Stream of Consciousness

Hello everyone my name is Travis Aune and I am the author of Travis Twins Talk a blog I have had for a couple of years and sometimes the information is constant, but because I am also a college student sometimes it is not as constant. I have finals this week and then graduate on Friday with an Associates before I move on to get my Bachelors so I guess I am trying to explain why my posts have not been as often as other bloggers. That does not mean I am any less of a Twins fan because I am a huge Twins fan as I never miss a game along with Co-hosting Twins Minor League Weekly every Monday and Thursday night with Seth Stohs at 10pm central. I still try to read some other Twins blogs and listen to podcasts when I have an opportunity and I can honestly say that the amount of negativity surrounded the Twins blogging community and on Twitter is making me sick to my stomach. Twins fans should be ashamed of themselves right now. Are the Twins playing like we are accostumed to them playing right now of course not, but the amount of whining and complaining by so called Twins fans is unbelievable. I remember the 2000 season when the Twins threw guys like Matt Kinney, Sean Bergman, Hector Carrasco that was a bad pitching staff. They counted on position players like Matthew Lecroy, Jason Maxwell, Chad Allen, and last but not least Butch Huskey. That right there was a bad team, but in the darkness their was a glimmer of light as guys like Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, Christian Guzman, Corey Koskie, Brad Radke, Johan Santana were getting their start. I remember that season all too well as day after day I sat and watched them compete their best every night and lose every night. The reason I continued to watch as a Twins fan is I knew things would get better as the Twins had a plan and that plan led to six division titles in nine years along with two mvp awards, multiple silver slugger awards, a manager of the year award, and most importantly hours and hours of enjoyment for Twins fans.

Now we are in 2011 the Twins are 12-19 and 9.5 games out of first, but instead of hearing about how can the Twins can get back in the race all I hear is about how this person sucks and that person should be replaced. Cmon guys this is the Twins they have given us so much enjoyment through the years and when they have a little bit of trouble you all jump ship and go negative. The thing I have always prided myself about being a Twins fan is we always stick by our team even when things are not going well. Right now it feels like I am cheering for the Yankees as every time they lose a game people are bitching that it was someones fault and someone should be benched, sent to the minors or released. Do I wish guys like Mauer, Young, Nishioka, and Thome were playing right now of course I do, but they are not so it doesn't help to bitch instead we should be cheering for guys like Butera, Tosoni, Revere, Hughes, Casilla to do well and not bitch everytime they get an out that they should be benched. The final two points that I feel I need to make is one, the Twins have had more success than just about any organization in baseball the last 10 years and we should trust that they will figure things out because the negativity is really getting sickening. Some nights I go on Twitter and all I see is this player sucks and that player sucks and it makes me sad. Justin Morneau didn't play for 8 months and had a very serious brain injury so I think we can give him a benefit of more than 31 games before we want to throw him overboard. All he has done for the Twins I think he has earned the Patience of Twins fans. I for one get frustrated sometimes when the Twins can't hit a pitcher, but the big picture is the Twins will figure it out they always do. Will they go to the playoffs again who knows, but its fun to find out. My final point is all the negativity towards manager Ron Gardenhire I think is the dumbest thing in the world. This is Gardy's 10th year as a manager and has taken teams to the playoffs six of those years and finally won the manager of the year award last year after many years he should have won it. Seems like the team goes through adversity every year and with Gardy's steady hand they find a way to make it through it a stronger team. The fact that some blame everything on Gardy is so stupid that I should not even answer that. So Gardy goes from the Manager of the Year to someone that should be fired that is so ridiculius. Mark my words the Twins will be in contention in August and all these tribulations will make the team stronger and more tight knit. I am going to get off my soap box now and just encourage before being critical look at the big picture and trust that the Twins know what they are doing as they haven't had a bad 10 year period and I for one am so thankful that the Twins give me hours of entertainment every week and makes me fall further in love with the great game of baseball every day. God Bless