Friday Links-N-Thinks

The Twins seem to have found a nice little groove over the course of the last week. In their six games since last weekend's edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks," the Twins have posted a respectable 4-2 record with plenty of offense along the way. Jamey Carroll, Justin Morneau, and Ryan Doumit all hit over .400 in the last week and Morneau, Doumit, and Josh Willingham each had multiple home runs during that span. Ben Revere saw his hitting streak reach 21-games before he was held hitless against Cleveland on Wednesday. It was an overall positive week for the Twins and they find themselves a game and a half out of the cellar in the AL Central.

It was a slow week here at NoDak Twins Fan because I was in the midst of moving to a new apartment in Fargo and I had no access to internet for the last seven or so days. I had to get creative with how I connected to social media and I turned to my smart phone a lot to stay updated on the latest happenings. The internet got hooked up at my new place yesterday morning so it felt great to be able to type out a post for Friday morning after a short hiatus. I will be back next week with a full slate of Twins coverage including my regular Tuesday night minor league update and plenty of other news from across the organization.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

For now, get ready for a great weekend but make sure to check out the links that I provided below with some of my favorite stories from the last week. As always, there will be a few surprises along the way. Enjoy!

• Tsuyoshi Nishioka had a series to forget against Cleveland but the Twins are sticking with him at least until Trevor Plouffe is healthy.
  
• It is good to see Max Kepler putting it all together in the last month for the E-Twins.
  
• As the Twins saw this week, the Indians are a mess but they still ended their 11-game losing streak with a victory versus Minnesota.
  
• Former Twins slugger Jim Thome is going to miss another month of play and he might not play again in 2012.
  
• The outfield for the Twins could be fun to watch in 2014.
  
• While the future outfield looks bright, the current outfield has been very good for the Twins.
  
• There are plenty of former Twins players that you may have lost track of in recent years.
  
• Alex Wimmers will be following the same recovery template that Kyle Gibson did with the Twins.
  
• In what seems like a surprise move, the Twins top two picks from this year have already moved up a level in the minor leagues.
  
• After missing most of the last two seasons, Morneau seems like he can finally hit offspeed offerings again.
  
• Frank Viola pitched in a Game 7 of the World Series and that was nothing compared to watching his daughter compete in the Olympics.
  
• If the Twins are willing to trade Morneau in the coming offseason, there are other options for the Twins to fill his spot.
  
• Jose Mijares was let go by the Twins in the offseason and now it seems that hardly anyone wanted the lefty when he was put on waivers. I enjoyed this explanation that he might just have bad b.o.
  
• Have you ever wondered what MLB does to warn a pitcher if he takes too long between pitches?
  
• Eric Thames literally made sparks in a game earlier this week.
  
• There are 18 creepy hats on sale at MLB.com and Twins mascot TC is part of one of them.
  

• It took 29-year old Jim Henderson 10 years to make it to the big leagues and he is already the closer for the Brewers.
  
• Clint Eastwood has a new movie coming out and it looks like it is an anti-Moneyball movie with a whole bunch of story lines.
  
• On Wednesday, it was the anniversary of the White Sox wearing their horrible jerseys with shorts. They should have brought them out of retirement for the day.
  
• I wish I could make finds like this at the thrift store.
  
• Mike Trout is not only the best player in the American League, he also celebrated his 21st-birthday by hitting the ball out of the park.
  
• It's dangerous to have your parents be White Sox fans.
  
• The Houston Astrodome continues to stand even though it can't be used any more.
  
• Buster Posey is the first MLB player to have his own iPhone game.
  
• I love listening to Vin Scully and his translation of Jim Tracy's on-field meltdown was classic.
  

My Weekly Rundown

• Monday: Should fans have expected more from Valencia?
  

Video of the Week: As already mentioned, Nishioka is back in the big leagues. That leads to some wonderful defensive plays like this. Even as a Twins fan, it is funny to see how awful he has been on the defensive side of the ball but any player can lose a ball in the sun... right...