Johan arrives; Gardy departs
After examining a bunch of in-season events that defined 2004 & 2014, there are two other topics worthy of comment before those 2024 anniversaries are put to bed…
2004 Postscript: Cy Santana
After Twins management took a long time to commit to Johan Santana as a starter in 2003, once-installed he transformed into immediate ace.
Santana posted this remarkable line in 2004: 34 GS, 20-6, 228 IP, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 265 K, 0.921 WHIP, 182 ERA+, 8.7 bWAR.
As narrated by John Gordon, here is one example of Johan’s ‘04 dominance…
Santana would ultimately capture his first AL Cy Young Award, garnering every 1st place vote to easily outpace Curt Schilling & Mariano Rivera (Joe Nathan also got one vote!).
It would not be an entirely unreasonable assumption to call Johan Santana’s ‘04 campaign the best SP single season in Twins history.
2014 Postscript: Goodbye Gardy
After Tom Kelly’s retirement in 2001, Ron Gardenhire was tapped to manage a Minnesota Twins squad that wasn’t even guaranteed to exist in 2002. It did—and Gardy began a run of three consecutive AL Central championships followed by dramatic playoff-clinching finishes in ‘06 & ‘09 and more dominance in 2010. But for a lack of finger-jewelry, Gardy was on the fast track to becoming the most beloved Twins skipper ever.
But then 2011-2014 happened—the worst 4-year stretch (265-383) in franchise history. Gardy still had a little fire in him in ‘14…
But too many times the dugout camera would find him slumped in seeming disbelief.
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
As such, Ron Gardenhire was relieved of managerial duties following the ‘14 finish. I think I speak for most of Twins Territory in expressing genuine appreciation for the Gardy Era—he returned the love after departing—and the mostly-fun (until the end) baseball he cultivated in MN. Even though it became somewhat clear that modern baseball tendencies had passed him by, it’s still a little hard to believe we’ve been Gardy-less for a decade.