they were losing, free agents decided to go somewhere else. Can Paul Molitor change Twins baseball back to a winning culture? Paul Molitor is a natural leader who may be a perfect fit for the Twins. He played every position as a major league player other than catcher and pitcher and his awareness and instincts are a big part of what made him a great player who got better as he got older. He will instill that awareness into his players and turn this team into a contender. Even though the Twins just had their 4th consecutive season of 92 or more losses, there are a lot of positives in Dozier, Santana, Hughes, Gibson, prospects coming, etc…. They aren’t that far away from being a .500 ball club that could be on the cusp of contending for the division, playing in the postseason and, ultimately, winning a World Championship. THANKS for reading my Takes on the Twins! Please leave a comment on your Takes because that’s what this site is all about: My Takes, Your Takes, TwinsTakes.com! You can find us on facebook, twitter and google+ so follow us and let us know what you think!

Here's the truth. Both of us peanuts love Ron Gardenhire. We know that we're in the minority there...especially after the last four years...but c'mon, he looks like a little garden gnome. He's ADORABLE! Seriously though, thank you for the support you provided and the lack of lawsuits you threw our way Gardy. You're a cool dude. But now our attention turns to the real focus of the hour. Who will replace Gardy on the top of the Twins dugout step? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/pammyb20/jeUmEPao.jpg Maybe without the glove... Right now the fan base seems split into two camps: 1--Someone in house who can carry on the "Twins Way" and maintain the loyal, disciplined, do the little things right mentality that helped Kelly and Gardenhire lead the Twins to seven more postseasons than they ever had before. (More postseason berths helped that too.) 2--Someone from outside the organization who can provide a fresh perspective, a new way of doing things and maybe, just maybe, EVEN MORE POST SEASON WINS!! But why not split the difference and choose someone who has been loyal and integrated in the Twins for the last fifty-or-so years, AND is not yet part of the organization? Someone who knows "The Twins Way" AND can approach problems in a way that no manager has ever done before? That's why my pick to be the next Twins manager is...MY MOM!! Yes, I think my mother should be the next Twins manager and before you scoff, allow me to deliver the following points in her favor. http://www.foxsports.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/other/Images/2013/12/27/122713-FOX-SPORTS-North-Girls-HF-PI-2.jpg I'm sorry, I'm sure you're nice people But what what if there was a girl...RUNNING things Hiring her would give young female fans something to aspire and relate to OTHER than being a Fox Sports North Girl. [Nothing wrong with the girls, but rather than having the broadcast focus on appearances and introductions, focusing on a woman's strategy, intelligence and involvement with the on-field action] She's a life-long Twins fan, a former member of the knot-hole gang in Bloomington, homer-hanky waver from Montana, and loyal knitter/shouter from her current home in Minneapolis. She has over three decades of experience tending to unruly boys who don't know what's best for them She's an excellent cook (so the Pohlad's can save on wasteful post game spreads in lieu of post game potlucks!) She has better nicknames for players than most managers do, and can lead rally-chants like "Mientkiewicz, Mientkiewicz, Make me a Sandwich!"...which will be particularly useful if Douggie M. is her Bench coach. She is wise enough to tell players after critical errors: "Don't do that!" in the kind of stern, but loving tone that players will definitely respond to. (Honestly, I'm sure Oswaldo Arcia can cut down on his strike outs just by hearing her reprimand him like a mom) She speaks French which is kind of like Spanish... She knows enough social media to engage with fans, but not so much that she would get distracted (unlike Ozzie Guillen) She's a state championship knitter, which would be killer at charity auctions and events ("Bid on this award winning sweater from the Twins manager") She's an excellent Mezzo-Soprano, so our national anthems will forever be on pitch! She's working to understand SABR-metric statistics, but still appreciates a good RBI. I know that many will prefer to debate the merits of Manny Acta versus Terry Steinbach, and others will say that managers don't make much difference anyway...but I don't care. I'm fully on board with this. MY MOM FOR TWINS MANAGER!!