I digress!
CHAPTER ONE: Baltimore City
The week in between the postponement of the trip and the actual final leg into NYC was great. I had a blast hanging at Bryan and Barb's... we watched a lot of sports, a little bit of that show about the family with sextuplets, I applied for jobs and got in touch with New York contacts. Bryan gave me fantasy football tips, Barb chatted with me about the election (and I am probably the worst political chat partner. Go Barb).
Internet was very sketchy the entire week, which led to a few trips to the library a few blocks down Light Street. I'd like to take this opportunity to give some public props to the Enoch Pratt Free Library on Light Street in Baltimore. Not only were they incredibly helpful and accommodating to someone with no library card, but they pointed me to mailboxes, helped me make printouts, and there was a liquor store conveniently located across the street. This mostly helped for when I would head back to the apartment after a "hard day's" work. Oh so convenient.
Speaking of convenient, the bar located around the corner (And I mean it... out the door, six steps around the corner, there it was) had the best TV sports package ever. For someone who was simultaneously on the East Coast, yet desperately trying to follow the Twins' stretch run for the playoffs, finding out that the bar actually had a broadcast of Twins/Royals games made it my new favorite place to be.
Baltimore was also where I got to see Melissa again for the first time.. since I wasn't making it up to NY that week, she decided to catch a cheap bus down for the weekend. It felt like we hadn't seen each other in months... It was only one month, but what a month it was. Getting to see her in person again made the entire trip/work worth it. We didn't do a whole lot that weekend... played with iTunes, made some plans, watched some football (Melissa+vodka+Huskers=CRAZY). It was tons of fun. I missed ya baby.
CHAPTER TWO: Twins-Ending
And so it came time for me to mosey on down the road. I was to leave Baltimore the morning of Wednesday, October 1. The Twins ended the regular season in a tie with the Chicago White Sox, so they played a one game playoff on Tuesday night. Thought I was NOT pleased for the necessity of the high-pressure one-game playoff, but I was at least sated by the fact that I could watch it in the comfort of a home the night before I headed out to NYC.
Anyone who follows baseball knows that my evening ended (Or so I thought) in a bout of quiet sadness. People who follow one team above all others will sympathize. The Minnesota Twins have been my team since I was conscious, so I will always be disappointed when they get so close to goodness and fall short. My emotional state was slightly tempered by the fact that these guys were massive overachievers in 2008. They started the year with four members of their starting rotation aged 26 or younger.* The Twins' rookie General Manager, Bill Smith, had parted ways with All-Stars and fan favorites Johan Santana and Torii Hunter via trade and free-agency, respectively. In a very un-Twins-like move, Smith actually made a move to gain a couple of promising young hitters (Delmon Young and Brendan Harris) by trading away some promising young pitching (Matt Garza) and their starting shortstop (Jason Bartlett)**. Their young acquisitions, the aforementioned Young and a spunky speedy center fielder from the Santana trade, Carlos Gomez; are both 22 years old.
* After the disastrous Livan Hernandez experiment ended, all five rotation members were 26 or under. I think that three are considered official rookies. That bodes well.
** Writing this the day after the Rays clinched the World Series, wow. The Rays certainly made the most out of that trade. On behalf of Twins Territory, "you're welcome Tampa."
This team was supposed to finish fourth in the American League Central, third if they were lucky. Instead, the vaunted Tigers offense couldn't match their terrible bullpen; the 2007 Central champs, the Indians, were ravaged by injuries and never recovered. The Royals were.. the Royals. Suddenly, the Twins are holding fast on top of the division with a bunch of kids who don't know any better. It was awfully fun to watch this team find its identity, make its mistakes, and still continue to win.
So, when a season seems to be a little bit magical, it's sad to see the end come at the hands of a long-time rival who seemed to just be able to do the same things the Twins do well.. but on one night, do them just a bit better. I have high hopes for the Twins in 2009, which brought a slight comfort on that couch, watching the sea of Black in US Cellular celebrate... but the thought that always pervades those feelings is that another 162 games have to be played, just to have this chance again. I know those guys on the field feel 100 times worse than I do. I also know they're going to use it as ammunition to come back better than before.
Either way you slice it, I was in a classic blue funk.... when Bryan walked in the door.
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