When we last looked at the 2005 Twins, they were wishing on Bret Boone to bolster a boondoggle offense. Yikes.
Though the failed Boone experiment foreshadowed the lack of a fourth consecutive AL Central pennant, Gardy’s ‘05 bunch didn’t collapse down the stretch—going 16-18 from August 27 to the finish line. But an 83-79 final tally wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with a 99-63 Chicago White Sox club that employed mashers like Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, & Carl Everett.
This was especially true when Minnesota bats recorded an 88 team OPS+. Of players eclipsing 350 PA, only Torii Hunter & Joe Mauer were >100 OPS+. It was the last season Scott Ullger had “hitting coach” in his job title.
Put simply: the 2005 Minnesota Twins absolutely could not hit a lick. A bit of a travesty, as this may have been the finest assemblage of arms Rick Anderson ever acquired.
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If you filed into the Metrodome in ‘05, there’s a better-than-decent chance you saw Johan Santana, Brad Radke, Carlos Silva, Kyle Lohse, or Joe Mays—and no one else—take the mound in T1. They each contributed 25+ starts and all but Mays had an ERA+ over 100.
Somehow, the bullpen was even better: A pen primarily perpetuated by Joe Nathan, Jesse Crain, Juan Rincon, Terry Mulholland, J.C. Romero, & Matt Guerrier compiled an astounding 147 ERA+.
Despite the disappointing denouement, some fun was had even with the Vikings as co-Dome inhabitants:
On September 3rd, the Twins turned a vs-Cleveland collapse (Coco Crisp—yes kids, this was a real ballplayer’s name!—sac fly off Nathan to tie the game in T9) into cheers when they walked off after bunts from Juan Castro & Nick Punto corresponding with two CLE errors.
On September 30th, heralded pitching prospect Francisco Liriano dominated (7 IP, 2 ER, 8 K) Detroit. Kid might have a future.
Oh yeah—and Carl Pohlad was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. No comment.
The odd thing about 2005: I don’t remember being devastated by the playoff-less punchcard. Perhaps the start of my sophomore session of undergrad studies stilled my sorrow. With a winning record and the outstanding pitching, it was more of a “we’ll get ‘em next year” feeling as opposed to “the sky is falling!”.
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Plus, the Vikings were coming off a season where they beat the Cheeseheads in the playoffs—there was no way, say, the franchise QB would be lost (forever) to a knee injury and the team would be involved in a boating sex-scandal. No way.
