Not to steal anything from the moment, but Butch Huskey’s groundball single may have won the Twins a small battle Wednesday night, but it won’t quite win the whole campaign.
Sure, win enough battles and the war is sure to follow. Minnesota, however, is hanging by a thread just 16 games into the season.
The Huskey single gave Minnesota their fourth win in their last at-bat on the fledgling year. They’ve won six games total.
Indeed, sad as it is to say, the Twins’ wins over the Royals on Wednesday and Thursday were about as meaningless as the game can get.
How did I get so cynical? Maybe it’s the rain outside dampening my spirits, but hope just isn’t springing eternal this year. Other people choose to celebrate spring and renewed hope by celebrating the resurrection. I wait for opening day.
All teams are created equal, in the beginning. The day pitchers and catchers reported, Minnesota was still in the hunt for a World Series. It’s been all downhill from there.
I do admire what the Twins’ management is attempting, I really do. By bringing in young talent and promoting the total experience of watching baseball. They’ve taken a firm stand, saying baseball — a game to some but a church to many — is bigger than any one player, or win-loss records in any one year.
It is a refreshing stance, and I will attend several Twins games this summer. I’ll sit on the third-base side, for under $20. I’ll eat a bratwurst, drink a Grain Belt and keep score. All these things I’ll do in support of baseball.
What I won’t do is pretend Minnesota is going anywhere.
The sad truth is, though Twins fans certainly watched an exciting finish Wednesday night, what they actually watched was two small market teams beating up on each other for the right to eat crumbs from the Yankees’ table.
In no other sport is the gap between the haves and have-nots so great as in baseball. Face it: Brad Radke could sign for a mere pittance, out-duel Pedro Martinez for the AL Cy Young. On his days off he could take the home-run crown from Mark McGwire — the Twins would still struggle to maintain a .500 record.
That isn’t a knock on how much the Twins try or want to win. It’s refreshing to see a bunch of young faces who presumably will play hard every pitch for 162 games.
Regardless, the game is in trouble. Without some kind of revenue sharing in place, teams like Minnesota, Kansas City and Montreal will lag behind the Mets, Yankees and Indians.
Recent plans have Major League Baseball equally divvying up proceeds from a new MLB Web site. The site would eventually carry all games on streaming video via the Internet, meaning it’s a possible cash cow.
But that money isn’t around yet, and if owners don’t loosen their purse strings just a bit to give teams like Minnesota a chance, there may not be teams left to bail out with Internet cash.
Further, I’m tired of having to think about all this. All I can do is buy a ticket. In fact, I think the Twins could sell out the entire season and still be nowhere near George Steinbrenner’s tax bracket.
For the good of the game, the biggest wimp in sports, Bud Selig, needs to step in and make the old boys network pony up. Bud, take a case of scotch and some cigars into a back room and get it done. I don’t care who sells their soul to whom, I just want it to happen.
No team’s fans should feel out of the race with 146 games left to play. No team’s manager should have to concede in spring training. It’s baseball, damn it.
Economics has no place in religion.

Josh Linehan covers his Dome Dogs in kraut and mustard and welcomes comments at [email protected].