Let's be frank. The Yankees have taken the Twins to the woodshed this millennium. The Twins have lost every season series to New York since 2001. And the playoffs have been even more lopsided, as the Yankees are 16-2 against the Twins with a 13-game winning streak going back to 2004. That's part of a 16-game playoff slide overall.
The Twins' postseason futility has aggravated, tormented and depressed the local fan base.
The seminal moment in this saga might have occurred in the first game of the losing streak, when the Yankees — a night after losing 2-0 to Johan Santana — benefited from a fortuitous bounce in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the 2004 ALDS at Yankee Stadium.
What if the Twins had benefited from that bounce? What if Corey Koskie's liner to left had not hopped into the stands for a ground-rule double?
The Twins trailed 5-3 going into the eighth inning but mounted an improbable rally. Jacque Jones, batting with one out, appeared to strike out against Tom Gordon but reached first base when the wild pitch went to the backstop. Torii Hunter followed with a single, and Yankees manager Joe Torre brought in the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera.
Justin Morneau, then just 23 years old, blooped an RBI single to right to make it 5-4, and Koskie went to the plate with runners at the corners for the at-bat of his life.
Down 0-2, Koskie fouled off pitches and worked the count full. With the count 3-2, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire sent Luis Rivas in to pinch run for Morneau, a pretty clear sign that Rivas would be running on the pitch.
Gardy was about a foot from looking like a genius.