ScrapTheNickname

But he would have to be unable to hit to qualify. Career minor league .233 hitter. But you need a guy like that in the playoffs.

For a cartoon that has been on the operating room table for so many years with a case of old-age-about-to-die the Simpsons' images do endure. They do endure.

Shorter swing = more powerful swing?

In three years Terrance Gore has 14 steals in 10 plate appearances (without being caught). Wow.

TV announcers have to speak for 486 hours during a 162-game season. No wonder they wind up having nothing much to say. Rex Hudler for the Royals earlier said Butera was a great backup catcher because he can hit (in all seriousness), and just now he said that Suzuki will be a valuable pickup for a National League team because he can pinch hit.

Sano has beat out two infield hits, but ... he has no hits. AND he seems to slow down at the end. BUT he's okay, I think we'll keep him too.

Can somebody make a TSF baseball hat? (To be worn in 2016 only)

Please, go on.

I don't know if you know it before, but time flies. Toby Gardenhire is going to be 34 on Sunday.

Official score: No Sac. What? They were inside Dyson's head?

Schlaugher has hit .184 over his career against lefties. Calling it a career seems somehow wrong. Or right.

Yes, true. An above average third basemen. A good man and teammate it would seem. But he is what he is as a hitter and as a runner (as slow as an old farm horse). There I go, sounding cruel again. But I'm not. I just type that way. Sincerely, I wish Plouffe the best of luck too - same as I do with almost all former Twins. I'm trying to think of anyway that I wished to fail ... Delmon, I guess.

He could have pointed to his side and mouthed "oblique" which then would have been replayed on video.

I'm the first to say it on TD! Rotoballer reports that Plouffe "Has Strained Oblique, Could be Done for Season." He did it taking a hard cut at a pitch. As we know, he missed most of July and August after fracturing a rib. So Plouffe's season ends with 344 plate appearances in which he hit .260/.303/.420 - 12 HRs and 47 RBIs. OPS .723, right in line with his career average of .727. While I'm sorry that his oblique muscle is hurting (I know from his experience that it hinders natural movement and can linger like hell), I never personally wrote home to anybody about Trevor Plouffe! I hope (this sounds so sinful) that it's the last we've heard of him in a Twins uniform. Please find a way to move on, new Twins GM.

1. Mauer 2. Polanco 3. Dozier 4. Sano 5. Kepler 6. Buxton 8. 9. 10 11. 12. 13. Rosario

Twins versus Royals. I'm in a hurry. Gotta right fast. Space bar sticking. I have been called into work due to an emergency. After having weeks to prepare I now virtually minutes. The Twins! - er, Dozier and Buxton - have been fun to watch lately. The team is extremely young and however one feels about the front office 2016 has been one of the best years for checking out young players, A few retreads, but not as many as in the past, I don't think. The happiest teams in MLB. Who is smiling? Who is joking? Who is the loosest? Who enjoys playing the game? Who enjoys each other’ company? There isn’t a cybermetrric for this yet, but I suppose one day there will be. The Texas Rangers seem to be the happiest team from from observation. Even though this isn't an official metric I feel it is one that counts very much. "Happiest" team" - an important concept that leads to wins, lessens the bruises of losses, and impels the fortunes of the otherwise myriad observable stats. I'm not in a funny mood, I'm only wearing my underwear and I haven't had any coffee yet, so skip the funny stuff. I don't know the lineup, so when would someone else please add them. Thank you. I was all for trading Dozier, and now that his stock has risen so high I'm not sure. Oh, hell, trade him anyway - if you can get the right pitcher. Buxton seems have arrived - well, I told you so (just kidding.) I have been reading "Batting," a book published in 1925 by F.C. Lane in which he interviews hundreds of major league ballplayers about stances and bats and bunts and things like that. I kept thinking I would find a gem of a quote to put in here but I didn't. It is interesting reading the old name and also finding out that they shared an enthusiasm fore the minutia of the game. It was republished by SABR in 2001. 1. I was feeling under the weather last week.The rain and clouds of a cold (or spray-on-glue poisoning) descended on me. The tarp was put on the field. All I could was wait it out. The energy is my brain was 1/10 of what it was before. Meaning 90% of my brain got in their cars and drove home. 2. Speaking of weather, (this is the prepared stuff), I sure am glad the Dome got demolished. It was the last in a series of combustible mistakes. Baseball was invented outdoors and it should always be played outdoors. In line with that reasoning, however much I enjoy watch the Lynx, I can’t really adjust to summer basketball. It’s a sport meant to be played inside because it’s too cold to play outside. And now in Texas (I believe) they want to replace a newish park (opened in1994?). 3. Names. Target Field. Oh,well, better than most corporate names. But you Minnesotans should revolted and called it Puckett Park under their noses. This isn’t the Soviet Union of the United States, you know. 3. Random thought #19. All-Star rosters are 25 and each team needs to be represented yet the game now means something very significant (home field advantage in the WS). There were 16 teams not that long ago and there 25 representatives. Now there are 30 teams. It's 3rd grade math to assume the All-Star squads would expand to 48 or 50. Write the commissioner! I would have written more and better but I gotta run. Go Twins, Etc. 4 Oh,Baseball is not a game. It’s a contest. It's work. 5. Offense and defense combined in the same person can be a novelty nowadays. Kepler!

You seriously want Ricky back? Trading him for anyone, you may recall, was considered a solid Front Office move. We got someone.

My condolences.

Just got out of bed, turn Twins game on. 7th inning. Up a run. Ok. Go into kitchen to make coffee. Down by 1. Sit down. Down by 3. Good morning, all.

But we're looking to speed up the game ...

This is a cool story about the strange birth of "American Woman" ...

3G Capital, a Brazilian multibillion-dollar investment firm, founded in 2004, acquired Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Kraft Foods. Ain't that sweet?

Vancouvinians The Be Good Tanya's first album "Blue Train" is a great album.

What timing? Seriously, he needs coaching, badly. His approach isn't working.

Designated three times in one summer. Ouch. I feel sorry for him, but for everyone who loses a slot someone gains a slot. His numbers (even against right handed pitching) are just above okay, not great, but he's young yet and somebody will probably give him a platoon or pitch hitting job.