I'm convinced the White Sox have a member of the Twins front office on their payroll. It's the only explanation for the Twins' decision to recall Tsuyoshi Nishioka. As a starter.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think the White Sox are worried that the Twins will overtake the division; the Twins record is virtually impossible to overcome, and the White Sox and their mole are certainly laughing themselves all the way to 2012 playoffs. I'm pretty sure that the White Sox have a mole in place for the express purpose of extinguishing any glimmer of hope Twins players, coaching staff, or fans might have of the future success of any rebuilding effort.
Post-All Star Break, the stars aligned for the Twins. Their pitching, their offense, and their defense began to ignite, and the best games for each of those areas started to coincide. They've been playing better than .500 baseball since the break, and no MLB team has scored more runs in that time. The boys have been playing like the games mattered, like there was meaning to the outcome. They've cared and they've fought. They way they were playing, a fan might be tempted into thinking #itshappening. What a contrast to 2011! Statistically, they're 2012 record is worse than last year. I had to triple-check my California Math, but it tells me that after 111 games this year, Minnesota's record is 49-62 and last year, it was 51-60.
Despite having a worse record in 2012 than they did at the same point in the Lost Season of 2011, the talk of the town turned from how painfully awful the Twins are (and who they need to dump before the deadline) to nuanced conversations about moving up the ladder in the Central Division, batting titles, and the delicate balance between signing and releasing players that is needed to turn the Twins around next season. If not yet playoff contenders in 2013, the expectation was that the Twins would make significant progress.
And then, the Twins recalled Tsuyoshi Nishioka.
I should have known something was amiss when the Twins first recalled Danny Valencia. It was my fervent wish that he'd never again see an MLB uniform as a Twin. Unfortunately, the Twins recalled him just in time for me to observe him live at the July 28 Twins game vs. Cleveland. I cannot quantify my gratitude to the Boston Red Sox for claiming Danny V on waivers; that they promptly sent him to AAA made the pronouncement even sweeter.
Danny V, well, he can play when he feels like it. Tsuyoshi Nishioka, on the other hand, that poor player has simply become a laughing stock in MLB. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with Phil Mackey that Nishioka isn't to blame for the spectacle we've all watched in horrified fascination over the last three games. I have yet to find video of Nishi's first-play error on Monday, but his reaction today when he lost a pop-up in the sun is a good secondary example of the joke that he is on an MLB field.
Duensing did not have a brilliant start on August 8 by any stretch of the imagination. But the game had a completely different vibe than some recent games when the starters pitched okay (or even poorly), but the defense made incredible plays and the offense kept the Twins in the game. Today felt like the end of 2011, as if the boys said, "Why bother trying when we're only going to lose?"
I imagine it's difficult for a player not to lose hope when you're praying the ball won't be hit to the middle infielder, and when you know he's an automatic out when he's in the batter's box. And it's almost impossible not to question the front office when that middle infielder has done nothing in AAA to warrant another look in the majors and has no trade value. At all. As a fan, I find the move perplexing at best, and if I were a player, I'd start to wonder if the move wasn't sabotage from the front office.
If Gardenhire's statement that "It's not just three days for Nishi" is true, I won't in good conscience be able to blame the Twins players if they reach the dreaded 100 loss mark. With this latest call-up, I think they have every right to believe the organization doesn't see any hope in them and may even be trying to sabotage them. (And Gardy is probably justified in being the most frustrated man in the clubhouse.)
If I cling to the notion that the Twins organization actually wants the team to win, I can only conclude that the White Sox have planted a mole to prevent the Twins from rebuilding anytime in the next decade. The only other alternative is to believe that Terry Ryan and the front office team actually thought Nishi could contribute. And management that deluded would tank the team for the next decade, a prospect I'm not ready to believe.
I guess the Nishi call-up is payback for even thinking this week about buying one of these t-shirts:
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