Some people watched 220 minutes of baseball Thursday afternoon and the only reward was a break from the daily routine. And the game ended just at the wrong time for the 4,281 bus drivers who brought kids to the Dome. (Note to Twins: For the sake of the teachers who supervise these trips, play a quick game the next time you have so many youngsters in the stands. The cotton-candy vendors are still checking their bruises this morning.)

One quick point to be made here, a stock phrase that needs to be tossed out with the sour milk and, probably, the thoughts (delusions?) we were having earlier this week of winning 90+ games.

Anyone who prattles on about the Twins “doing the little things” right is living in the past. It is a catchphrase of the national media, which tends to live a few years behind reality when it comes to teams not playing on the Coasts or in Chicago, and of local loyalists who need vision and comprehension checks. It’s just not happening any more and the sum total of the Toronto sweep should drive home that point to anyone still doubting it.

The former manager, Tom Kelly, imbued his teams with the fundamentals and Gardy’s division-winning teams were in large part the result of Kelly’s ways of doing things. The current group has lost the right to carry that banner. Fundamentally sound baseball suffered when so much of the game became built around slugging home runs — juiced baseballs and juiced players as evidence. Unfortunately, the Twins have not bucked that tide, and never really jumped on the slugging train, either.

Doing the little things right most of the time isn’t anything special.

I didn’t see Thursday’s game — followed it on the Web like many of you and missed the end to watch a track meet — so I’m going to cut it off here. Colleague Jim Souhan is weighing in on the power issue and on Delmon Young, and it’s a good read. So is Joe C’s game story.

To those of you going to Colorado, travel safely, behave and tell us how it’s going.

(One more thing, as long as I have your attention. If you click here, you can sign up to receive a weekday Twins newsletter that includes links to all of our Twins coverage. I recommend it as a good way to start the day.)

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 8:36 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.