Fans fret about what the Twins record will be at month’s end but not general manager Terry Ryan. The Twins opened the regular season on April 6 and after last night’s loss to the Yankees have a 4-9 record. Ten more games remain in April.
“I’d be more worried about where we’re at September 1st,” Ryan told Sports Headliners last week. “We play a demanding schedule. We might have all we can handle, but regardless it matters more about September 1st, and that’s usually a measuring stick. Nobody worries about anybody on May 1st. For me that’s a tad early.
“But we have some of the requisites to have a decent club here. No one is counting us in, I can tell you that. On paper nobody is talking about us at all, except for us, and that’s all that counts.”
The Twins’ April schedule includes 17 games against some of the American League’s best teams. On the list are the Rangers, Yankees, Rays and Red Sox, ranked No. 1, 4, 8 and 15 in ESPN.com’s power ratings of major league teams. Also on the April schedule are the Angels, off to a slow start but projected to win the World Series by Sports Illustrated.
The Twins so far have one win in each of their meetings with the Angels and Rangers, and two against the Yankees. Ryan was asked if playing baseball’s best can have a positive aspect.
“Sometimes you can get them (best teams) early,” he said. “Sometimes clubs take awhile to settle in, and hopefully we’ll settle in sooner than later than some of these demanding teams that we’re facing. …”
If not, the Twins could set or tie a record for fewest club wins in April. The poorest record was 4-6 in 1966 but a fairer comparison is to start with 1977 when the Twins have played 18 games or more in April. The low mark in that period is 6-12 in 1981. The Twins were 9-17 during April last year.