There has been popular demand from my reader that I name my own All Metrodome team. So I will. I begin with shortstop because I want to make the pick before I talk myself out of it.
There really is only one choice at short. His steady play up the middle defined an era of Twins baseball. During his tenure, the Twins manage 70 wins just 3 times and twice failed to win 60. One of the darkest days in franchise history came when the Twins could not even afford to prevent Pat Meares from departing for the greener pastures of the Pittsburgh Pirates. That was rock bottom. I recall the despair when I heard this news.
Meares joined the Twins in 1993. The momentum of the '91 championship was gone. Upon his departure after the 1998 season, the Twins unveiled their youth movement team with a roster consisting almost entirely of rookies. These 1999 Twins featured such players as Doug Mientkiewicz, Corey Koskie, Christian Guzman, Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones. Even A.J. Pierzynski caught a few games. Brad Radke, Eric Milton, and Joe Mays held spots in the rotation. Meares had almost no connection to the success on either side of his time with the Twins. Nearly every other player from the Pat Meares era had either played in the World Series or stayed for a few years with the youth.
I will not forget the time I was at a game and Meares won it with a walk-off ground-rule double.
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Your site is great, but I'd like to see more dedication to the Punto hate. I've taken it upon myself to get the word out on Nick Punto. Boo him at games. When walking around town and someone brings up the Twins (because I'm wearing Twins clothes), talk about how we probably would have won last night's game if Punto wasn't in the lineup. They'll look at you weird at first. But this is a grassroots thing. We have to start somewhere.
ReplyDeleteNice blog. Keep on hating, you're not alone. PUNTO SUCKS.
ReplyDeleteI think Meares does deserve more credit. He did play well for some awful teams.
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