A little more than one-fourth of the way into this season, the Twins' preseason plans have gone off the rails. Nobody would have predicted the team would be on a historically bad pace at this point.

It can be instructive to take a look back to right before the season started to remember the mood when the Twins were 0-0 (and coming off a solid spring). I took a look at six quotes from six different people connected to the Twins, with most appearing in the special section that ran in the Star Tribune a day before the opener. This one stood out in particular:

"We're going to win games. Our lineup can score a lot. Many more runs. I'm here, [Eddie Rosario is] here, [Byron Buxton is] here. … We're young, but we'll hit."

That was from Twins right fielder Miguel Sano. Oh, how quickly times change. Rosario and Buxton have both been sent back to Class AAA, part of an offense that has struggled all year.

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. mrand@startribune.com