The Indians have closed strong and appear to be ready to move in to the do-or-die Wild Card phase of the postseason.
The Twins appear ready to move in to the managerial death-watch phase of the postseason. If you haven’t done so yet, go to the Poll we posted below and tell us who you think will be the Twins manager come Tuesday.
Now, there’s one more game to play and here are the lineups:
and so it ends… I have a sneaking suspicion that we fans aren’t the only ones who are glad to put an end to this season so we can start putting it behind us and “dream” about what might be in 2014…
EDIT: It looks like we can shut down the poll. Ken Rosenthal was first to report that the Twins will be announcing a 2 year extension for Gardy Monday afternoon. Congrats to the 33% of poll respondents that said the Twins manager would still be the manager on Tuesday.
It’s been a tough season for Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.
Let’s be honest, General Manager Terry Ryan didn’t do Gardenhire any favors when he assembled the roster during the last offseason and Ryan has pretty much acknowledged that fact.
Still, this makes three straight seasons of losses numbering in the mid to upper 90s and that almost always means a change in the manager’s position. Almost always.
Reading the reports of various Twins beat reporters could make you feel either certain Gardy is coming back or certain he’s a goner, depending on the writer… and depending on the day.
The only thing we know with any certainty is that Gardenhire and Ryan will be meeting very soon after the Twins’ season ends Sunday afternoon. It may be Sunday evening. It may be Monday. In fact, apparently the two men spoke for a little while before Sunday’s final game.
Major League Baseball doesn’t like it when teams make announcements that take media and fan attention away from the postseason games, themselves, so don’t look for the Twins to be announcing a managerial change on any day that a postseason game is scheduled to be played. That being the case, you have to figure there will be an announcement from the Twins of some sort by Monday.
But we don’t have to wait here at Knuckleballs. Personally, I still think it will be Gardenhire, but my level of certainty has dropped considerably over the past week or so.
But tell us who YOU think will be the Twins manager come Tuesday.
Who do you think will be the Twins manager on Tuesday?
Ron Gardenhire (33%, 16 Votes)
Nobody, Gardy will be gone but no announcement on a replacement (33%, 16 Votes)
Paul Molitor (13%, 6 Votes)
Gene Glynn (6%, 3 Votes)
Jake Mauer (6%, 3 Votes)
Someone else from inside the Twins organization (4%, 2 Votes)
An outsider, someone not currently associated with the Twins (4%, 2 Votes)