Bizarre happenings in Tigerland.
Last night, the Twins jumped out to a 3-run lead. The Tigers stormed back to go up 6-3. Then, courtesy of a Justin Morneau HR (his second of the game), the Twins regained the lead 7-6. But, the Tigers were not finished. In the bottom of the 7th, Jhonny Peralta tied it with a sac fly. In the bottom of the 8th, Danny Worth led off with a single. Austin Jackson sacrifice bunted, but the Minny pitcher, who fielded the bunt, got greedy. He tried to get Worth out at second, but his throw (late, by the way) missed the target, and everybody was safe! Casper Wells sacrifice bunted everybody over, and then Boesch hit a sac fly to score the winning run.
In that one inning alone, the Tigers had 2 sacrifice bunts and 1 sacrifice fly - helped out by a throwing error by the Minny pitcher. This is not the regular Twins/Tigers script. This is that script in reverse!
Since when do the Twins allow an error? This is just crazy times in the American League Central. With the Twins in last and the Tribe in first, it's the exact opposite of most preseason predictions. And to make matters even more bizarre, the Tigers have now won 8 straight over Minnesota. I don't quite know what to make of it.
I'm sure the Curse of Señor Smoke lives on. Should the Tigers meet the Twins in some pennant race, we all know who will win. It's more likely the Twins somehow acquired their own curse. It may not be a long-term thing. It may just be a temporary curse. Like, perhaps Denard Span needs to switch from chewing tobacco to gum? Or maybe Joe Mauer should get off the hammock and back on the field?
What could be the cause of the curse? We need to look at when the bad luck first began. Minnesota did fine last season, up until the playoffs. They crashed out in 3 straight games to the Yankees. No big surprise there. That season should still be considered a success. Yet, they started the '11 season with a 4-10 record. Something must've happened in the offseason. What on Earth did the Twins do to irk the Baseball Gods?
After scouring the Twins offseason transactions, I discovered the cause of the curse.
In fact, it didn't take long. One transaction (and one name in particular) stuck out like Al Czervik at Bushwood Country Club:
On January 26th, Minnesota Twins' pitcher Mike Maroth retired.
Since the Tigers traded Maroth in 2007, he's bounced around a few minor league systems before signing with the Twins in 2010. After a few injury-plagued seasons, Maroth decided to hang up the cleats. Is it the fact that Minnesota never gave Maroth a chance in the big leagues? Or was Maroth the Tiger bad luck charm that's now gone for good? He lost 21 games in that dreaded '03 season. With him out of the picture, the Tigers are rid of one more reminder of the Dark Ages. (Only one last vestige of '03 remains.) My guess is that Maroth's retirement is a specific curse to the Twins alone. They were the last team to employ him. He retired as a Minnesota Twin product and will curse them until...
Well, that's the big question. Since Maroth was not traded or released by the Twins, this curse should not have any long-term effects - unlike the Curse of Señor Smoke. The Twins can overcome the Curse of Mike Maroth by stringing together a few wins and somehow getting back over .500, something the Tigers never did with Maroth as a regular starter.
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