Baseball seems to lend itself to superstition and by extrapolation, curses. The most famous has been the “Curse of the Bambino” supposedly caused by the selling of Babe Ruth by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees. (The Red Sox were never to win a World Series). The curse was reinforced by teammates Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky losing the 1946 World Series. Then the ball between the legs of Red Sox Bill Buckner in 1986. The curse was lifted as the Red Sox finally won a World Series in 2004.

The Chicago Cubs have not reached baseball’s World Series since 1945. The team was done in by the “Billy Goat Curse.” The Billy Goat and his owner were thrown out of the1945 World Series game. The owner declared: “They aren’t going to win no more.”

Do the Yankees have a curse on the Minnesota Twins? While our team has occasionally been able to scratch out a win, its record against the Bronx Bombers is hard to explain. Since Ron Gardenhire has taken the helm, the Twins are 17-52 against the Yankees. It’s understandable that the team might have a losing record. They also do against the Angels and the Blue Jays, but 17-52 is ridiculous. The Yankees have been good during Gardenhire’s reign, but not that good.

Here is some speculation as to why our Twins consistently lose to the Yankees. They seem to go into town in awe of the New Yorkers. We are not in the locker room and can’t hear the tell-tale comments by the Twins players. However, we do listen to Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven discussing the Yankees and their attitude can’t help but reflect the thinking of the Twins players and management. Dick n’ Bert are constantly extolling the virtues of the Yankees and how their lineup is one good hitter after another and how it’s really tough for the Twins pitchers to make their way through all these sluggers. Alex Rodriguez, of course, but also Derek Jeter, Mark Texeira and how Nick Swisher was a wonderful addition to the team. It seems all a player has to do is put on Yankee pinstripes and they are transformed into world beaters.

The Yankees are good, but they have holes in their lineup which include Nick Swisher. Perhaps Gardenhire and the Twins need to concentrate not on how good they are, but how they can be beaten.

Gardenhire also seems to be a little in awe of the New Yorkers. Perhaps it stems from his years with the New York Mets, the feeling that New York is more than it really is. It may be my imagination, but Gardenhire seems to play for one run in New York. In my, and blogger Aaron Gleeman’s opinion, that is exactly the wrong thing to do against a high scoring team. Too much small ball against a team that needs to be ground down with a five-run lead. I don’t think you can beat the Yankees very often with a single, bunt, single for one run.

Can the Twins overcome the Yankees’ curse? As I mentioned a few columns ago, I don’t think that the Twins can match the Yankee pitching. The emergence of Francisco Liriano has helped the Twins cause, but you still have to give the Yankees the edge.

What can break the curse? A new stadium? We have that and we’ll find out shortly if it helps. Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia breaks his leg? Not likely. The “law of averages” is on the Twins’ side. But the “law of averages” is notoriously unreliable. Perhaps the only solution is for the Twins to play better ball than the “Evil Empire.” I hope they can and if it’s possible, Jason Kubel has gotten us off to a good start.