It got a little giddy up in here last night as the Twins stuck a fairly convincing dagger in the White Sox in a game with several big moments. The usual disclaimer still applies -- nothing here is over yet -- but the Sox really needed a sweep. And losing Game 1 isn't the way to go about that. But we wondered, as we often do when a Minnesota rival falls flat on its face again, what was the reaction on the losing side? A sampling:
Rick Morrissey at the Sun-Times makes the peculiar argument that rooting for the White Sox is better than rooting for the Twins because Chicago is dysfunctional and managed to catch lightning in a bottle for a few weeks in 2005. He writes an entire column about how boring the "Twins Way" is.
What's there not to like about the Twins? That they're so likable. I'll ask all you admirers of the "Twins Way" which you would prefer: A franchise that year after year does things by the book or a franchise with a feuding general manager and manager that has the 2005 World Series title in its possession?
Later, he makes this distinction:
Here's why the Twins aren't getting tons of credit this year, Ozzie: They're an OK team. The Sox are an OK team. The Twins are a little more OK. That's it.
It apparently takes more than the best record in baseball since the break and a culture of consistent winning to elevate some people beyond "OK."
Phil Rogers, meanwhile, has the too-far-the-other-way antidote to those sour grapes over at the Tribune: a tale about how there's no shame in finishing second, since that seems to be where the White Sox are heading.
Having gone outside the organization to collect seven former All-Stars in a period of 395 days — from Jake Peavy to Manny Ramirez with Alex Rios, Freddy Garcia, Andruw Jones, Omar Vizquel and Edwin Jackson in between — it seems like at least a couple of people felt the White Sox should be playoff worthy in 2010.
