Happy Wednesday everyone, and I do emphasize the happy, as there hasn’t been much happy around these parts of late, and to be fair, for good reason. Our Minnesota Twins along with something they call a bull pen will attempt to defeat the Houston Astros, who currently hold the best record in baseball and are up 2 games to none on this series. Before we continue with the tarring and feathering of the entire front office, the scouting staff, the players, and TC Bear, I should note with full disclosure that our Twins are 0-2 on game threads that I start. That means that I am clearly to blame as my win percentage in game threads is worse than that of the Twins pen… think about that for a second, but just remember that you must be able to find me to string me up. Things to think about: 1. El Cajon – now before you start throwing the ‘family friendly’ accusation out there, I should note that our opponents starting pitcher hails from El Cajon, CA. The term is Spanish for ‘the box’ and the city has earned the nick name “big box” because 99% of the world’s card board boxes are made there. Cardboard lines the streets and in honor of the title, all buildings are required to look like boxes. 2. The end of the world – believe it or not TD, the recent turn of events is not the end of the world, and I’d add that the Twins are still exceeding most of our expectations at this point in the season. It is not the end of the world as we know it, and we know this because we do not feel fine. 3. Stomach Flu – we all know it. Your kids got it earlier in the evening and it is now 2:00 AM and you are wide awake, knowing, but not wanting to believe that you have it too. That feeling in your stomach continues to grow, and you want to tell yourself that it is all in your head. But finally it does its thing, kind of like the Twins’ bull pen. We all knew it wouldn’t last, right? Hopefully, the pen is like the real stomach flu with everything back to being what it was 24 hours later. 4. History – Quite a bit happened on this day in history. Walt Whitman was born in 1831 and somehow managed to live nearly 180 years to finally die in his meth lab, all of which was filmed by AMC. In 1929, Ford signed an agreement with the Soviet Union, and in 1988, the Reagan-Gorbachev summit ended, clearly foreshadowing modern day US and Russian relations. Clint Eastwood was born in 1930, and the Yankees lost a major battle during the Civil War, despite being heavy favorites to win. 5. Hector Santiago – Here’s to hoping he can turn one around. We need him to be a functional pitcher this season, so let’s send lots of good vibes his way.