Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again.

"Hey, it's ok Joe.  You're like the 9th worst pitcher on this team."

What's it going to take, Lord?  Is there a solution?  Do we sit in this gathering cloud and grasp at positives, or do we rage against the dying of the light with venom?  Are we Smart Fans, or are we Viking Fans?

Should we never have traded Wilson Ramos for Ass-Kiss McGee a year ago?  Well, that's obvious.  Here's what I can see from Fat Matt Capps (oh, how I yearned to run the "He's peelin' Capps!" joke into the ground over the past year.  For shame) - a man who throws the ball real fast and real straight.  If a hitter wants to, they can get a hit.  Plain and simple.  It's just a question of if they want to and if they are good enough.  But you just wait for the fastball, you get it, you hit it.  If he tries to trick hitters, he misses the zone.  He's really doing a disservice to that #55.

Should we maybe have stretched Joe Nathan out a little more?  Maybe not expected a 36 year old man to return less than a year after surgery?  And, if this is truly how it ends for Spazulous (just made that up, you're welcome), how did it happen so quick?  I've never seen it fall off that fast:  give up a donk to A-rod in the playoffs, show up at spring training with a broken elbow, miss a year, come back and pitch so horribly that you make the Twins fans miss Aaron Fultz.  I haven't seen a follow-up like this since Bret Boone, but you know what he liked to inject into his arm...

(pause)

STEROIDS!

Should we reconsider giving Joe Mauer more money than Manny got in his prime?  You won't hear any ill-speak from me regarding Ol' Joe, because I like him more than most of my friends and I've never met him, but this is really shaping up to be a wild ride with them legs.  I mean, maybe they'll work and he'll be MVP.  Or maybe they'll replace the cartilage with bovine pericardium.  Or maybe they'll just get the bone-saw and he'll wheel his way to first base.

Should we fire a rocket into the bullpen and hope it somehow manages to wipe the slate clean?  Because I don't know how much more I can take.  Here's a stat for you:  the Twins are 11-7 when leading after the 7th inning.  OH HOLY HELL, THAT CAN'T BE.  Do I miss Matt Grr and Jesse Crain?  Yes, because at least those guys were on a team that won baseball games.

Should we bring up guys from the minors and start fresh?  Umm, yeah, but the problem is that there's no one there.  See, the Twins entered a new organizational timeline when they opened Target Field.  That timeline went from "Make moves with an eye for 3 years in the future" to "Make moves for right now because BIG DOGG'S GOTTA EAT!"  Nobody regrets Thome, or O-dogg, or Nishi, or whatever.  But the clock changed on us.  Instead of a Liriano or a Span coming up in a few years, we've got Dinkleberry Revere and Kyle "My Name Is Kyle" Gibson.  Hey great, I'm excited.

Lord, where do we go from here?

I'll tell you where *I* am going.... back to bed.