1991 Twins: For Aggie, the thrill was in competing

When the whirlwind had stopped, there were no more scheduled flights and the assembly line of hotels and cities and games had ended, there was just one moment former Twins closer Rick Aguilera missed.

It wasn't from a single game. Rather, it was the constant patchwork of moments that found him jogging into the glare and toeing the rubber day after day, battling with each pitch and with each at-bat finding a distinct outcome to that battle, apparently a pretty unique feeling elsewhere in the working world.

"I think it was just the opportunity to be competing -- for that moment, to be out on the mound, pitching," said Aguilera, who was for the Twins for 10 years, including the 1991 championship season in which he had a 2.35 ERA with 42 saves. "And I think part of that was the emotional rush you'd get in the ninth inning ... it was an exciting time. When [he retired], I had that void of being able to compete on a daily basis -- that was gone. I miss that."

That quilt has been finished, but Aguilera has found a way to keep his competitive appetite fed, in small ways: becoming involved with his son's high school's baseball team since he hung up his cleats in 2000. His son doesn't play -- Aguilera jokes that he went over to "the dark side" to play lacrosse -- but the righthander found that coaching kids made him feel rewarded in a different way than he did while playing.

"I've been pretty active," said Aguilera, who with 254 saves held the Twins record until Joe Nathan tied him Tuesday. "Maybe that fills [the desire to compete] a little bit. I think I get a little bit of that rush."

Aguilera knows something of the rush, having played on two World Series championship teams, the first with the Mets in 1986, who he said "fought almost as much internally as we did opposing teams," and then with the '91 Twins, a team he called unique for the 1-through-25 camaraderie, a characteristic that helped push the team on the field, he said.

"In all my experiences, the teams that I played, I don't recall a team being as close as that," he said. "It kind of removes the individuality and the selfishness about playing and you realize you're playing for something much greater than your own statistics -- you're really playing as a team, to pick up your teammates."

But those times when things didn't go smoothly, with a player or with a team, have stuck out in his mind, now that he toes the edge of the diamond instead of its center.

"You really appreciate the coaching staffs you've had because ... when the game starts, you're totally helpless. Certainly, I reflect back to many times when TK gave me the ball and I kind of blew it. When you're coach and you make a move ... all eyes point to you."

AMELIA RAYNO