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Minnesota Twins: Puckett’s Patter – Gloom and Doom Edition

By Paul Overbee

Apr 10, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Minnesota Twins right fielder Miguel Sano (22) fields a fly ball double by Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (not pictured) in the fifth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Minnesota Twins right fielder Miguel Sano (22) fields a fly ball double by Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (not pictured) in the fifth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports /
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This week on Puckett’s Patter we take a couple deep breaths and try to stay positive.

Welcome to the second edition of Puckett’s Patter. The purpose of this feature is for Puckett’s Pond to provide for some fan interaction on a weekly basis. In order to participate, send a Twins related tweet to @PaulOverbee with the hashtag #PuckettsPatter.

I will take a sample of each week’s questions and thoughts, and I will address them on this weekly feature. For this week’s edition, we again had a great question from @MPagethatguy 15, but hopefully more people will chime in for next week’s edition.

Don’t be a Worrywart

To begin the season many fans had high hopes after the Twins exited Spring Training with more positives than negatives. The April 10th loss to the Royals killed any optimism that the Twins territory had remaining after a rough first week of play. 

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As Trevor May screamed into his glove at the end of the game, Twitter came alive with negative thoughts for the rest of the season. Of course, this negativity is not undeserved. As an 0-6 team, the 2016 Minnesota Twins have put themselves in a hole, and it is difficult to imagine the shovel necessary to dig themselves out. After the Twins were so close to the wild card last season, getting off to a worse start does not bode well.

Mark Twain once said “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.” In other words, Twins fans need to put this past week in perspective. We will win games. Though the final line of week one is disappointing, there are plenty of positives to take from the experience.

Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, and Ricky Nolasco all put together quality starts. Byung-ho Park has already hit his first Major League home run. Joe Mauer has an on-base percentage of .519. Oddly enough, a lot of the off-season question marks have been answered positively in the first week. 

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Last season Minnesota started their seventh game with a 1-6 record, and with a home opener win they will be in the same position in 2016. If the Twins win the home opener it will be an opportunity to wipe away the first week and focus on an uphill climb to the end of the season. In that case it would be a Win-Win as @MPagethatguy15 describes.

Sure, the bats have been cold and the bullpen has been spotty, but these areas were points of strength with the 2015 Twins. It seems unlikely that these first week trends will continue throughout the season, and the other signs of life we’ve seen from Mauer and the rotation should give Twins fans something to be happy about. Though I was the most pessimistic author in our Puckett’s Pond prediction series, I feel like one of the few optimists after one week of play.

Next: Puckett's Pond Preseason Staff Predictions

Feel free to shoot down this optimism in the comments or join the discussion on Twitter. A special thanks to @MPagethatguy15 for providing some additional material for week two of Puckett’s Patter. Again, if you would like to participate in next week’s feature send a Twins related tweet to @PaulOverbee with the hashtag #PuckettsPatter. Look forward to hearing from all of you.

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