The Curse of the Giambino

Rarely has one team exhibited such dominance over another as the Yankees have to the Twins for the last decade and change.

Minnesota lost three out of four to the Bronx Bombers at Target Field last weekend, giving them another season series loss against New York. The Gardenhire-era Twins have never beaten the Yankees in a season series. It’s a fact. Eleven losses and two ties (plus four playoff series defeats) appear on Gardy’s résumé.

This wouldn’t be so disturbing if the Twins hadn’t been so good during the 2000s. Seriously, six division titles in nine years and the Twins couldn’t once outplay the Yankees. Between 2002 and 2003, the Twins went a stunning 0-13 against New York. The streak ended in the 2003 ALDS when the Twins stole Game 1 in Yankee Stadium, but the Yanks swept the next three games to move on.

It’s easy to point fingers at the Twins when they get juxtaposed against the Yankees. “It just goes to show that teams willing to spend money will always triumph in baseball.” Whether that’s a fallacy or not, the Yankees have beat up the Twins like their twerp little brother for darn near 15 years. Something more than payroll is at the root of this.

As far as baseball superstition goes, the Yankees are best known for the Curse of the Bambino – a hex they put on the Red Sox when New York traded with Boston to acquire Babe Ruth. But now it’s time to educate you about a lesser known bit of voodoo: The Curse of the Giambino. Named for Jason Giambi, this is the hex that has followed the Twins since May 17, 2002.

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The Twins were baseball’s most heartwarming story. They were the team that narrowly avoided contraction after a decade of futility and now had a grown up farm system that was ready to turn the team around. A new generation had begun under first-year manager Ron Gardenhire.

Entering play on Friday, May 17, the Twins were 25-17, leading the A.L. Central. They traveled to New York for a big test against the 26-15 Yankees, looking for redemption after being swept at the Metrodome by New York the week prior. Tom Kelly’s Twins had been fairly successful in recent years against the Yankees. His teams had a 13-13 record over the past three seasons against the Bombers, who had gone on to win the American League each of those years.

Gardy’s group got off to a good start against Mike Mussina on May 17. A three-run second inning had them leading 3-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth. That’s when the Yankees flexed their muscles: a two-run homer by Robin Ventura, a three-run blast by Alfonso Soriano and a two-run shot by Jorge Posada. Through five, it was 8-3 Yankees.

But the Twins gamely battled back; predictably, using small ball. They used five singles, two doubles, a sac bunt and a sac fly to post a six-run sixth and take a 9-8 lead. How appropriate: the Twins had nine runs on 12 hits, all but three of them singles. The Yankees had eight runs on four home runs.

The bullpens stabilized the game in the late innings, and it headed to the bottom of the ninth. For some reason the Twins had reliever Michael Jackson pitching to Derek Jeter to begin the frame – likely because they didn’t want the lefty Eddie Guardado pitching to the right-handed Jeter. Jackson coaxed a groundout from Jeter and, presumably, moonwalked back to the dugout as Gardenhire made the move to Guardado.

To this point in the season, Guardado was 14 for 14 in saves, but he had taken a loss against New York six days earlier when he appeared in a 2-2 tie in the ninth inning and allowed two runs.

“Everyday Eddie’s” first batter was Bernie Williams. Guardado worked ahead to a 1-2 count, and then he hung one. Williams, who had homered long ago in the first inning, clubbed his second of the game to tie it up at 9.

Guardado retired the next three batters, and the game moved into extra innings on a rainy night in New York. While the Twins failed to get a runner into scoring position for the next four innings, the Yankees threatened constantly in extras: a man on second in the 10th, bases loaded in the 11th, first and second in the 12th and bases loaded in the 13th. But nobody scored against the Twins bending-but-not-breaking bullpen.

The Twins broke through in the 14th inning to seemingly put the game out of reach. Eight men batted against Sterling Hitchcock, and the Twins got RBI singles from Bobby Kielty, Denny Hocking and Jacque Jones. It was 12-9 heading to the fateful bottom of the 14th.

Mike Trombley was the pitcher for the Twins. At age 35, Trombley was in the final year of his career. He was making just his third appearance of the season, but it was his third appearance in as many days after making his debut on May 15. His outing the previous day had been rough: two runs allowed on four hits in one inning and 36 pitches thrown.

Pinch-hitter Shane Spencer led off the inning with a single. Then Trombley recorded his lone out of the frame – a fly ball off the bat of Soriano. Jeter followed with a single, and Bernie Williams walked to set up Jason Giambi. Giambi was New York’s new star. He signed a seven year, $120 million contract in December of 2001 and was ready to make a big first impression.

In the game thus far, Giambi was 3 for 7. With the bases loaded and one out, the rain coming down briskly, Trombley came at Giambi with a fastball over the middle on the first pitch, and the Curse of the Giambino was born. Grand slam. Ballgame. Yankees 13, Twins 12.

The Twins were swept in the series and didn’t win another regular season game against the Yankees until 2004. Minnesota recovered from the loss, of course. They won the division that year and advanced to the ALCS. But they never seemed to rebound against the Yankees. The Twins are 26-64 against New York since 2002 and 2-12 in playoff games.

Derek Jeter, the last remaining piece to that 2002 Yankees team, was honored at Target Field last weekend. The likely Hall of Fame shortstop plans to retire after the season.

Maybe once he’s gone, the curse can finally be lifted.