Reusse: Current Twins give us flashbacks to Jamie Quirk, Ron Davis and the collapse of 1984

This is the 40th anniversary of the zaniest season in the history of the Minnesota Twins, and what a wonderful gesture by the current edition of our ballclub to provide such a compelling reminder of the final unfolding of the 1984 dramas.

Combining failed relief pitching with puny hitting and spotty fielding, these Twins split the first two games in Cleveland, then lost the last two in the 10th innings — the first horrendously, the second predictably.

And thus a team that was a while ago 11 games ahead of Detroit in the American League wild-card competition is now tied with those young, in-Skubal-uble Tigers, and arrive in Boston to help see what they can do to get the Red Sox back on track.

I feel sorry for all you Minnesota sports followers who weren’t around in 1984, or too young to remember.

The season started with Twins owner Calvin Griffith needing poor attendance to get out of the lease after only three years in the Metrodome. Businessman Harvey Mackay organized the ticket buyout to lock Calvin into his lease. One day, when there were discounted tickets, Harvey used the fund to buy the whole bundle; the paid attendance was over 50,000 and there were 6,000 in the Dome.

Then, at mid-season, the news broke that Calvin and his sister, Thelma Haynes, were going to sell to banker Carl Pohlad. The sale was completed in September.

As a ballclub, there were minimal expectations for the still-young Twins. Fortunately, Kansas City was playing way below its talent level. The Twins swept doubleheaders in Boston on Aug. 18 and in Milwaukee on Aug. 22. Suddenly, they were 67-58 and 5½ games in front of the 62-64 Royals.

Remember, East and West winners played in ALCS; no three divisions, no wild-cards.

Baseball had standards then, even if the standards weren’t that high in the AL West that summer.

The Twins came sliding back, and the Royals picked it up. The Twins went into Cleveland for a closing four-game series, trailing the Royals by 1½ games. K.C. was off Thursday, then had three at Oakland.

You can’t comprehend how few people were in the gigantic old stadium down by Lake Erie. Fewer than a 1,000 for Game 1. The guy with the drum and his buddy were in the outfield, and constant drum banging is very annoying when it’s the only sound.

I texted Kent Hrbek this Thursday: “That place was haunted. No fans, but the idiot with the drum never stopped.”

Herbie’s response: “The idiot with the drum was the highlight.’’

The Twins led 3-0 into the eighth, behind a stout effort by Mike Smithson, who pitched 250 innings that season, by the way. Ron Davis was harmed considerably by an error from second baseman Tim Teufel and Cleveland tied it in the eighth.

Jamie Quirk had arrived that week when Cleveland was down to one healthy catcher. Manager Pat Corrales sent up Quirk as a pinch-hitter, in what would be his only Cleveland at-bat in the ninth inning. The message was sent to Davis: “No fastballs.”

There was a reason for that. Quirk later admitted, “I can’t hit a curveball, so why swing at it?”

Davis started him with two curveballs, both called strikes. Then, he threw a fastball, and Quirk hit it down the right-field line. It stayed fair. Home run.

Cleveland 4, Twins 3. Now two games behind K.C. with three to play.

Twins manager Billy “Slick” Gardner, holding a beer in the musty clubhouse, said: “Now I know how Custer felt. Good thing my wife is here or I might jump out the hotel room window.”

The next night Frankie Viola was pitching and the Twins built a 10-0 lead. Then they gave up seven in the sixth, aided by an unusual throwing error from the tremendous Gary Gaetti.

Final: Cleveland, 11-10. Kansas City won later in Oakland and it was over.

Jamie Quirk, followed by blowing a 10-run lead.

It was kind of sad looking at these youngsters in the clubhouse, but then Gaetti made it all worthwhile with this quote on his error.

“It’s hard to throw when you have both hands around your neck. We blew it.”

The baseball gods must have loved the candor, because three years later a nucleus of those Twins beat a terrific Tigers team in the ALCS and won the World Series.

As for the current club, I still have much harder time figuring out how they got there (70-53) on Aug. 17, than how they got here (80-73). They are short of pitching, hitting and fielding, all important categories, the way I analyze it.