There are two things I would like to say right here about Sunday's Twins game. The first is that I will miss Torii Hunter endlessly. As much as I was never able to realize it, he was my favorite player during his entire tenure, from that first newspaper article I read before his first season that was about how he had a goofy name (it was also about how Doug Meintkewicz and Johan Santana had weird names). His first full year with us was when you could see the team turn around. We weren't the Twinkies anymore. You see, this is why I was never really able to love Brad Radke; he still made me feel like we were a losing team. Same with Denny Hocking.
Torii has meant so much to this state and this team that it feels so wrong to have to lose him, and it is. We're losing Hunter because he knows he can get more money elsewhere, and that should be no reason to blame him. He's going to get paid huge bucks this offseason because 1)he's an aging centerfielder 2) he just had arguably his best offensive season and 3)he makes amazing catches all the live long day. (For a deeper explanation, please look up Gary Matthews Jr.) We won't pay him that money, no matter what he means to this team. If this were Boston or New York, there'd be riots if they let someone that meant this much go. But we have an image burned into our heads of Carl Pohlad's pockets untucked, his hands out wide and a face that says "Golly, I just don't have the cash!", so we say goodbye. I don't think you can be a real baseball fan unless you know what that feels like.
(Also, if Torii Hunter spent his career as a Yank or a Red Sock, he might be a Hall of Famer. As a Twin? No chance, even if he was/is the best defensive player of his generation. If Tim Salmon gets in I'm gonna slit his tires. HE HAS TO RUN AND DIVE BECAUSE HE'S WHITE AND SLOW.)
So I'm going to miss Torii. But almost all of these happy feelings were wiped out by Ozzie Guillen on Sunday. This is the second point: in a franchise players' last at-bat with his franchise, how do you sleep at night intentionally walking him? How do you not feel like the most evil fucker in the world. Kids at the stadium are already having a confusing and upsetting day (I would NOT want to be a parent of an 8-year-old and have to explain baseball market economics is the reason his/her favorite player has to go somewhere else) and then they see you do this? That wasn't the right play, that was gamesmenship. You're team has been mathmatically eliminated since last February, Ozzie. You just had to be a stupid son of a bitch and do that, cause everyone to feel pissed off on such a nice day. You make me puke, you stupid prick. I hate to end this way, but it was the bitches of bitch moves.
