Twins Short-Hops: Mo, 100 losses, and running Revere

<>The Twins were part of history on Monday afternoon in the Bronx when Mariano Rivera set the all-time saves record for a career. It is kind of interesting to think the Twins were suppose to play this game much earlier in the season when there is no chance he would have set the record against them. But in a season when everything has gone wrong, it is fitting that the Twins were the victims of this record breaking save.

Rivera has piled up numerous saves against the Twins throughout his career and that includes playoff games versus the Minnesota nine. It was the 32nd time he was on the mound to close the door for the save against the Twins. Out of American League teams, the Twins are runner-up for least amount of earned runs scored against Mr. Rivera. The Tigers are the only team to have scored less against the save king.

Mo is one of the most dominant pitchers that I have every seen on the baseball field and he deserves every accolade that comes his way. Congrats to the best closer in the history of the game.

<>The way the Twins have been losing games in the last month there is a good chance the team could compile 100 losses for only the second time since the team moved to Minnesota in 1961. The team has not accomplished this feat in my lifetime and I would like that streak to continue in the final weeks of this season. The Twins will have to go 4-6 in the last ten games to avoid that fate and at this point that is not going to happen.

Twins Worst Losing Seasons

1982: 60-102

1999: 63-97

1997: 68-94

2000: 69-93

2011: 59-93

The 1982 team that lost 102 games was full of young players and some of those players would be part of the franchises first World Series run half of a decade later. With the way the Twins look at this point, it seems like it would be quite the turnaround if the team were to win a World Series in the next five years. There are certainly weirder things that have happened in the game of baseball.

<>There was another record set in the Bronx on Monday afternoon but it was far less prestigious than the record that Mariano Rivera set at the end of the game. Earlier last week, I wrote about the chances of Ben Revere breaking the Twins' all-time rookie record for steals in a season. Revere entered play on Monday with 30 steals and he sat one steal behind Luis Rivas' record of 31 steals in a rookie campaign. The Twins speedy center fielder swiped two bags during the game and became the rookie record holder for the Twins.

Twins' Rookie Top Five: Stolen Bases

32   Ben Revere........................2011

31   Luis Rivas...........................2001

25   Willie Norwood....................1978

25   Chuck Knoblach...................1991

20   Marty Cordova....................1995

Rivas played in 153 games during his rookie season and that allowed him plenty of opportunities to get his motor running. By comparison, Monday only marked the 107th game that Revere had appeared in during his rookie campaign. After the game Revere talked about what he could do in a full season at the big league level. His goal, "I'm thinking like 80, 90."

As the guys over at Diamond Centric would say, "Nothing Runs Like Revere."