The Minnesota Twins, typically annual contenders in the American League, find themselves in fourth place out of five teams in the Central Division. The Twins are 29th in the league in runs scored, 26th in the league in on base percentage, and 28th in the league in slugging percentage, which has baseball analysts and Twins fans everywhere scratching their heads. In an off-season that consisted of the healing of key players Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan, and the acquisition of the Japanese phenom second-basemen (Tsuyoshi Nishioka), nobody could have expected such a slow start from the reigning A.L. Central Champions. Instead of turning on their team, though, spirited members of "Twins Territory" are convinced that the slow start is merely a speed bump in the long, 162-game season.
"We always start the year bad," said Twins-faithul Kyle Jonas. "We're just in a slump that we'll be able to get out of within the next few weeks."
Although the Twins have struggled to collectively produce runs, certain bats in their lineup have been off to a hot start. Twins outfielder Jason Kubel is hitting a staggering .354 through the first three weeks of the season, which is second amongst all hitters in the American League. Denard Span has also been off to a great start in the leadoff role, with an on-base percentage of .358. Twins fans are confident in their team, and the early signs of production that they have seen from marquis players.
"Jim Thome and Danny Valencia have come up clutch this year," claimed Garrett Runing, a Twins fan for 18 seasons, "They're the best team, dude. They're 'bout to kill it.
Over the past couple of years, the Twins have been the only consistent winning team in Minnesota. High hopes for the Minnesota Vikings this season came to a crash landing as superstar Brett Favre had one of his worst seasons ever, statiscally, and the team who was predicted to be a Super Bowl contender didn't even manage tom make the playoffs. The Timberwolves, Minnesota's NBA team, struggled to close out many key games this year which resulted in a laughable 17-65 final record. The Minnesota Gophers football team failed to make it to bowl-game season this year, and the basketball team missed out on the March Madness pool of 68 teams. With all of these upsetting seasons, there has been a lot of pressure on the Twins shoulders to have a great season, and bring a playoff series to the brand new Target Field in October of 2011. So far, the team is putting more doubt and cynicism in the sports fans of Minnesota.
"Their starting pitching needs to pick it up," sighed Kyle Jonas.
He's right. The team has a combined ERA of 4.52, and the Twins perennial leaders in pitching (Francisco Liriano and Joe Nathan) have ERAs of 9.13 and 9.82 respectively. In most sports, "defense wins championships" is a universal truth. In baseball, it seems that good pitching has been the real indicator of a championship team. With that being said, the Twins pitching staff has a lot of work to do if they want to satisfy their loyal fans' wishes for a World Series run.
"If they don't [make it to the World Series] I will be pissed and chop off part of my body," exclaimed Garrett Runing.
For the purpose of restoring faith in Minnesota sports, and preserving Garrett's limbs, Twins fans everywhere are hoping for a quick turn around to the Twins season. Maybe it has been the miserably cold weather in Minnesota that has prevented a strong start for the Twins, who hit lights out in their Spring Training games down in Florida. Given the length of the season, and faith in the organization, fans have remained loyal to their MLB squad in Minnesota and have stayed positive about the poor April slump that their team is undergoing. Soon enough Twins fans will be packing into the new Target Field on a warm summer day and watching their beloved team get back to winning.
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