Point taken. We will no longer write about that night’s starting pitcher for the Twins and how well he has been throwing. And we will try not to make bold proclamations of a “must-win” game when that game ends up entering an entirely new category for losses: The Double Loss. Yes, Bill Simmons wrote long ago about the 13 levels of losing. We’re not sure if he has updated it since then, but we would like to help him by adding The Double Loss as the 14th level, dropping it somewhere into the mix of 5th or 6th most painful type of loss. See, while the Vikings specialize in virtually all 13 levels defined by Simmons, the Twins need their own category.

The definition: A game where your team falls behind by such a huge margin that you already consider it to be a loss and have every reason to give up on it. But for some reason, you stick with it and they start to chip away. Eventually and miraculously, they even manage to take the lead — only to give that lead away and lose in heartbreaking fashion.

Now: The Twins are obviously not “finished.” Baseball is too strange of a game, and really all that needs to happen for Minnesota to have a reasonable shot is to be within 3.5 games when the White Sox come here next week. But that double loss almost feels like it counts for two. It will be tough to come back from.

Feel free to discuss other painful losses in your memory bank and/or just what has happened to the best closer in baseball.

Fasola-link! The life of former Twins player Lyman Bostock, this weekend on “Outside the Lines.”

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