Road Goes On Forever (Twins 4 Astros 3– Game 105)

Left a great time at Diversicon, a science fiction and fantasy convention, to find the Twins were still playing. The game was tug of war, and the rag tied onto the rope was still in the middle of the mudpit in the center.

I’d spent the day with my mind wrapped around the business of writing the unreal and then bringing it to life (for more on my life out from under the baseball cap, click here). Listening to good old fashioned baseball soothed me.

Baseball wasn’t far away at Diversicon, mind you. There was a TV playing the game in a meeting area, and I stopped by to check scores and comment on the wondrous world of Deduno.

I left Bandana Square and drove past Midway Stadium, one baseball game on my stereo and another on my right. I kept driving as the game teetered and tottered but didn’t end. The game was still going on when I drove past Target Field, and it was going on when I collapsed into a comfy chair and found out the Twins won via Twitter.

At a certain point, it seems fair to say baseball is its own magical world. It’s an altered reality with hot dogs and a seventh inning stretch.

Pom Poms are Blooming (Twins 6 Astros 4 – Game 106)

The short walk to my car tonight confirmed it. Get your sweatshirts ready, because football season is coming. Cheerleaders are at the ready, and right now some drunk dude is buying the groceries he’ll later eat and barf all over you.

When football arrives at the party, baseball seems even more gentlemanly by comparison.

There are a few stories left to finish in major league baseball, but lots of teams wrote out their final chapter before August began. Two of them played in Minneapolis tonight, and one of them won.

Twin Hitters (Twins 3 Astros 2 – Game 107)

Whenever the Twins sweep a series, it means the bedtime story ends with me imagining Ron Gardenhire saying “And they lived happily ever after.” It means there were ups and downs, but the Twins won every game they could. No shame in that game.

Morneau and Arcia each hit home runs today. In fact, those home runs knocked in the only runs the Twins scored in the game. Luckily, three runs were all the team needed.

Morneau hit his home run first. The slugger still has something in the tank, and the question on everyone’s mind how much, and how clean is that fuel going to burn? He might slip out of town on waivers or stay with the team till he retires, but we are measuring his time from the end of his career, not the beginning.

Arcia hit a solo shot later. The lumps he’s taken as a rookie are probably still smarting, but he keeps making his way into the lineup. He’s just a few steps away from the start of his career, and the view from his path seems to have a few mountains worth noting.

Today, they met for high fives. When you look at their progress on a bigger map, the distance between them is too far to reach across.