Don Walcott

Other than catcher (possibly), this seems to be the best defensive lineup we can field.

I love Bert, but he just said that Kiermeier had a good read on Longoria's hit to right, which is why he made it home easily. Great analysis, except there were two outs.

Good job, Hildenberger.

Except he had a hunch. Went with his gut.

Why did he appeal to first? Looked like he was in the middle of calling strike 3.

Santana is bringing some heat!!

In theory . . . .

Not sure why the photo came out sideways. Is there anything that can be done about that?

GOOD MORNING TWINS FANS!! What a great day to be a fan of this Minnesota Twins team. They are finally the darlings of Pythagoras (I never thought he'd come around), and they have come through like a Labor Day Santa Claus for Always in Moderation's wishes. (Couldn't he just once not be in Moderation? I mean, given the power of his wishes, couldn't he have been Over the Top just once, and wished for us to win the World Series . . . five times in a row?) Twins Daily topics that used to be about who to drop are now about who to re-sign. Topics and comments about Mauer are now about whether he's finally back on the path to the Hall of Fame, as opposed to . . . not being nice. There's even a topic about bringing back Big Sexy for the full Monty, I mean season, in 2018. This team has taken some really hard body blows (remember getting swept by Cleveland, Houston, LA?), but they dust themselves off, and keep playing hard, improving, and winning. And this latest and most impressive stretch has been without their best hitter. It's like they can forget the negative things and keep up the positive momentum. This reminds me of an annual tradition here in Santa Fe, NM. I swapped the capital city of MN for the capital city of NM 21 years ago. Santa Fe is a very weird place. People here put green chile on everything they eat. If you ask someone when they are going to get that work done that they promised you last week, they'll inevitably tell you "manyana". But the weirdest thing goes on during Fiestas de Santa Fe, a tradition from the early 18th century, which kicked off here on Friday. For the 92nd year, we burned Zozobra. Zozobra, a.k.a. Old Man Gloom, is a 50-foot tall marionette, with a wood base, but mainly composed of paper. He is filled with pieces of paper that contain negative thoughts, feelings and memories of residents of Santa Fe (this year, including my 5-year-old daughter's memory of skinning r knee). He is set up at Fort Marcy Park, near downtown Santa Fe, where 60,000 people gather and chant "burn him, burn him", while an elaborate dance is performed by a professional dancer and a bunch of kids dressed like ghosts, who are called "gloomies". Finally, after the teasing and taunting Zozo has gone way too far, and he is writhing and moaning, he gets set on fire and a long firework display incinerates him, and all of the negative thoughts, feelings and memories go with him. Here's what Zozobra looked like on Friday afternoon. So let's set aside negative thoughts, feelings and memories, and enjoy meaningful September baseball!! Starting Pitchers: Ervin Santana for the Twins Ian Kennedy for the Royals Lineups: 1. 2B Brian Dozier ® 2. 1B Joe Mauer (L) 3. SS Jorge Polanco (S) 4. LF Eddie Rosario (L) 5. CF Byron Buxton ® 6. RF Max Kepler (L) 7. 3B Eduardo Escobar (S) 8. C Chris Gimenez ® 9. DH Niko Goodrum 1. 2B Whit Merrifield ® 2. CF Lorenzo Cain ® 3. LF Melky Cabrera (S) 4. 1B Eric Hosmer (L) 5. C Salvador Perez ® 6. 3B Mike Moustakas (L) 7. RF Paulo Orlando ® 8. DH Brandon Moss (L) 9. SS Alcides Escobar ®

Mauer hits the hook pattern.

Just got home. Is the Vikes and Chiefs preseason on the scoreboard?

I think Duffey is more effective as a reliever. He can dial up his fasrball and strike out great hitters with it -- Hosmer and Cain, for example.

Remember how the Royals crushed us to end our hopes in 2015? It's payback time.

Dick says Buxton "would be available off the bench today." Does that mean he is actually available?

I hope it's not yet time for a Souhan article blaming Buxton for injuring himself by playing too hard and making dangerous impact with walls and fields because he's running too fast.

Me fails English? That's unpossible!

Nope. We only get the Rockies. It's only an issue every three years, but it really sucked this year.

I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It's about a 5-6 hour drive from Denver and a 7-8 hour drive to Phoenix. We get the Rockies games as part of our Direct TV package. However, MLB.TV considers us to be part of both the Rockies and Diamondbacks territory. So I was unable to watch any of the series against the D-Backs, which happened to be probably the most entertaining series of the year. These blackout rules make absolutely no sense.

Polanco looking like a big league SS!

You sure know how to beat a dead wormhole joke.

Apparently, you missed the part where I said, "Maybe that wasn't the best system, but . . . ." From that, you assume that I want a press that only supports the team? My point is that there should be a middle ground. Was that really not clear from what I actually wrote? Maybe we should just have trolls for sportswriters, and we can engage in Twitter wars instead of thoughtful debate?

Even if Souhan was "fed" the article, he had a choice to decide if it was newsworthy at this time. He could have sat on it until the off-season and then he could have spoken to more people with the benefit of the full season behind us, and the off-season plans forming. We used to have a local sports press who supported the team, and would even avoid publishing harmful negative stories. Maybe that wasn't the best system, but I don't necessarily like the way our society is going now, with even local sports writers looking for negative stories about our own players so they can get more attention. I love watching Sano. He's a great player, and seems like a good teammate and fun guy to be around. Here's hoping for him to have a quick return for the wild card race.

I trust that guy they put into the game with a lead of 8 or more runs in the 8th inning or later . . . except against the Astros.

Gee has earned another start or two, at least.