Losing 100 games takes a lot of work.
And guess what? The Twins still have six more games to play.
"That's tough to swallow," said second baseman Brian Dozier as he came to grips with triple-digit losses.
The Twins played one of their typical games Sunday, losing 4-3 to Seattle and falling to 56-100. They committed three errors, gave the red-hot Nelson Cruz pitches to hit and sputtered offensively. It represented Twins baseball this season, a season in which they have clinched the worst record in the majors.
Since they finish the season on the road, many players cleaned out their clubhouse stalls Sunday. Players will scatter around the globe after the final out is made next Sunday against the White Sox in Chicago.
Wherever they go, they will go knowing they were part of the team that became the second Twins team ever to lose 100 games in a season.
"It doesn't sit well," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I've never experienced it [before]."
Next up is the club record of 102 losses suffered in 1982. The Twins also finished 30-51 at home, their worst home record in a 162-game season.
"Over the last 10 [games] I was definitely thinking about it, trying to do all I can to stay away from that number," said Twins lefthander Hector Santiago, who lasted 5⅓ innings. "Obviously we got there. I was on the mound. Definitely, when you come to the ballpark it is somewhere you don't want to be."
Twins players gathered on the field before the game to acknowledge the fans who showed up for the final home game. It drew an announced 22,092, putting the Twins' season attendance at 1,963,912 — their lowest in seven seasons at Target Field and the first time the Twins have failed to draw 2 million fans since 2004 at the Metrodome.
Dozier, who has become the face of the franchise after a record-breaking power display, grabbed a microphone. "We're all in this together to get things turned around," he said to the crowd, "and bring winning baseball team back to Minnesota."
After that, the Twins went out and offered more of the same baseball. And fans spent as much time reacting to developments in the Vikings-Panthers game as they did to the baseball game.
Max Kepler gave the Twins a 2-1 lead in the second inning with a home run, but Seattle's Jesus Sucre blasted a two-run homer to left in the fifth.
Cruz's second homer of the game gave Seattle a 4-2 lead in the sixth. Cruz injured his wrist swinging at the pitch before the homer, then left the game after hitting it.
Juan Centeno drove in Robbie Grossman with a single in the bottom of the inning. That was it for the Twins offense, which has been anemic most of this month.
"It was a game that was out there for the taking," Molitor said.
Thursday, reliever Pat Light threw a wild pitch during an intentional walk. Friday, Grossman committed two errors on one play. On Sunday, there was the errorfest, including two by shortstop Jorge Polanco.
The Twins haven't just flopped, they have flopped with flair at times. Now they have to go 4-2 over their last six games to avoid being the losingest Twins team of all time.
"It doesn't happen very often," Molitor said. "[Losing] 99 is not very good either. So you live with it. It's going to stare at you all winter long, I know that."
