Just win

Just win baby.

On the precipice now, one win away from WS title #27, its hard to describe how I feel. It feels so unlikely now. It was seven months ago that I first saw those AP pictures of pitchers and catchers stretching on the greenest grass in Florida. It was beautiful. Winter was over. Baseball was back.

And I'm looking back on the year now, and I remember myself standing in Times Square in March thinking about our prospects for the season and I remember how full of hope I was that we could do it. And it was a long year. I've followed the team more closely than I've ever followed it before. Too much, even. I can tell you all the permutations of our roster, the trades we've made and didn't make, I can name 30 or 40 of our prospects, and I can tell you our catcher in Low A Tampa. I can tell you which pitching prospects had TJ and which had breakout years and which were disappointments. I can tell you about the Coming of Sweet, Sweet Jesus Montero and the year from hell from Andrew Brackman. I can tell you about every walkoff we've had. I can tell you about the quality of the sod in our AAA affiliate. And I can tell you about all our wins. I can tell you about the walkoff homer by Arod that my new bride and I witnessed after 14.5 innings of scoreless baseball against the Red Sox on a hot summer evening, and the walkoff my dad and I witnessed against the White Sox in the cold rain in September.

It was a long year.

And then the playoffs come, and the intensity of the regular season, the anticipation, the nerves, everything just gets amped up, like you were listening to your iPod and someone pumped the volume while you weren't looking. And now I'm nervous all day every day. I count down the hours to each game. And there are so many off-days that I think I'm going to run through a wall. And then our games get rained out. It's cold, its wet, and we're winning. And I'm staying up late every game night, and my health is suffering, and this is, well, this is seriously awesome. And I want it to be over, and I want it to go on forever.

Just win baby.

It feels like its been forever since they won the World Series. Truth be told, I dont remember, really really remember what it feels like. I'm sorry, Twins fans. I know you've suffered longer. I can't help it, though. I want this so bad. I want the bedlam in the Bronx. I want to skip work and go to the parade down the Canyon of Heroes. I want 27 in 09. I want to stay up all night and celebrate. Please.

Just win, baby. Just win.