And now for something completely out of left field

 

     I enjoy watching baseball.  I’m not sure whether it’s the idea the game is more cerebral, the tension that can be involved when you’re watching, or the idea you can get up, stretch, or do something on a fairly regular basis and not miss a whole lot (between innings).  Generally speaking, I’m not overly set on watching one team over another.  It’s the game itself.  Despite the fact I live in the Pacific Northwest, I have not ‘adopted’ the Seattle Mariners as my ‘favorite’ team (although my children have, as much as possible considering their limited exposure to the professional game).  My favorite team is the Minnesota Twins.  However, the year plus has not been kind to me, or to Twins fans.  A 99-loss season is just behind us, and by all indications we have another season of sub-.500 baseball ahead.

     When a team gets into an ‘extended’ period of less-than-stellar performance, the discussion starts to come around as to whether or not the manager will be fired.  Since the Twins are 6-18 so far (as of this post), I started to think about the last time a Twins Manager was fired.  Not completely trusting my memory, I decided to look at the team history.  I discovered the last time a Twins manager was fired was September 1986.  The unfortunate victim in that incident?  Ray Miller.  His replacement was Tom Kelly.  I read Kelly managed the team through the 2001 season and resigned (since he decided to leave and not the team getting rid of him, I won’t count that as a ‘firing’).  The current manager, Ron Gardenhire, has been the team manager since the beginning of the 2002 season.  By my calculations, that makes it almost 26 years since the last firing.  It is certainly an impressive statistic anyway.

    Should Gardenhire be fired?  I really don’t know.  There are those who would argue it’s overdue, and those who would place the blame at the players’ feet.  I can’t really argue with that logic, as it’s not the manager pitching, fielding, or hitting.  Looking at the roster, I am reminded of my fathers’ saying ‘you can’t make chicken salad without chicken’.  On the other hand, the manager is the leader of the team, and the team appears lost, listless, and losing games before they even get on the field.  Sometimes players are moved (traded or released) to give them a fresh start.  Managers are fired to give the team a fresh face and a fresh start.  I don’t know what can be done to remedy the situation, but it is tough to watch right now.