I miss the days when Ray Durham questioned the Twins' staying power and when Mark Buehrle predicted -- accurately -- that the Twins wouldn't get out of the first round of the 2004 playoffs.
And there were unforgettable moments, like when Torii Hunter, Eddie Guardado and A.J. Pierzynski were booed by White Sox fans during All-Star Game introductions in 2002, and when Hunter enraged them even more in 2004 when he treated catcher Jamie Burke like a tackling dummy while scoring a run.
Trash talk. Purpose pitches. Stoked fans. Two chatty managers. Covering the Twins-White Sox battles over the years has been a sportswriter's dream. These rivals have loved talking about each other as much as battling for the postseason against each other. Yet the clubs meet this weekend in a series that means nothing.
"It's extremely odd," Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer said.
The Twins and White Sox have combined to win the past five AL Central championships -- with the White Sox winning the World Series in 2005. But the rivalry is dormant this year -- after all, one key component to a rivalry is that both teams must be good.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire chuckled Friday when he recalled how, during a game earlier this month in Chicago, White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen came up to the batting cage while the Twins were hitting and cracked: "You guys have gone from the piranhas to the little sardines!"
One thing that's remained the same despite this off year is the respect Gardenhire and Guillen have for each other.
The Twins have had many fundamental breakdowns this season and are fighting just to reach .500 before the season ends next weekend.
The White Sox have something the Twins covet -- power. Chicago entered Friday outhomering the Twins 178-111 but is last in the AL in runs scored, and its pitching has been inconsistent.
So here are two teams just playing out the string while Cleveland closes in on clinching the division title.
"That hasn't happened for a long time, has it?" Gardenhire said. "It's definitely something we don't look forward to, neither team. You always have plans, and it just didn't work out."
Guillen said: "In this division, if you don't come loaded every year, that is what's going to happen."
Detroit, last year's AL champions, and Cleveland don't look headed for a fall anytime soon, meaning the Twins and White Sox will have to juggle their roster to return to contention next season.
The Twins will try to sign Hunter, their Gold Glove center fielder, to a contract extension when the season ends. The future of lefthander Johan Santana, a free agent after 2008, also must be addressed. And who will start at third base or be the DH next season?
Chicago is on the opposite end of the problem-solving scale. The White Sox have 12 players signed for 2008 at a whopping $94 million. It will be interesting to watch how new Twins GM Bill Smith and White Sox GM Kenny Williams navigate through the offseason.
We'll know both GMs will have achieved their objectives if the trash-talking between the teams reaches the papers a year from now.
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