Wake Up With Shannon Stewart Hitting A Walk-Off Home Run On Opening Day (2004)
I miss these days when you could just pencil in the Minnesota Twins as the AL Central division champs just about every year in the 2000’s. It all started when Ron Gardenhire got there in 2002, and they kept rolling up until the turn of the new decade. I just loved how scrappy they were with their little $53 million payroll. I mean, they were winning division titles with dudes like Lew Ford, Corey Koskie, Jacque Jones, Cristian Guzman, Shannon Stewart and the OG Minnesota Twin, Torii Hunter.
I guess it didn’t hurt that Johan Santana was a god at that point, too, winning his first of two Cy Young awards in a three-year span back in 2004. And when Santana was done spinning his masterpiece, he’d hand the ball over to Joe Nathan in the ninth, who was absolutely filthy for that six-year run once he got to Minnesota. Sucks that they were so brutal in the postseason, though. In 2002, they lost in the ALCS in five games, and in their five postseason appearances after that, they couldn’t even get out of the first round, never winning more than one game in a playoff series, while getting swept in their last three postseason appearances. Would’ve loved to have seen Santana and Nathan get a couple deep postseason runs during their heyday.