Between the idea and reality, between the motion and the act, falls the home run Towles hit this afternoon. We terrible pun men wait by our computers, with our pointer fingers cocked and ready. We terrible pun men, already awaiting the opportunity to be the first to title a blog post "The End of a But-ERA" when the catcher is dropped from the roster. In this frozen land, we know only one smart-assed blogger can be the first to use "The End of a But-ERA." And so we wait with eyes watchin
September 1st, 2007. Driving home from a night class at St. Mary's, I turned on the Twins game. Gordo was hinting at something big happening for the guy on the mound. I listened to the game and drove home in a daze. I parked my car and did my best to walk to my back door without running or skipping. Once inside, I turned on the baseball game and called my wife into the living room. "I can't say what's going on, but look at the numbers on the scoreboard when Scott Baker gets to the mound," I
Picture it: It's the bottom of the ninth at Target Field. The Twins are down by one and there's a runner on second. For a moment, you forgot there were two outs, and you forgot who was up next. Then, the walk-up music starts . . . and you still can't tell. It's not AC/DC, so it's not Morneau. The guy behind you asks "What song is that?" A trip to Target Field is a trip to baseball heaven, but the music gets piped in from elevator hell. Walk-up songs are a cue for fans to believe their home
Yesterday, a comment on 1500ESPN by "Everyday" Eddie Guardado took Patrick Reusse and Jim Souhan into a brief rant against the quiet, introverted Twins clubhouse. My first instinct was to write it off as being just another "back in my day we were tougher and manlier" speech. Then, I started thinking about the relationship between clubhouse dynamics and communication, like I blogged about earlier this week. It seemed to me Olson's concept of cohesiveness applies to this situation. If the tea
The Butera problem goes like this - Drew Butera is both horrible at hitting baseballs and beloved by Twins fans. If only there was a way to keep him around Target Field without letting him get to the plate . . . Guess what? There is. Drew Butera should be the Twins mascot. There are lots of reason why Butera could step into TC Bear's shoes without much difficulty. -- He's kind of a wee little guy, and it seems like that helps with fitting into mascot suits. -- Whenever I'm at a game, i
If you're a Twins fan, you've questioned Ron Gardenhire's ability to manage. Even if you didn't question it before 2011, you do now. After a catastrophic season, any reasonably minded baseball fan would wonder if the man leaning on the dugout fence is going to fix his team or make it worse. If you're a fan like me, you're not in the dugout with Ron Gardenhire. Gardy has never coached me, nor has he attempted to coach me. I can analyze his performance based on what I see on television and read
We used to bike to the Denver, Iowa, Kwik Trip (before it became Kwik Star) to buy baseball cards. I'd prop my dirt bike up on its kick stand, ignore it when it fell over anyway, and scramble into the store to buy packs of Topps and Donruss baseball cards. I didn't really know baseball at the time, so every card boasting a name I'd heard of was pure gold to me. I thought I had a pretty sweet collection going until my friends told me all I had were a bunch of commons. I couldn't even pretend l
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.
Just read your article on Twins defense this year and I couldn’t agree more. Pair poor defense with an over abundance of left handed hitters, players who have failed to show they can hit consistently, and a pitching staff lacking in quality starters (Ryan excepted) and we have the makings of a team that is going to lose90-100 games this year.
I read your article on Walker Jenkins. Derek Falvey’s player scouting and development operation has produced few, if any, long term starting position players who can field and hit well enough to be regulars over a nine year period. For this reason I am inclined to be skeptical about Jenkins until he proves otherwise. I hope I’m proven wrong but, given the Twins inability to find and develop position players who have the ability to hit and defend over any period of time, I fear I may be proven correct. We shall see.
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.· 1 reply
New Game thread format!· 0 replies
Just read your article on Twins defense this year and I couldn’t agree more. Pair poor defense with an over abundance of left handed hitters, players who have failed to show they can hit consistently, and a pitching staff lacking in quality starters (Ryan excepted) and we have the makings of a team that is going to lose90-100 games this year.· 0 replies
