The flip side to all this, though, is Joe Mauer, who may have started swinging the bat batter but is nonetheless dozens of points off his batting average. And that has led to an interesting revelation: He is constantly hearing boos from his home team (and hometown) crowd. Mauer has done nothing off the field to deserve it, but after suffering through three straight seasons of 90+ losses, I think Twins fans have run out of other reasons to boo. Nevertheless, it would help if he started hitting more.
A 3-4 week, by the way. They dropped three-of-four at home to Texas, then went to Yankees Stadium (to see Derek Jeter play in the Bronx for the last time -- oh, Jeter! /sarcasm) and won a series there for the second year in a row for the first time in more than a decade, if that made grammatical sense. Then then began a split home-and-home series with Milwaukee by, well, splitting the first two games in Miller Park. I fell asleep early in the game I was listening to on the radio Tuesday, but woke up just in time for bottom of the ninth, where Glen Perkins, who had walked only three batters until that game, walked the first two batters he faced before yielding only a run and finally closing the game out, a 6-4 victory. Afterward, he had a fairly funny tweet that showed he is One Of Us (he's born and raised here) and, frankly, shoved an historic Twins whipping boy under the bus again:
I just did my best Ron Davis impression in these damn throwback jerseys.
— Glen Perkins (@glen_perkins) June 4, 2014
They play the back end of the four-game interleague series with the Brewers at Target Field tonight (Wednesday night) and Thursday night, which begins a five game homestand culminating in a weekend series with Houston, possibly the only team worse in Major League Baseball the past few years but also a team whose future looks a lot brighter. Then then begin a three-game set in Toronto.
#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2). OK, this Kevin Love trolling bullshit is getting to be too much.
NEW PHOTO: Kevin Love & Rajon Rondo hugging it out outside the Fenway EMC Club Sunday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/XAChHwjmHL
— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) June 2, 2014
I really don't care if Love nor his people did not orchestrate that picture. The fact that they have done nothing to squelch it, not even comment on it, means that they don't give a shit about what image he's portraying to the team he's currently under contract with. I'm surprised that people don't believe the relationship between the Woofie Dogs and Love is nothing less than toxic.
For his part, front office exec-turned-Head-Coach-to-be Flip Saunders has stated that he expects Love to be on the team next year. That's good. He'd better play to his full potential so that the Wolves can get maximum value out of him come the trade deadline. He wants to pout about still being a Woof, he can make himself look bad before we ship him out. However, I have one caveat. If teams are willing to dangle a first-round pick in this year's draft, Saunders should listen. This may be the most loaded draft class in National Basketball Association history. The Timberwolves are supposed to get someone with the 13th pick better than the player teams usually get at 13. But there are some very good players closer to the top. If a team dangles, say, one of those picks, a young player and an expiring contract in exchange for Love and #13? Flip should listen.
Teams that could do it include Cleveland, who have the #1 overall pick for the second year in a row and third time in the last four seasons. They have embattled brat Dion Waters and the expiring contract of Anderson Varejao. The Lakers, who I think pick seventh, don't seem to be one to draft a building block superstar, even if the last time they did that they got Kobe Bryant. And a third team that could trade its first-round pick is ... well, shit, Boston.
Oh, speaking of Boston, as well as former players on Minnesota teams who have won after leaving Minnesota, David Ortiz probably pissed off a lot of Minnesota fans with this tweet:
Yo @kevinlove if you need advice on moving from Minnesota to Boston just let me know #CityOfChamps
— David Ortiz (@davidortiz) June 1, 2014
When I first heard about this on the news I thought he was trashing the Twin Cities. Then I saw that he really was only playing up his new favorite city, Boston, and not necessarily calling us the #CityofChumps. Nevertheless, when he comes to the Bullseye for the All-Star Game, he'll be lustily booed by all the Twins fans ... as much if not more so than all the other former Twins players who'll be playing the ASG representing other teams.
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