Yes, the comparison between the New York Yankees and the Evil Empire in Star Wars is somewhat overdone, but how can you resist not using the reference on the day that Disney releases it’s resurrection of the world’s favorite space opera (yes yes, people saw it Thursday night, but today is still the official release date)? So just go with me here, for a depressing trip down Twins history to show just how evil the Yankees are in the eyes of Minnesota sports fan.
The history of the one-sided rivalry between the Twins and Yankees goes all the way pack to 1961, the year that Calvin Griffith moved his team from Washington to Minnesota, bringing with him Harmon Killebrew and the rest of the former Senators, and the first game on their schedule, at New York.
What a promising start! Unfortunately, the win much have angered someone upstairs, upstaging the empire in front of one of it’s former prince’s Joe DiMaggio, and thus the curse began.
We move forward a few weeks, and the Twins are coming into their third series at home. Having dispatched the White Sox a day earlier with a thrilling walk off win, the Minnesota home fans look forward to a three game series against the Yankees. You can tell where this is going, the team from New York swept the Twins in three games, giving the Twins their first ever series loss at home, and the first time the Twins were swept after moving to Minnesota. The rest of the season the Twins did not fare much better against the Yanks, they put up a pitiful 4-12 record against Yogi Berra’s Yankees. And our hero the Killer? Well, he played over 200 games against 9 teams throughout his career, and his worst on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and (consequently) OPS of those teams was against the Yankees.
Since that fateful first full series, the Twins have had a losing record against the Yankees overall. Yes, there have been some bright moments, in 1965 the Twins put up a 13-5 record en route to a World Series appearance, in ’91 a 10-2 record en route to a World Series victory, but since then it’s only been down hill.
Things only got worse at the turn of the millennium. Despite winning the Central for the first time in 2002 (our first playoff run since the ’91 series) we couldn’t beat the Yankees, going 0-6 against them during the season. The Angels bailed us out by beating them in the ALDS… then proceeded to beat us in the ALCS. Then, things just got ugly.
The 2003 regular season wasn’t any better, we posted a horrendous 0-7 record against them (that’s 0-13 over our two best seasons in a decade), and found our selves once again atop the Central, only to come up against our Goliaths in the ALDS. Things started well enough, a 3-1 victory that started well, but looked shaky in the ninth (the tying run was at the plate for the last two at bats). After that the Twins never had a lead.
2004 rolls around and we finally get a regular season win against the Yankees, we even managed to get 2! And once again faced them in the Division Series. Another clean win to start things out, and we hoped the worst was over. Game 2 was shaky, we were down by two going into the eighth inning but Hunter chased Tom Gordon out of the game with a two-out single. Enter, Mariano Rivera, the man who closed out 93% of the save-situations he entered, second best in the AL. And Justin Morneau and Corie Koske pegged him for back-to-back singles to tie the game. Twins fans were ecstatic. Not only did we tie the game against the evil empire, but we did it in a way that he wouldn’t be able to last through extra innings. We could taste it. The game wore on, through the ninth, through the tenth. Then, in the eleventh… a spark! Torii Hunter launched a two-out home run to give the Twins the lead, and leave the game in the hands of the only AL pitcher who had a better save percentage that Mariano Rivero: Joe Nathan. The problem was, Nathan had been pitching since the bottom of the tenth. He managed to strike out the lead off man, but proceeded to walk the next two batters, bringing up (blech) Alex “satan” Rodriguez, the highest paid athlete on the planet. A-Rod jacked a ground-rule double, Jeter ended up at second, and an intentional walk later Hideki Matsui launched a deep pop fly that scored the Captain.
Oh we had chances after that, as if our spirit wasn’t broken enough, Game 3 was breezy for the Yankees, but we had them in Game 4, up 5-2 with two innings remaining, only for Juan Rincon to melt down in the eighth tying the game. We once again held them until the eleventh, when Alex “dreamcrusher” Rodriguez doubled, stole second, and scored on a wild pitch again Kyle Lohse to win the Yankees their second ALDS against the Twins in as many years.
As bad as back-to-back heartbreakers was in ’03 and ’04, at least we felt we had a chance. In ’09 and ’10 we went into the postseason only to be crushed in three games both years by the Yanks, and haven’t been back since. Overall this millennium, the Yankees are 1421-1006, good for a .585 record. Against the Twins, their record (including the postseason) is 82-33, a .713 record and their best record against any team they’ve played more than 12 times. For the Twins, there is no other team that has a better record against them.
Oh yeah, and then this year Alex “hitler” Rodriguez hit three freakin dingers against us in a game that looked like it was the crux of our season, including the most predictable home run of the season in a top of the ninth bomb to tie the game. Alex “everything terrible about the world” Rodriguez hits a bomb off of the Twins in 8% of his plate appearances against us, THE HIGHEST RATE OF ANY TEAM HE’S FACED! RETIRE ALREADY!!!
Anyways, this has been a reminder for all Twins fans how much we hate the Yankees. Red Sox fans, you’ve gotten your revenge. For any other team that hates them “just because they’re the Yankees”, get to the back of the line of the hate train, we deserve the first spot in line for the rebellion.
Cardith's Corner 