Twins wind down disappointing season in Chicago
CHICAGO -- Paul Molitor says he can look back and point to a few instances when, had things gone even a little differently, the Minnesota Twins' season may not have ended up as dire as it did.
But as the Twins wind down the regular season against the Chicago White Sox, the reality speaks for itself.
With Friday night's 7-3 setback, the Twins dropped their franchise-worst 103rd loss, 21 more than the White Sox, who have dealt with their own disappointments this season. But as two teams finish out the string against one another starting with Saturday's game which pits Hector Santiago (12-10) against James Shields (6-18), much of the talk surrounding the Twins and White Sox centers around making a fresh start rather than playing for anything significant this weekend.
"I think in this particular instance to be honest, I think a lot of people are looking for a chance to kind of put this (season) to rest and take our time and do what we need to do to try and learn from what's happened," Molitor said on Friday. "Hopefully (we can) start to look forward because it's not going to be a lot of fun looking back."
Like the Twins, the White Sox may be looking at re-tooling after a season that started with so much promise, but then fizzled out. At this point, the White Sox can at best, only get to within one game of finishing at .500. That leaves players like third baseman Todd Frazier to chase after individual achievements.
Frazier, who hit his career-best 40th run earlier this week, is looking to reach the 100 RBI plateau for the first time. After going 1-for-4 on Friday night, Frazier remains two RBIs short of the century mark.
Manager Robin Ventura has appreciated what Frazier has brought to the White Sox in his first season in Chicago.
"He competes every day," Ventura said Friday. "He puts it on the line every day. He's prepared, he works hard. He's fun. He likes coming out and having fun, but when it's time to play he wants to get after it."
Like Frazier, Twins' second baseman Brian Dozier sits on the brink of not only a career-high statistically, but history. With one home run, Dozier would establish a new major league standard for homers for second basemen.
After going 1-4 with a pair of strikeouts Friday, Dozier remains tied with Rogers Hornsby (1922 St. Louis Cardinals) and Davey Johnson (1973 Atlanta Braves) with 42 homers.
Putting his name in the record book, however, isn't what Dozier is concerned with as the season wraps up.
"It's not like I'm trying to go out there and hit one home run or (get) another RBI," Dozier said. "I don't care anything about that (stuff).
"I'm just going to play like I've been playing. That's not going to change anything. I'm just going to go up there attacking. It's not like I'm trying to hit a home run every pitch or anything."