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You didn’t really think it was going to be that easy, did you? Early on in the season, the Twins sat comfortably atop the division, and it looked like they were primed to run away with the lead. In late May, the Twins led the AL Central by as many as 5.5 games over the Chicago White Sox and 7.0 games over the Cleveland Guardians. But that was many Dollar Dog Nights ago, and there was almost a whole season’s worth of baseball left. Though the Twins have mostly continued to sit atop the AL Central standings, after some injuries and a few tough series, culminating with an ugly “blowup series” vs the White Sox right before the All-Star Break, the Twins now have a 1.5-game lead over the Guardians and a 3.5-game lead over the White Sox. For the first time in years, the AL Central has a bona fide three-team division race on its hands at the All-Star Break. Even further, currently, the AL Central features the closest division race in baseball by far; there are no other divisions that, as of now, feature a viable three-team race. In three other divisions, the second place team trails by double digits. To get an idea of just how competitive this year's division is, I dug into the AL Central division's standings, working backwards until I found another season that featured a similarly-competitive race at the halfway point. At the 2021 All-Star Break, the White Sox were atop the division, followed by Cleveland at 8.0 games back, and the Tigers and Twins were tied for 3rd in the division at 15 games back, (but no need to speak any more of the 2021 Twins). 2020 was the 60-game season with no All Star Break, and over the course of such a short season, it was difficult for teams across the league to get far apart in the division standings, even at the year's end. At the 2019 All Star Break, the Twins led the division, followed by Cleveland 5.5 games back, then the White Sox at 12.5 games back. In 2018, Cleveland led, followed by the Twins and Tigers at 7.5 and 12.5 games respectively. Finally, a close AL Central race can be found in 2017, where Cleveland was on top, followed by the Twins 1.5 games back, the Royals at 3.0, and the Tigers at 6.0. A four-horse race! This season, could the Twins (God forbid), White Sox or Guardians fade and finish the season 12 games back? Certainly; year-end standings often feature two division teams within a few games of each other but very rarely are there three teams that finish within a few games (last year in 2021, there no were such instances of this). But for now, in the AL Central, all three of these top teams remain very much alive. Perhaps the most entertaining AL Central storyline to follow so far has been the saga of the White Sox. White Sox fans have gone from proclaiming that the “season’s over” in June and chanting “Fire Tony” at games to experiencing a rebirth of sorts. They are now nipping at the Twins and Guardians' heels, much to the relief of their fans, who entered this season with high expectations following a 2021 season in which the White Sox won the division with their most wins as a franchise since 2005. For now, the on-field errors have become less numerous and the Tony La Russa criticism has quieted. You know the old adage of "winning solves everything?" Tigers and Royals, well, we know how being in your position feels; both teams have steadily been about 12 games back of the division lead almost the whole season. If nothing else, they are consistent. We’ll see you next year. But for the rest of the teams, it should be a fun second half of the season. As much as I, a Twins fan, would love to see the Twins run away with the division, until then it is fun to watch a competitive race and to "scoreboard watch" what the Guardians and White Sox are doing every night. Buckle up, here we go! View full article

Never much cared for the White Sox, so seeing them get swept this weekend felt pretty darned good. I converted to Twins fandom in 2006, so I never knew A.J. Pierzynski as a Minnesota Twin. A Cubs fan painted a picture of him as a jerk, and I never really got convinced he wasn't. I went to the first White Sox game at Target Field just to boo him. Ozzie Guillen rubbed me the wrong way, too. If you need a team to be the bad guys, the White Sox seem tailor-made for your needs. It might not be rational, my gut reaction to this team, but they still get me riled up. Not even the Yankees get me as ornery as those White Sox. What;'s weird is that I tend to like cheering for the bad guys. I collect autographs from actors who have played Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th movies (If you have an "in" with Ari Lehman or Ken Kirzinger, get in touch with me). I like to wear black. I've seen My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult in concert 5 times, and it should've been six. I like my Batmen dark. Being a Minnesota Twins fan is one of the most wholesome things about me. Because, even though it might be naive and cliched, I believe the fairy tale Twins story. A smaller team who gets it done the right way by playing good baseball and being smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies. Thank you, Scrooge McDuck, for that last one. I read enough comments and articles to realize not everyone feels this way, but I still choose to see my Twins as the good guys. It's important to have good guys in your life. It helps. Life may not be filled with loathsome bad guys, but it often seems like there's a lack of heroes. Being a Twins fan doesn't automatically make you a hero, but maybe it makes small differences over time. I'd like to think someone in a Twins shirt is going to be a person who'd take the time to help you change a tire. Or give you a hug when you're down. Or spend some extra time playing catch with a child. Here's the deal - I don't do any of these things, realistically. I:'d just like to THINK that I would. And today, maybe, I am more likely to. Why? Byron Buxton. That man is playing so well right now that he makes me think superheroes exist. Once you picture him with a bright red cape, it's hard to picture him WITHOUT one. On Sunday's game, he granted the wishes of Twins fans who closed their eyes and wished please please PLEASE hit a home run. He did that TWICE. We would have accepted one time. Twice? Superhero. Now, people say "I love you" in all sorts of different ways. Some people cheer louder at the games, or maybe bring in signs. Some people just can't stop talking about him. Some people's love language is numbers, and they recite a litany of data that attempts to paint a picture of Byron Buxton, the man who could be king. Right now, in some way, ALL of Twins Territory is talking Buxton in their own love language. The hero defeats the villains. And right now, it's cool to be the good guys.

There’s still patches of snow on the ground in the Twin Cities, and there was already a postponement before a pitch has been thrown. Welcome back, Minnesota Twins baseball. The Mariners are in town this weekend, followed by the Dodgers next week; but a six-game homestand isn’t the most captivating storyline this week. Rather, did the moves the front office made during the lockout-shortened offseason put this team in a position to rise from the ashes and shake the forgettable 2021 season? Fox Sports’ pundit Colin Cowherd often says “aggressive wins” in sports today. Think about the 2019 Toronto Raptors, 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2021 Los Angeles Rams, 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers (lots of LA teams in there, what’s up with that?), and 2021 Atlanta Braves. Every single one of these teams won their respective league championships by taking risks and being aggressive. The ‘21 Braves were under .500 and 5 games back in a weak NL East at the trade deadline. Understanding the wackiness of the MLB playoffs and how just getting into the tournament sometimes is all you need to go on a World Series run (1987 Twins, anyone?), the Braves took a big swing. They traded for an embarrassment of outfield riches to mend their tattered outfield: Adam Duvall, Eddie Rosario (ED-DIE!, ED-DIE!), Joc Pederson, and Jorge Soler all came to the ATL [1]. How’d that work out for them? Well, Rosario won NLCS MVP, Soler World Series MVP (pretty sure it was mostly because of this), and Joc Pederson’s pearls made even grandmas envious. Moral of the story: be aggressive and be rewarded. Were Derek Falvey and Co. aggressive enough this offseason? Well, it’s complicated. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard that they acquired arguably the top free agent on the market, Carlos Correa, and paid him the highest annual salary for an infielder ever [2]. That seems aggressive enough. They traded away 2019 Silver Slugger winner Mitch Garver and 2015 American League MVP Josh Donaldson, ultimately receiving back two serviceable everyday players and a bunch of open cap space (parting the waters for the Correa deal)[3]. Definitely aggressive, slightly risky. Their most glaring hole, however, was starting pitching. Due to the departure of Jose Berrios at the 2021 trade deadline (just a reminder in case you tuned out the team last year) and Kenta Maeda’s Tommy John surgery sidelining him for most, if not all of 2022, the Twins were basically left with two diaper dandies in Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan, who combined have only pitched in 25 Major League games for a total of 119 innings [4] [5]. Recognizing that five starters are generally required to field a team, Falvey brought in Chris Archer, Dylan Bundy, Chris Paddock (a trade that lost Minnesota their All-Star closer in Taylor Rogers), and Sonny Gray, four pitchers with varying levels of previous success; but due to injuries and natural decline from age, all are unlikely to perform at said levels. Throw in a couple moderate-impact bullpen moves, and Twins are where they are as Opening Day awaits. Sort of aggressive? So, were these moves enough to compete with the White Sox (don’t sleep on Detroit this year either) for the AL Central and possibly more in 2022? The Twins have an offense that will keep tomorrow’s starting pitcher awake at night. Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton (based on his spring, I’d just walk him every time this year), Jorge Polanco lead a group that is a force to be reckoned with. The jury’s still out on whether Max Kepler can be 2019 Max Kepler again, but I’d have no interest pitching to Miguel Sano’s biceps (he’s better than you think), Alex Kiriloff’s smooth stroke, or Luis Arraez’s slappy stick. The bullpen should be fine. Losing Rogers definitely hurts, and you could make a legitimate argument that the Twins are worse off for this season than they were before the deal. Emilio Pagan arrived in the Rogers-Paddack deal, Caleb Thielbar was sneaky good last year, Joe Smith’s sidearm delivery can still baffle professional hitters, and a couple rookie flamethrowers could be x-factors. And we’re back to starting pitching. Thankfully there is a full rotation now, but in order to really make the rotation stalwart, more was required. There were plenty of free agent aces available this winter, but the Twins waited out the market so as to not overpay, and ultimately lost out on all the big names: Robbie Ray, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, and Carlos Rodon all signed elsewhere [6]. On the other hand, in order to make a splash in the starting pitcher trade market, the Twins likely would have been asked to give up a considerable haul of their nearly-major-league-ready prospects in return, something they don’t seem willing to do. Maybe the Twins’ hesitation to really go all in on starting pitching is justified. Yes, Carlos Correa has an opt-out after each season of his contract, so he could jump ship if this team isn’t competitive enough to his liking. But considering the required cost to fill the rotation, coupled with multiple top pitching prospects chomping at the bit for their shot, maybe this year wasn’t the year to push all the chips in. Maybe doing enough to be relevant again while betting on some of those aforementioned, almost-ready, super-promising prospects to provide an impact was the right move. This team will be fun and highly competitive (if they stay healthy, which is a big “if”) in an ever-weak AL Central. Winning consecutive division titles is harder than you think (just ask the 2021 Twins), so just because Chicago owned the division last year doesn’t guarantee anything. And don’t forget: all it takes is sneaking into October. Anything can happen then.

If you're expected to win, and then fail to do so in spectacular fashion, people are going to have thoughts. It's also safe to assume that those thoughts don't stay surface level for very long. For the 2021 Twins, the last few weeks have been a long trudge past the acceptance of things as they are, and have begun to approach the next station down the line: Why? "Why" is an important question that has consumed the game of baseball since its creation. It is a question that drives everyone involved in the game and almost everyone that follows it. Careers are made and broken attempting to answer it. Out of all the major spectator sports in the world, baseball is one of the most random, volatile, and unpredictable. The best team in the league facing off against the worst still isn't as heavy a favorite as you might expect. This makes answering the question even more important. But this game has been played for over a century, and despite front offices being invaded by every Ivy League sabermatrician with programming experience, there's a lot about the game that just cannot be accounted for. It is within this vacuum that narrative begins to form, and like a gas, expand to fill every available inch of social media. Our emotional investment in the Twins demands an attempt to make sense of a senseless sequence. Words like "implosion" don't feel adequate, because it doesn't do justice to how much it feels like it's a force being inflicted upon the team, rather than the results of internal motivations. Regardless, we try and take an inventory of what hurts, and search for accountability. Is the roster underperforming? Unquestionably. I can't recall ever seeing so much of a single roster falling to the bottom 20% of their preseason projections with such synchrony. Are the Twins seeing their share of injuries? Yes, and then some. Are the Twins unlucky? According to the stats, they're the unluckiest in the league, and have a lot of production stats in common with the Oakland A's, who have more wins than the Twins have losses. Everything is happening, it's all bad, and it's happening all at once. And then, to rub salt in the wound, the White Sox got hot. They started their rebuild later, they were on a trajectory to give the Twins a bit more time to contend, and then they leapfrogged them in the standings while destroying them mercilessly along the way. They're doing this while also suffering from their best players sidelined and being managed by a guy who started his pro ball career when John F. Kennedy was in office, and hasn't updated his worldview since. Where the Twins are punished for their faults, the White Sox seem to glide through life. As a Twins fan, this was supposed to be our time, and the spotlight got stolen by the worst possible division rival. Watching all this transpire, attempting to process it, you're left holding the bag and being asked to put a nice neat bow on a morass of misfortune. Unable to wrap your arms around it, the narrative becomes more and more tempting. "The coaches are too calm, they need to fire up this team and yell more!" "Rocco's lost the clubhouse, it's time to fire him." "The players don't want it enough!" Any time you hear missives like these, and they aren't accompanied by direct evidence from the clubhouse or a credible source, Colin Cowherd-sized alarm bells should start going off in your head. You are being asked to accept generalities to rationalize a giant sea of inexplicable fate. Explaining data points by assuming the motives of strangers is a task that should be reserved for criminal profilers, not Twins Twitter. Kenta Maeda isn't struggling because of some nebulous lack of leadership, it's because he's lost the ability to locate his slider. There's a notable clip from ESPN's First Take in 2012, when Mark Cuban came onto the show, and used every available moment to go after Skip Bayless and his notions of 'narrative'. Throughout the exchange, Cuban lays out his argument for why statements like how the one team "played harder" aren't worth the airtime they're eventually given- because they're not backed up by any meaningful data and are fueled by apathy at best, and intentional ignorance at worst. If you want to convince me how the Twins got to 13-26 and have someone to blame, you're going to have to do a lot more than sell me on a lack of motivation, clubhouse chemistry, or some kind of failing strategic approach, because in the words of Kronk, it doesn't make any sense. Baseball is a cruel game. You can assemble the same roster and play the same way, and end up with radically different results by the end of the season. I have a hard time finding obvious fatal flaws in the approach by the front office, management, or the players themselves. Sure, I'll always agree that ownership could stand to spend some more money, but a few million dollars doesn't magically repair Byron Buxton's hamstring, and it doesn't solve why any game that doesn't go exactly 9 innings becomes an automatic loss. I'm not angry at the team, the coaches, or the FO. I'm just sad. This roster- and by extension, this fanbase- deserves better than the hand they've been dealt, right as the window of contention seemed to be opening wide (and, by some accounts, ahead of schedule). And now, after six weeks of unprecedented horror- which is saying something for a team with this kind of history- the voices are growing louder that it's time to pack it in and start over from scratch. All that said, I'm going to continue rooting for this team. They clearly want it enough. The clubhouse knows what they're capable of, and would love the opportunity to showcase it, if fate and luck would just get out of the goddamn way. In the meantime, I'll be watching, and screaming into the nearest pillow every time a barreled ball goes straight at an opposing fielder. The Twins are dead. Long live the Twins.

Well the White Socks are looking like they have completed their laundry list and the Twins might want to look over their shoulders. Here is there roster http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/roster/ and this is before adding Kuechel for three years and $55m. Yes they began with a catcher and added a pitcher (and then Gonzales too) with Kopech and Giolito on their starting rotations too. The Chicago Tribune wrote, "The Sox re-signed Jose Abreu, signed switch-hitting catcher Yasmani Grandal, acquired a front-line starter in Keuchel and brought in two smaller and somewhat riskier acquisitions in Gonzalez and Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara, whom they acquired for prospect Steele Walker." And the paper adds - "The Sox lineup already was solid with defending AL batting champion Tim Anderson, Abreu, Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez at the top. It figures only to get better with Grandal and the the call-ups of center fielder Luis Robert and second baseman Nick Madrigal, both of whom should be on the roster before May, if not sooner." And then there is this quote, "Believe it or not, the Sox will be considered an American League Central contender in a division with three rebuilds, a slow-motion teardown in Cleveland and the always unpredictable Twins." And, by the way, the Detroit Tigers signed C. J Cron and Schoop - adding some familiar bats to their flimsy lineup. Every time players are signed by another team I see posts that list the next ones on the list. But guess what, those players are on the bottom of the list for a reason.

Originally posted at IowaTwinsFan.com. It was 1977, Jimmy Carter had just become president. New York City celebrated the opening of the World Trade Center and suffered through a 25-hour black out in the middle of a hot summer. Two guys named Steve (Jobs and Wozniak) gave us the Apple II computer. The Vikings were beaten by the Raiders in the Super Bowl and Seattle Slew won the triple crown. In the movie theaters we were introduced to Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Rocky Balboa. We also lost the King, Elvis Presley. But for one 14-year old kid from North Dakota the highlight of the year was a 19-12 Twins win over the White Sox in Metropolitan Stadium. This was my first and only trip to the Met. The Twins had a pretty good team, lead by Rod Carew, Larry Hisle, Lyman Bostock and 20-game winner Dave Goltz. The game was played on Sunday, June 26th and the promotion was Carew's jersey day. From the farm to the big city I made the trip with my parents and two of my sisters, ages 15 and 11, from eastern North Dakota to Bloomington, home of Met Stadium. My mother was a native of Mahtomedi, Minnesota so I know that we had other things on the agenda for this trip that included visiting family and friends. However, I was so caught up in seeing a Twins game I have no memory of anything outside of the ballpark and game. Our hometown is in the Red River valley, near Grand Forks, with a population of about 1,200 people. I was a farm kid, so at the time I was bit overwhelmed by the "big city" and spent a lot of time with my mouth open looking up. My sisters would tell you they were more sophisticated and not phased by it all, but I know better. Thanks to Baseball-Reference I can look at the box score for this game and jog my memory about some specifics of the Twins' 19-12 win. But the game was just part of crazy day full of events triggered by a family out of their element in the Twin Cities. As we walked into the stadium we were handed a crisp, white Twins #29 jersey with Carew on the back. This became my prize possession as Rodney was my favorite player at the time. It would be nice to say that I still have the jersey, as it would be a great keepsake. But when I was a kid, if you had a jersey with the name and number of your favorite player, you wore it. And wear it I did. So much so that it did not survive long enough for me to outgrow it. The two jerseys my sisters received are long gone as well although they did not prize theirs nearly as much as I did mine. My next vivid memory is of walking into Met Stadium, looking through the opening and out onto the field. I couldn't believe the green grass, the white, straight foul lines and what seemed to me a massive stadium. I couldn't wait to get to my seat. The heat takes a toll At this point circumstances delayed our arrival to our assigned seats. It was one of those hot, muggy afternoons in Minnesota; the box score listed the game time temperature at 87 degrees. The game was a sell-out, so the combination of the weather and all the people made the stands a hot and cramped place. Here is where it gets interesting. My 11 year old sister, who probably had not eaten much if anything leading up to the game, was overcome by the heat and fainted. My father had to scoop her up and carry her into the stadium. Doing the math on my father's age in June 1977 put him at 51 years old, ironically the same age that I am now. My dad was a strong man, about 6-feet tall and worked a lot of physical labor during his life as a farmer. But at this time of his life, to say that he did not take care of himself and was not physically fit would be an understatement. So picture near 90 degree weather, humidity, a crowded stadium, and a 51 year old man carrying an 11 year old girl. Add to that, the pack of cigarettes my father had already polished off earlier in the day. A certain recipe for disaster. So it should be no surprise that my father got heat stroke and needed medical attention himself. My mother, being the even tempered one in group, managed to find some security people, who in turn got my father and younger sister to the first aide room. The air conditioned room did wonders for my dad and sister. The medical staff put some fluids into my sister and got her back on her feet. They got my dad cooled off and I'm certain something was said to him about it not being a good idea to smoke on such a hot muggy day. I was certainly concerned for the well-being of my sister and father, but at the same time I was a selfish 14-year old, whose main concern was getting inside the ball park and finding my seat. So I was happy to see the two of them bounce back. We got to our seats in plenty of time. Finally, the game We had great seats, directly behind home plate, about 20 rows up. Whenever my dad attended a game he wanted to have the best seats. I inherited that trait from him. I did not know this until just a few weeks ago but our seats were actually compliments of one of my dad's best friends, a man he served in the navy with during World War II. This man and his wife were also responsible for getting my parents together. So I am eternally grateful to him for helping to make this memory possible, and for making ME possible. I learned of this and several other tidbits from this trip thanks to a letter given to me by one of my other sisters. She was working in New York that summer, this letter was written by my mother on June 29, 1977. It reviewed all our activities over the course of our three day trip. As mentioned above, I forgot about everything except for the game. The White Sox and Twins entered the game tied for first in the AL Central, with the Sox at 38-30 and the Twins 39-31. Bill Butler made the start for the Twins that day and future Cy Young winner Steve Stone took the hill for the visitors. There were a few interesting personalities on the field that day. Besides Carew, there were two other members of the Hall of Fame in uniform. Bob Lemon, a 207-game winner for the Indians in the 40's and 50's, was the Chicago manager. Larry Doby, the first African-American to play in the American League was the third base coach for the Sox. The scoring started quickly with the Twins leading 2-1 after one inning. In the second inning, after Butler held Chicago scoreless the Twins put up six runs to take the lead 8-1. Carew plated two runs with a single and three batters later Glenn Adams hit a grand slam. That ended the day for Stone. In the third inning the White Sox chased Butler from the game, getting four runs when Lamar Johnson and former Twin Eric Soderholm hit home runs. Two more runs were scored against Butler's replacement, Tom Johnson, so in the middle of the third the Twins were up 8-7. I was happy to see Johnson in the game as he was my favorite Twins pitcher that year. The lead swelled to 12-7 at the end of three as the Twins managed four runs on four singles and a walk. The White Sox got one in the fourth and two more in the fifth to counter the Twins' three-run fourth. After the Twins had their first scoreless inning in the bottom of the fifth their lead was 15-10. Record days for Carew and Adams Johnson settled in and retired 11 of the next 12 batters to shut the door on the visitors from Chicago. But with the game no longer in doubt there was still some drama unfolding on the field. Adams, a part time outfielder, in right field this day was having a career game. He doubled in two runs in the first, hit the grand slam in the second, singled home another run in the third giving him seven RBI on the day. In the bottom of the seventh he came to the plate with the bases loaded, his sacrifice fly scored Carew and set the single game standard for runs batted in by a Twin with eight, a mark he shares today with Randy Bush. Carew had come into the game hitting 0.396 on the season. He came up for the final time in the bottom of the eighth. On the day he had already managed three hits in four at bats - a double in first, a two-run single in the second, a run-scoring ground out in the third, and a single in the fourth that scored a run. He also walked and scored in the seventh. This would be his last plate appearance of the day. As it turned out, it was the last time I saw him hit in person because it would be the late 80's before I got to another Twins game. With the 3-4 effort Carew's average was right at 0.400 or 0.401 for the season. A hit would put him over 0.400 and an out would put him under. Everyone in the stadium wanted to see Rodney end the game over the magical 0.400 plateau. His average was at 0.444 after the second game of the season on April 10. But a 0-5 showing in the second half of a double-header that day dropped him to 0.286; it had taken him 69 games to get back to 0.400. Adding to that, he had already scored four runs in the game, if he managed to cross the plate again the five runs would be a Twins' record. Carew did not disappoint. He not only got his fourth hit, but it was a home run. The two RBIs gave him six for the day and the five runs in a game still holds up today, since tied by Tim Tuefel in 1983, Paul Molitor in 1996 and Luis Rivas in 2002. It is interesting that all of these players played a lot of second base in their careers. Carew and Molitor were not playing second when they set the record but they both came into the majors at that position. Why did I have to get that hot dog? So where was I when Carew hit this home run? Well, as much as I love baseball, and the Twins, you cannot get between a growing 14-year old and his appetite. I thought I could dash up to the concession stand after the Twins batted in the 7th inning, get myself a hot dog and return before the Twins' turn at bat in the eighth. Needless to say I got stuck in line and the top of the eighth turned into the bottom of the eighth. I soon heard the thunderous ovation while the Twins were batting. I was curious what it was. As I got back to my seat my dad was waiting for me with a big grin on his face. "Did you see the home run?" He says. Followed by, "how was the hot dog?" There were no TV's in the concourse in those days like there are now so I was clueless. I could not believe I missed seeing the Carew home run. I learned my lesson that day, when I'm at a ball game I will most often stay in my seat from first pitch to final out (barring emergencies of course). The White Sox got two in the ninth off Johnson to make it 19-12. Besides the big days for Carew and Adams, Butch Wyanager was 3-4 with three runs and an RBI. Smalley and Mike Cubbage each had a pair of hits. Johnson had an interesting line as the winning pitcher: six and two-thirds innings, ten hits, and seven earned runs. Johnson went on to win 16 games out of the bull pen that season. Adams finished 1977 with a 0.338 average in platoon duty on 290 plate appearances. Carew kept his average over 0.400 for the next 12 games, falling below for good after a July 11 game against his future team, the Angels, in Anaheim. He would finish at 0.388 and win the AL MVP award. By defeating the Sox the Twins broke the first place tie in the AL West. They held the lead until July 2, when they lost to the White Sox in Chicago. After holding at least a share of the division lead since April 30 the Twins managed to get back into first place on August 12, flipping between first and second until August 16. From that point they finished the season 16-26, giving them a record of 84-77 and a fourth-place finish behind the West champion Royals (102-60), the Rangers and White Sox. Going back home After the game it was back to the farm, where the days were hot and the mosquitoes big and hungry. I got back to the business of driving my big brother crazy by breaking most of the equipment on the farm. It's no wonder I went into computers. The summer ended quickly as it always did. But the rest of the season I could listen to the game on radio and picture myself sitting behind home plate watching the game. This ended up being the last real family adventure I was able to take part in with my siblings and parents. Before the next year ended my mother had passed way, then my sisters and I got busy with high school, then college, plus family and careers of our own. I cannot remember the next Twins game I saw in person, but it was at the dome, either in 1987 or 1988. Around the year 2000 I was finally able to find the time to get to ball games on a regular basis. Since then I have been able to attend several games each year. I may not ever see another game like that 19-12 contest from back in 1977 but I do know I won't miss another big home run because of a hot dog. Game photos from my father All the photos with this post were taken by father, William J. Shide (1925-1995). He loved baseball, his big family and his many hobbies, one of which was photography. However, it was my mother, Helen Shide (1925-1978) that really fostered my interest in baseball and the Twins. She was a Twin Cities girl, she told me about this team in her home town that played baseball, she also helped me organize my baseball cards. I believe it was her idea to take the three "little kids" (that was the term of endearment our six siblings bestowed on us) to the big city to see my favorite team Sources Baseball-Reference Play Index Baseball-Reference 1977 Standings Minnesota Twins Single Game Records The People History