Employee No. 4210

I remember once Tom Kelly saying he would never rest Kirby Puckett at home; the home fans want to see Kirby Puckett, and they're paying to see Kirby Puckett; Puckett's rest days would all be on the road. Rocco - for better or worse - has his analytics that say when it is the best day/time to rest a Buxton or Correa or Polanco or Kepler (who is insanely popular if you've ever ventured down the right-field line at a Twins' home game) and that player is resting that day, regardless of fans or promotions or anything.

If the MLB and MLBPA agree on a expanded postseason play requiring "ghost wins," and the Twins are a top seed, does that mean they might end their 18-postseason-games losing streak with a ghost victory?!?

I'm an optomist when it comes to the Twins, but after Colome's third or fourth blown save early in the season, it was waning. With the Twins still attempting to score all of their runs via homerun instead of making contact to move runners ahead, I was concerned. After "that game" in Oakland, I knew they were done. I was able to just enjoy individual games after that, rather than worry about a not-happening postseason for the Twins.

I was thinking even smaller than that when I read the headline; I opened the article expecting to read about Glenn Williams' 13-game career with the Twins (which included a 13-game hitting streak) before he got injured and retired, having collected a hit in every major league game he played in.

Bobby Korecky's game was at the Twins' first attempt at the "all-you-can-eat" promotion at the Metrodome. I remember the lines were long and the food options were disappointing - the pre-heated hotdogs in soggy buns; a cup of popcorn; basically Dixie cups of Coke - but I didn't think it was terrible. The issue came with extra innings; they stopped serving after the 9th, and the game went another hour. But who wouldn't be excited about a Howie Clark walk-off??? (The Twins owned up to the failed experiment of AYCE, and offered everyone free tickets to another game that season.)

My heart goes out to the part-time stadium and gameday employees, many of whom are retired or handicapped and use these games to supplement social security. Cities with taxpayer-funded stadiums need to consider lawsuits against MLB owners for loss of income for these employees, not to mention the business around stadiums losing revenue.

Cities with publicly-funded stadiums should sue the teams' owners (if any games are canceled) for lost revenue on behalf of: residents who work at the stadium; surrounding bars, restaurants, parking ramps, public transport; and city taxes list on sales and income.

And the deeper into the season this goes, its those gate workers - and other gameday, stadium employees - that are going to be hurting. The ones who won't start making tens of thousands a game when the season eventually starts. I'm one of them, and after getting paid for one month in 2020, and basically half a season in 2021, losing more games in 2022 just sucks.