On sweeps and Capps

On last night's broadcast Dick & Bert referenced a statistic that in 18 opportunities to sweep the opposition the Twins had only done it 6 times. Last night that percentage went up slightly, but still, it appears that we just lack that killer instinct (as evidenced by Matt Capps continually giving the other guys just enough runs to make it close).

Maybe we're all just too Minnesota Nice to break the spirit of the opposing team. Maybe when we're playing host we feel like the gracious thing to do is to let the opposition go with a parting gift, and we just can't summon the gumption to give them a gag trophy like the one at the right. Maybe the music playing on the clubhouse boombox has a subsonic subliminal message recorded by all the players' mothers repeating over and over again: "You play nice now! Don't be rude! Nobody likes a showoff!"

Maybe one or all of those things are true, maybe, as former manager Leo Durocher said: "Nice guys finish last", and maybe we need to have the killer instinct if we want to go farther in the post season. But if a team is a reflection of their home town, then by gum the Twins ought to be nice because Minnesotans are nice. We're the Mary Tyler Moore town for crying out loud! Cruelty just isn't in our DNA, and speaking personally, I like it better that way.

So call me a "weenie" or a "fwaydie cat!" or a "@#$%!@#%!!!!" if you want to. Just don't call me a Yankpire.