My journey as a Twins fan part 1: A bite from the sports bug

Me, as a young sports fan.

I suppose you could say I've been a Twins fan all my life. I mean, I was around for both the 1987 and 1991 World Series titles. Of course, I was all of 1 year old in 1987. But my parents tell me I was part of the festivities.

They bundled me up in the stroller as we trucked down to Minneapolis to wait in line for all the World Series apparel. I wasn't a sports nut in '91 either. As a 5-year-old, I'm sure I was too busy enjoying Sesame Street and my dolls to care about watching sports.

Throughout the rest of the '90s however, our family went to the Metrodome for a few games here and there. It was easy to head down on a Friday night, get tickets in the outfield "cheap seats" and enjoy the game. Part of the reason for this, I now know, is because the Twins didn't field very competitive teams throughout much of the decade.

It was one of those slumps that just happens at some point within a franchise. Still, it was fun cheering for the favorites like Kent Hrbek, Marty Cordova, Chuck Knoblauch (yes, at the time) and of course, the legendary Kirby Puckett.

I remember being there for the pre-game festivities honoring Kirby after his playing career ended. When he and his then-wife Tonya came onto the field in a convertible, I remember being part of a lengthy standing ovation. I remember thinking that was the longest I had clapped for anything or anybody in my young life. Now, I know standing ovations have changed over the years. Today it seems they've become almost meaningless - we'll clap for just about anything.

But the ovation for Kirby was completely genuine.

Baseball: America's pastime. My pastime. 
The sports fandom bug really bit me at the start of the Twins 2001 season. I heard that they won their first three games, so I figured I'd watch a little and see how the team looked. Turns out, that was the start of an amazing decade for Minnesota Twins baseball, which would be bookended with a brand new ballpark.

They didn't win the AL Central Division right away, but they made great strides in 2001. Then manager Tom Kelly retired and the Ron Gardenhire era began.

Those first couple summers, I'd say I was a pretty dedicated Twins fan. If the Twins were playing, that meant I was in front of the set watching. It got so involved that my dad had to tell me to get out and enjoy the nice summer nights in Minnesota, since we all know the nice weather isn't around long. There's 162 games, and I didn't need to watch all of them, basically.

I must have relaxed a little, but I was still hooked. The Twins promotional tagline back then was "Get to Know 'Em." Boy, did I. I knew the players, jersey numbers, positions, even their batting stance routines, which I often imitated out in the yard as my brother and I played a little baseball.

Learning my team, then writing a letter
Just by watching so much baseball, I learned more about the game, too. I learned from watching, listening to the broadcasters dissect plays and explain obscure rules, and by asking my parents questions.

Following the 2001 season, the fate of the Twins was threatened with a little thing call contraction. I wasn't even sure what that meant. "The Twins will just go away? But how can they do that?" As a relatively new fan who was so dedicated, I was pretty upset.

I even wrote a letter to MLB commissioner Bud Selig. A strongly-worded letter, I'd say. The one thing I remember writing is explaining the "Get to Know 'Em" slogan and wrote that I "got to know 'em." Luckily, the Twins are still around. I'm sure it was my letter that kept contraction away.

A girl can dream, right?

My journey as a Twins fan part 2: Dougie and division titles

My journey as a Twins fan part 3: The Target Field era

What a comeback, what a game: Dozier blasts another walk-off homer in Twins win

It's one of those instant classics. Perhaps the game of the 2015 season so far for the Minnesota Twins. An 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers Friday night doesn't seem like much without the context of how that final score came to be: A 7-run, bottom of the 9th comeback victory for the Twins, capped by a 3-run, walk-off homer from none other than Brian Dozier.

I'll say it again: What. A. Game. The Twins got their fourth walk-off win this season off the bat of, who else, Brian Dozier. The man of the hour, man of the week and major snub in the #FinalVote for the All-Star Game.

Where do I start? There are so many things to write about from this amazing comeback victory, in a game that the Twins just did not seem to be in until the 8th inning. The Twins put together just two hits through seven innings; two singles off the bats of Miguel Sano and Kurt Suzuki. That was it. No runs, as Justin Verlander pitched into the 8th inning and looked dominant against the Twins, as he has so many times before.

Even after Dozier got an RBI single in the 8th to get his team on the board, 6-1 at that point, it still didn’t seem like they could pull off a win. OK, it seemed very, very unlikely.

Well, the game did a 180.

An are-you-kidding-me kind of comeback

Along comes the bottom of the 9th inning. Joe Mauer leads it off with a single, and Sano follows that up with a ground-rule double to left. Trevor Plouffe strikes out. Eddie Rosario singles to make it 6-2 and steals a base, an original out call that was overturned thanks to a Molitor challenge. 

Then Detroit closer Joakim Soria comes in. He walks Aaron Hicks to fill the bases. With no place to put the No. 8-hitting Suzuki, Soria beans him with a pitch, giving the Twins another run. It’s 6-3 now with the bases full. Danny Santana came through with a two-run single up the middle, despite cries from social media circles and the press box for Molitor to bring in a pinch hitter. Suddenly it’s 6-5 and Target Field, for those loyal fans that didn’t leave to get a jump on the traffic, was rocking. 

Who steps up to the plate but Dozier. One of the best second baseman in the American League and in all of baseball. Just look at some of the stat sheets; he's leading or near the top in most of the categories. But he didn’t get voted to the All-Star Game the first time around. And he wasn’t named as a reserve player by the AL manager. He lost out on the #FinalVote Friday to Mike Moustakas of Kansas City, despite one of the coolest social media campaigns out there. #VoteDozier

Dozier goes deep

So, this non-All Star didn’t waste any time. He blasted the first pitch he saw to the left field seats. It was the same place he put his other walk-off home run earlier this week in a victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Before that, he didn’t have a walk-off homer to his name. Give him a week, and he has two of them.

If you like stats, here's a couple good ones for you. Dozier is the first player in Twins history, since 1961, with multiple walk-off homers in a week and the first in franchise history since Roy Sievers in 1958, according to ESPN Stats/Info.  He’s also four home runs away from tying his career-high of 23, which he achieved last season. 

The Twins finished the game with 10 hits, after they had two through seven innings. They had eight runs, seven of those coming in the bottom of the ninth inning. According to ESPN Stats/Info, the Twins are the first team in baseball in two seasons to overcome a deficit of five runs in the ninth. 

This was a pretty great game, and one of the best rallies you’ll see for a long time. It’s one thing to see your team get a walk-off win on a home run. But for it to come from Dozier this week, twice, was pretty awesome. It makes for some great stories, that’s for sure.

Getting caught up with Indy: Carb Day and the 500

The Indianapolis 500 was a few weeks ago already, but it's never a bad time to rehash the details. Let's just get the winner out of the way, since I'm pretty sure I won't spoil the result for anyone: Juan Pablo Montoya earned his second Indy 500 victory, his first coming back in 2000.

We'll rewind to before the race, however. I can now check going to Carb Day off my bucket list, if I had a list. Anyway, Carb Day happens each year on the Friday before the greatest spectacle in racing. (Yes, I always have to use that phrase at least once.) There's an hour-long practice session for the IndyCars, which is their last chance to get out on the track and test their setups before the big race.

Also among the festivities is a pit stop competition and the Freedom 100 Indy Lights race. The Indy Lights is the support series for IndyCar, like a minor league team.

Race cars in the summertime
We made the long drive to Indy and enjoyed a picture-perfect weather day. Sunny skies and just the right amount of warmth. What could be a better setting to watch race cars? Anyway, we got as far up in a turn four grandstand as we could to watch the practice session. (Fan tip: If you're in the stands for a race and aren't sitting as close to the top row as you can, you're doing it wrong.)



Our view let us see down pit road and the main straightaway, from a distance, and then as the cars entered the last couple turns of the 2.5-mile oval. The speed and the purr of the engines was just great. The only real bummers were a couple of caution flags for "debris on the track." With a crash-free session, I didn't buy that "debris" part.

Tough finish for Freedom 100
We watched the Freedom 100 in the grandstands near the yard of bricks marking the start-finish line. Watching race cars fly by on the main straight is a much different perspective than watching from high above in the stands of a turn, that's for sure. Even the speed of this support series is dazzling.

The Freedom 100s in 2013 and 2014 had amazing finishes. We're talking unheard of finishes. In 2013, it was four wide. Four cars wide! That's incredible, and the times were incredibly close. Last year was another close finish, too. What would 2015 have in store at the end? Not much.

The race went along fine until a late crash. That meant that the caution flag came out and there was no chance of getting things cleaned up in time for a restart. Finishes under yellow are just the worst. Well, unless you happened to be in the lead, I guess.


99th running of the Indy 500
As for the Indy 500 itself, we watched that on TV back at home. It pretty much came down to a showdown between - gasp - Penske and Ganassi, the top two teams in the series. History tells you that the 500 doesn't really ramp up until about lap 180 of 200. The past few years, it's been really exciting to watch these closing laps, because there are lead changes all over the place. You're not sure who's going to win.

Montoya made a pass for the lead with three laps to go, and it stuck. And hey, it wasn't Helio Castroneves, so I was happy with that. He's looking for his fourth Indy 500 win, which would put him in an elite class. But I always say he didn't get the one in 2002, and I'm not alone. Bitter? Eh, I don't care.

American drivers, with famous racing dads, Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti finished fifth and sixth. Not bad when they're competing with Honda engines, which are apparently inferior to Chevys this year. These two are both having more success this year, but still not the same as their fathers. It'll be interesting to see if they can break through and get some more wins.

As for next year's 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, I really hope to be there for that one.